How many Google reviews do I need?

There is no magic number. Google does not publish a threshold. What matters in practice is that you have more than the tradies you are being compared with in your suburb, and that some of them are recent. Look at the top three results for your trade and area and aim to beat them over a few months.

Can I give customers a discount for leaving a review?

No. Google's policy bans offering payment, discounts, free goods or services in exchange for a review. Reviews posted because of an incentive get removed, and it can put your profile at risk.

Can I only ask my happy customers?

Google's policy prohibits selectively soliciting positive reviews and discouraging negative ones. Ask everyone the same way. Your system should not have a filter step that sends unhappy customers somewhere else.

When is the best time to ask for a review?

Soon after the job, while the result is fresh. Same day or the next day works for most trades. For bigger jobs like a bathroom reno or a re-roof, wait until the customer has used the result for a day or two.

Do I need a Google account to be reviewed, and do customers?

You need a verified Google Business Profile. Customers need to be signed into a Google account to leave a review, though it does not have to be a Gmail address.

Do my hipages or Oneflare reviews show on Google?

No. Reviews left on hipages, Oneflare or elsewhere stay on those sites and don't count toward your Google rating. To get one on Google, ask the customer to post there as well.

Getting more Google reviews

How to get more Google reviews (a system, not begging)

Most tradies get reviews in bursts, when they remember to ask. Here is a simple system that asks every customer, every job, without chasing anyone.

The getmitch team 9 October 2026 11 min read

The way to get more Google reviews is to ask every customer, in the same way, every time, within a day or two of finishing the job, with a direct link that opens the review box in one tap. The rest of this post is how to set it up so it keeps running when you are on the tools, tired, and three jobs behind.

Most tradies we talk to get reviews in bursts. A good job, a happy customer, you ask, you get one. Then six weeks of nothing because you forgot. A system fixes the forgetting.

Why reviews matter for a tradie

When someone searches "plumber near me" or "electrician Parramatta", Google shows a map with three businesses and their star ratings and review counts. People look at those numbers before they look at anything else. A profile with 140 reviews at 4.8 stars reads like a safe call. A profile with 6 reviews reads like a gamble, even if the work behind it is better.

Reviews also help you at the other end. If you take work from hipages, Oneflare or ServiceSeeking, a customer who has two quotes in hand will often check you on Google before they say yes. Your Google reviews are the thing you own. The lead platforms' ratings belong to the platform.

We are not going to tell you reviews are the only thing that decides your ranking in the map pack. Google does not publish its ranking formula. What we can say is that reviews are one of the things a customer reads before they ring you, and that is reason enough.

Step 1: Get your review link

Everything else depends on this. If the customer has to search for your business, find the right listing among similar names, scroll to the reviews and hunt for the button, most of them will not bother. A direct link opens the review box.

You can get it from your Business Profile: open your profile, choose the option to ask for reviews, and Google gives you a link you can copy and share, plus a QR code. Customers must be signed into a Google account to post, so the link will prompt them to sign in if they are not. There is a full walkthrough, including the Maps route if you cannot find the button, in How to find your Google review link and share it.

If you would rather skip the hunting, the free review link and QR code generator makes the link and a printable QR code in your browser. No sign-up, no watermark.

Test the link on your own phone before you send it to anyone. Open it while signed out of Google, check it lands on the review form for your business, and check it is your business and not another one with a similar name.

Tip: Shorten it only if you must

Long Google links look suspicious in a text. If you shorten the link, test the short version too, and avoid free link shorteners that add ads or interstitial pages. A plain, clean link beats a clever one.

Step 2: Pick the moment

Ask when the customer is most pleased and least busy. For most trades that is within a day of finishing:

Plumbers and electricians: the same afternoon or the next morning, once the tap works or the lights are on.
Painters, landscapers and builders: after the final walkthrough, or a day or two after, when they have seen the finished result in daylight.
Air con installers: after the first proper use. A system installed in winter gets a better review once the customer has had a hot day with it.
Big jobs like a re-roof or renovation: after final payment, not before. Asking while an invoice is outstanding feels like pressure.

The enemy is delay. A review request a month after the job reads as a stranger's text. The day after, it reads as you following up.

Mitch automates this window. On the Local and Complete plans the review text goes out 24 to 72 hours after you submit the finished job. More on that below.

Step 3: Send a short text

A text gets read. An email gets buried. Most customers have their phone in their hand within a few minutes of getting a message, and a Google review from a phone is a few taps.

Keep it short, personal and easy to say no to. Use their first name, say what you did, say thanks, put the link last.

After-job text (general)

Hi Sam, it's Dale from Dale's Plumbing. Thanks for having us out today. A quick Google review about how the job went would really help a small business like ours: [link]. Cheers, Dale

For a customer you know well

Sam, good to see you again. If you've got two minutes, would you mind leaving us a Google review? It helps more than you'd think. Here's the link: [link]. Thanks mate.

Gentle follow-up (one only, a few days later)

Hi Sam, Dale from Dale's Plumbing again. No stress if you haven't had a chance. If you'd like to leave a quick review about how the job went, here's the link: [link]. Thanks either way.

Send one follow-up at most. Two nudges is a reminder. Three is harassment, and it is how you get a one star review from someone who was otherwise happy.

If you want more variations, including email and in-person scripts, see How to ask for a Google review.

What to leave out of the text

No incentives. No "leave a review and get 10% off your next job" and no entry into a prize draw. Google bans it.
No telling them what to write. "Please mention our fast response" is fishing for content. Ask for an honest review and leave it there.
No asking for 5 stars. Ask for a review. The rating is theirs.
No sending the link only to people who said they were happy. More on that under the rules.

