How to get a Google review link (and get people to use it)

To get a Google review link, sign in to your Business Profile on a computer, select Read reviews, then Get more reviews, and copy the link Google shows you. The same screen gives you a QR code you can save and print. It takes about a minute, and if you want more reviews it's the most useful thing you can keep on your phone.

Getting the link is the easy half. The harder half is getting customers to tap it. Picture two heating engineers finishing the same boiler service on the same afternoon. One says "if you get a chance, leave us a review on Google" and drives off.

The other sends a text from the van before leaving the road: two lines and the link. The first customer means to do it and forgets. The second taps the link while the house is warming up. Across a year of jobs, the second engineer ends up with a profile that looks busy and trusted, and the first is still asking.

You already know reviews matter, and they are one part of how local businesses get found on Google. This guide covers the practical side: the exact steps to get the link, what to do when you can't get into your profile, where to send it, what to say, whether review cards are worth buying, and what the rules allow in the UK.

Key Takeaways

• Google's own route to a review link is Business Profile, then Read reviews, then Get more reviews, and Google says the QR code can only be created in a computer browser.
• A business that cannot sign in to its profile can still get a working review link from a free generator, but it also cannot reply to reviews until it gets access back.
• A text sent within minutes of finishing a job is the strongest place to share a review link, because the customer is pleased and the phone is already in their hand.
• UK searches for "google review card" rose from about 1,300 a month in spring 2026 to 18,100 a month in August and September 2026 (DataForSEO, Google Ads data, pulled 18 October 2026).
• Google's policy bans offering anything in exchange for a review and bans asking only the customers you expect to be kind, and since 6 April 2025 UK law bans concealed incentivised reviews.

How do you get your Google review link?

You get it from your own Business Profile, signed in with the Google account that manages it. Google's help page on creating a review link or QR code gives these steps, checked on 18 October 2026:

1. On a computer, go to your Business Profile at business.google.com.
2. Select Read reviews.
3. Select Get more reviews (it shows as a share icon).
4. To copy the link, select the Copy icon.
5. To keep the QR code, right-click it and choose Save image as.

Paste the link somewhere you will find it in five seconds on a busy day: a saved text message, a note on your phone, your email signature. You will use it far more often than you think.

Can you get your Google review QR code on your phone?

Not at the moment. Google's help page says QR codes "can only be generated on a computer browser, not on mobile devices", and it only describes the computer steps. So make the QR code once at a desk, copy the link at the same time, and send the link to your own phone to keep there. After that, sharing it from the van takes seconds.

Is the link the same as your Google listing?

No, and the difference matters. A link to your listing opens your profile, and the customer then has to find the reviews, find the button, and start writing. A review link opens the review box straight away. Every extra tap loses some of the people who meant to leave you one.

If you would rather skip the menus, our free Google review link generator finds your business by name and gives you the direct link and a printable QR code, with no signup.

Can you get a Google review link without your Business Profile?

Yes, you can get a review link without signing in. Free generators, including ours, look your business up on Google by name and build a direct review link from your listing's Google ID. It looks different from the link in your profile, but it opens the same review box for your customer.

What you cannot do without access is everything that comes after the review lands. You cannot reply to it, you cannot report a fake one, and you cannot update your hours or photos. If the profile was set up by an old web designer, an ex-employee or a previous owner, getting access back is worth an afternoon of your time. Our guide to setting up and improving your Google Business Profile covers claiming and verifying it.

One check before you send the link to anyone: open it yourself in a private browser window. Make sure it shows your business name and your address, and not a duplicate listing or a business with a similar name in the next town.

Where should you share your Google review link?

Share it where the customer already is, at the moment they are happiest with the job. For most trades and local services, that means a text or WhatsApp message within minutes of finishing. Everything else is a backup for the people who missed the first ask.

Where	When to use it	Why it works	Watch out for
Text or WhatsApp	Minutes after the job is done	The customer is pleased and has the phone in hand	Send it from the business number they already have saved
Email or invoice	When the invoice or job summary goes out	It reaches customers who did not see the text	Put the ask near the top, not under the payment details
QR code on a job sheet, card or van	At handover, in person	The customer can scan it there and then	Hand it over and leave; standing over someone is pressure
Email signature	Every email you send	It works quietly on repeat customers	It is a reminder, not a request, so do not rely on it alone
Your website	On the contact or reviews page	People who liked you go looking for it	Few people will find it unprompted

Google's own page suggests the same spread: receipts, thank-you emails, the end of a chat, or printed in a shop, plus email, WhatsApp or a Facebook post.

Say Priya runs a two-person cleaning company in Croydon. For a year, the review request sat at the bottom of the invoice, which went out on the first of the month. A customer cleaned for on the 3rd got the ask four weeks later, mixed in with a bill.

Then Priya moved the ask to a text, sent from the car as the team left each house. Same customers, same work, same link. The only difference is that customers are now asked while the kitchen still shines, which is when people tap.

If you want the asking done for you, Review Management sends the requests to your customers by email with one polite reminder, so nobody is missed and nobody is chased twice.

What should your review request message say?

Keep it short, personal, and the same for every customer. Name the job, say thank you, and put the link on its own line so it is easy to tap. Two versions that work as they are:

After a job, by text:

Hi Sarah, thanks for having us in today to fix the leak. If you have a minute, a Google review really helps a small business like ours: [your link]. Thanks, Dan

With an invoice, by email:

Thanks again for choosing us for the fence on Elm Road. If you were happy with the work, we would be grateful for a quick Google review. It takes about a minute: [your link]

A few things to leave out:

• Anything offered in return. No discount, no prize draw, no "a fiver off your next service".
• Any hint about the score. "Five stars would really help" steers the customer towards a rating, which sits badly with Google's ban on selectively soliciting positive reviews. Ask for an honest one.
• A filter that sends happy customers to Google and unhappy ones to a private form. That is review gating, and Google bans it.

