Here’s a problem we have ourselves. Most of our clients stay with us for months or years, and our churn rate is very low. That’s great for business, but it’s terrible for reviews.
If you only ask for a review at the end of a job, and the job never ends, you never ask.
Reviews carry more weight than they used to. Whitespark’s 2026 Local Search Ranking Factors survey found that review recency jumped from 93rd place in 2023 to 11th in 2026. A trickle of fresh reviews now does more for your map pack position than a stack of old ones.
Ask at Milestones, Not at the End
If your work is ongoing, build review requests into the moments when a client is most likely to feel pleased:
- Ask after the first month, once they’ve seen how you work.
- Ask when you hit a goal you agreed together, such as a launch, a ranking or a busy month.
- Ask at an annual review, when you look back at the year’s results.
- Ask when a client thanks you, which is the easiest moment of all.
Make It Easy
The fewer clicks it takes, the more reviews you’ll get. We send our clients a short email or WhatsApp message with a direct link to our Google review form. A simple, personal message beats any automated system.
The Rule You Mustn’t Break
There’s a popular tactic called review gating. You ask clients whether they had a good experience. The happy ones get the Google review link, and the unhappy ones get sent to a private feedback form instead.
It sounds sensible, but it breaks Google’s rules. Google’s policy says businesses must not discourage negative reviews or selectively ask for positive ones. In the UK, the CMA’s guidance on fake reviews also treats encouraging only satisfied customers to leave reviews as a form of cherry-picking that can mislead consumers.
The good news is that you can keep the useful part.
Send everyone the same message, with the Google review link and an optional private feedback route alongside it, never instead of it.
You still learn from anything that went wrong, and your reviews stay above board.
Reply to Every Review
Replying shows potential customers that you’re listening. Keep your replies short and personal, and mention the work you did where it’s natural. If you get a negative review, reply calmly, acknowledge the problem and offer to talk it through offline. A thoughtful reply to a bad review reassures everyone who reads it later.
Don’t Chase Volume for Its Own Sake
Never buy reviews, swap them with other businesses or write them for friends. It’s against Google’s rules and against UK law. A few authentic reviews a month will do far more for you over time.
If you’d like help building reviews into a wider plan, here’s how our local SEO service for Sussex businesses works.
Reviews tell Google that people trust you. Your website has to back that up, which brings us to writing local content that survives Google’s 2026 core updates.