Step 4: Ask in person too

Texts are the backbone, but a lot of your best customers are people you see face to face: the landlord who sends you every vacancy, the older couple whose bathroom you did. A spoken ask at the end of the job is warm and takes ten seconds.

Here is how it sounds when it goes well:

Face to face, end of the job

That's all done. Would you mind leaving us a Google review about how it went? I'll text you the link now so it's there when you get a minute. It helps us a lot.

Then actually send the text while you are standing there, or on the way back to the ute. The spoken ask makes the text welcome. The text makes the ask easy.

If you want a physical backup, a QR code on a business card, a magnet, an invoice footer or the back of the ute gets scans from people who would not have bothered to type anything. Google review QR codes covers where they work and where they do not. A QR code on a ute that is mostly seen at 60 km/h will not get scanned, so put the code where people stand still: the invoice, the card, the quote, the fridge magnet.

The rules you need to know

Two sets of rules apply when you ask for reviews: Google's, and Australia's rules on commercial messages.

Google's rules

Google's review policies are plain on a few points:

No incentives. You cannot offer payment, discounts, free goods or services in exchange for a review, or for changing or removing one.
No review gating. You cannot discourage negative reviews or selectively ask only the customers you think will leave a positive one. If your process sorts customers into "happy, send to Google" and "unhappy, send to a private form", that is gating.
No fake or conflicted reviews. Reviews from staff, family, or competitors are conflicts of interest. Reviews you write yourself or buy are fake engagement.
No pressure on staff. You cannot require staff to post reviews or set them review quotas.

You are allowed to encourage genuine reviews, as long as you offer nothing in return and do not try to steer the rating or the content. That is all this system does.

Texting customers in Australia

Under the Spam Act 2003, the ACMA says commercial electronic messages, which include SMS and email, need three things: the recipient's consent, a clear identification of who sent the message (your business name, or your name and ABN), and a working way to unsubscribe that you act on within five working days. Whether a one-off "please review us" text counts as commercial is a grey area, so get consent anyway. Practically:

Ask for the customer's mobile number at quoting or booking, and tell them you may text them about the job and for a review.
Start the text with your business name so they know who it is from.
Include a simple way to opt out, such as "Reply STOP to opt out".
Honour opt-outs within five working days, and keep a record of who has said no.
Do not buy a list or text old numbers you picked up years ago.

The ACMA publishes guidance on the Spam Act and is the right place to check the current detail, including penalties. This is general information, not legal advice.

Step 5: Reply to every review

Replying is half of the system. Prospective customers read your replies to see how you deal with people. A reply to a 5 star review shows you are paying attention. A calm reply to a bad one shows you are someone who will sort out a problem.

To reply, you need a verified Business Profile. Open your profile, go to your reviews and choose reply. Google says a reply goes through a policy check that usually takes up to 10 minutes, though it can sometimes take much longer.

Keep replies short, use the customer's first name, mention the job, and thank them. Do not paste the same line on every review. Customers notice when every reply is identical.

Examples to copy for good reviews: Positive review responses.
A calm approach for the bad ones: How to respond to a bad review.

What not to do

Plenty of shortcuts look tempting when you are at 11 reviews and the competitor down the road has 200.

Do not buy reviews. Plenty of people search for ways to do it, and the sellers have no interest in your business. Google removes fake reviews, and it can put your profile at risk. See why buying Google reviews backfires.
Do not hand the customer your phone to review on the spot. It is awkward, it makes them feel put on the spot, and several reviews from one device in a row is the kind of pattern that looks wrong. Send the link to their phone.
Do not ask only the happy ones. Covered above. Google calls it selective solicitation.
Do not argue with a bad review in public. Reply once, calmly, and offer to fix it offline.
Do not ask staff, family or mates to review. Conflict of interest, and it gets reviews removed.

Why your review isn't showing

If you have asked a customer and they say they posted it but you cannot see it, there are a few usual reasons. Google can take some time to process reviews and its spam filter sometimes catches real ones. Why isn't my Google review showing up? goes through them.

Doing this every week without thinking about it

The system above works. What breaks it is that you are on a roof at 3pm, you get home at 6, you have quotes to write and a kid to pick up, and the review text is the first thing to go.

So make the routine small:

At the end of every job, get the customer's mobile number and ask if it is fine to text them about the job.
Same day or next day, send the text with the link. Set a reminder if you need one.
Friday afternoon, look at the week's reviews, and reply to each one.
Once a month, check the count against the three businesses above you in the map results.

That is about ten minutes a week. The problem is that "I will do it tonight" does not survive a busy week.

This is the part Mitch takes off your plate. On the Local plan, when you submit a finished job from your phone, Mitch texts the customer a review link 24 to 72 hours later (it needs their mobile number and a consent tick), and when a review lands it drafts a reply for you to edit and approve. Nothing posts until you approve it. You still do the job and decide what goes out. You just stop being the one who has to remember.

Plan: Review requests that run themselves

Local and Complete send the request 24 to 72 hours after the job and draft a reply to every review on your Google profile, which you edit before it posts. 14-day free trial, no card, month to month. See [pricing](/au/pricing) or how [review requests work](/au/platform/reviews).

If you are not ready for software, the manual version works. A text template saved in your phone, a Friday reminder and a link on your invoices will get you most of the way. What matters is that it happens every job.

Everything in this series

This post is the overview. Each piece below goes deeper on one part:

The full set lives on the reviews hub. Reviews also sit alongside the rest of your profile, so if yours is half set up, start with Google Business Profile.

Sources

Stop remembering to ask for reviews

Submit the finished job and Mitch sends the review request, then drafts the reply. 14 days free, no card.

Start free trial

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