For more on who to ask and how to handle the replies, see how to get more Google reviews.

Do Google review cards and NFC stands actually work?

They work in the sense that the review link works: a review card is your review link stored on a small chip, usually with a QR code printed on it. A customer taps the card on their phone or scans the code, and the review box opens. The card adds nothing that your own review link and QR code do not already give you for free.

Interest in them has jumped. DataForSEO's Google Ads data shows UK searches for "google review card" at about 1,300 a month through spring 2026, then 6,600 in July and 18,100 in both August and September 2026 (pulled 18 October 2026).

A card or stand earns its place in two situations:

• At a counter or reception desk. Salons, clinics, cafés and showrooms, where customers stand and wait, can leave a stand next to the till.
• On a job where you hand something over, such as a welcome pack, a set of keys, or the paperwork for a finished installation.

It adds little for trades who leave the customer's house within minutes. By the time a card might be used, a text has already done the job better.

If you do buy one, check three things:

• The card should carry a printed QR code as well, because tapping only works when the customer's phone reads NFC and has it switched on.
• Test it yourself before you hand out a box of them.
• Mind the handover. Google's content policy says businesses "should not require or pressure users to leave ratings or write reviews while on the premises". Hand the card over, say thanks, and let them do it later.

Why isn't my Google review link working?

When a review link fails, it is usually one of five things, and you can check all of them in ten minutes.

1. The link was cut off. Some texting apps and email programs break long links across lines. Copy it again from your profile, or use the short version Google gives you.
2. It points at the wrong listing. Duplicate profiles are common, especially after a move or a rebrand. Open the link in a private window and check the name and address.
3. The customer is not signed in to Google. Leaving a review needs a Google account. The link will ask them to sign in first, and some people give up at that screen. That is normal, and it is one more reason to ask everyone.
4. The profile is suspended. A hard suspension takes your listing off Google, so the link has nothing to land on. A soft suspension can stop you managing the profile, including getting a fresh link. Our guide to a suspended Google Business Profile explains the appeal.
5. The customer says they posted it, but you cannot see it. Google removes reviews its systems judge to break its policy, sometimes after they first appear, and it does not always say why. Ask the customer to check it shows on your profile when they are signed out, then leave it a few days before asking again.

If a review vanishes after it appears, that is a separate problem from the link. How to get a bad Google review removed covers Google's review policy in detail, including what it takes down and why.

What are the rules on asking for Google reviews in the UK?

You are allowed to ask every customer for an honest review, and Google encourages it. Two sets of rules decide how: Google's own policy, and UK consumer law.

Google's policy. The help page on review links says that offering incentives, "like free of cost or discounted goods or services", in exchange for reviews counts as fake engagement and is "strictly prohibited". Google's content policy also bans businesses from asking selectively: they must not "discourage or prohibit negative reviews, or selectively solicit positive reviews from customers". Reviews that break these rules are removed, and the profile behind them can be restricted.

UK law. The Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 made fake reviews and concealed incentivised reviews banned practices, from 6 April 2025. The Competition and Markets Authority's fake reviews guidance, published on 4 April 2025, sets out what businesses must do to comply. Our short answer on whether fake reviews are illegal in the UK covers the detail and the penalties.

In practice the safe method is simple. Ask everyone, the same way, for an honest review, and offer nothing for it.

How we send review links for the businesses we work with

We run review requests for trades and local service businesses, and we watch our own profile the same way. Every customer a business adds gets the same email with the direct review link. A few days later comes one polite reminder, and that reminder is cancelled the moment the customer opens the link, so nobody who has already tapped it gets chased. There is no gating: unhappy customers get exactly the same link as happy ones.

Two smaller rules matter as much. Requests only go out in the daytime, UK time, so nobody gets a review ask at eleven at night. And each business has a daily cap, so a backlog of past customers is worked through at a steady pace rather than all in one morning.

The link passes through our own short redirect, which is how the dashboard can show each customer as asked, reminded or opened the review link. If plenty of people open it and few finish, the message needs work. If nobody opens it, the timing does.

Take a roofer, Tom, with twelve Google reviews, the newest from 2023, and two competitors nearby showing reviews from this month. Tom does good work and customers say so on the doorstep, but nobody has been asked in writing for two years.

Adding the last year's customers, plus every new job as it finishes, gives the profile a steady run of fresh reviews over the following months. The rating hardly needs to move. What changes is that a customer comparing the three roofers now sees recent proof from Tom too.

Every Review Management plan includes your direct review link and a QR code to print, alongside the requests, the reminders and a drafted reply for every review that comes in.

Get the link today, then make asking a habit

Getting a Google review link takes a minute: Business Profile, Read reviews, Get more reviews, Copy. The reviews come from what you do with it afterwards.

• Save the link on your phone and in your email signature today.
• Send it by text within minutes of finishing each job, to every customer.
• Use the invoice email as the backup, not the first ask.
• Buy a review card only if customers stand at a counter, and make sure it carries a QR code.
• Offer nothing in return and ask everyone the same way, because both Google and UK law require it.

If you cannot get into your profile, or just want the link and a printable QR code in one go, get them free from our review link generator. And if you would rather the asking, the reminders and the replies were handled for you, see how Review Management works.