How do I get my first 10 Google reviews without breaking the rules?

Copy the review link out of your Google Business Profile, text it to every customer the day the job is done, reply to every review, and never offer anything in exchange for one. That is the whole routine, and it is also what Google's policy allows. A listing with two reviews looks like a business that opened last month, which it might be; the first ten take longer than any ten after them because nobody has the habit yet, you included. Below: where the link is, when to send it, what to write, and what Google forbids. If the listing itself isn't set up yet, do that first; the review link lives inside the managed profile, so get that verified and in your hands first.

Inside your Google Business Profile. Google's own steps, on its review-link help page: go to the profile, select Read reviews, then Get more reviews, and select Copy. The same screen gives you a QR code you can right-click and save, though Google notes the QR code can only be generated on a computer browser, not on a phone. Paste the link into a note on your phone today; every ask from here on uses it.

Put the QR code on the invoice and the thank-you email as well. Google suggests receipts, thank-you emails and a printed copy in the shop, and any of those work for a food truck window or a clipboard in the cab. The link is the same everywhere; the point is that a customer never has to search for you to find the place to write.

When the job is done and the customer is standing there looking at it. The furnace is running and they've just heard it kick on. That is the moment a person feels like writing something, and it passes fast. Ask out loud, then send the link before you pull out of the driveway. An ask a week later, from the office, is easy to ignore, because by then the job is just a line on a bank statement.

If you invoice from the truck, the link goes on the invoice. If you invoice that night, the link goes in the same email. Either way the ask and the bill arrive together.

A text, from your number, with their name in it. Something like this:

• "Thanks for having us out today, Dana. If you've got a minute, a Google review helps the next person in Papillion find us: [link]. Either way, thanks for the work."
• "Good to meet you this morning, Mr. Alvarez. Here's where to leave us a Google review if you're up for it: [link]. Call the same number if anything comes up."

Keep it that short. Leave out any hint about what to write or how many stars, and don't attach a form; the link is the whole ask. A plain message from the person who was just in their house reads as a person; a template from a review platform reads as a platform. Save the message on your phone so it takes ten seconds to send.

No. Google says so, and asking everyone works better anyway. The Maps content policy lists, under prohibited behavior, a business that would "discourage or prohibit negative reviews, or selectively solicit positive reviews from customers." That is the rule against review gating: asking the customers you know are happy and skipping the one who seemed short with you. The rule reads as a burden until you try it. Send that link to every job. In our experience the people who bother to write are mostly the ones who were pleased, and the customer you weren't sure about often says nothing. Once in a while one leaves a three-star with a fair point in it, and a listing with one honest three-star among the fives reads as a real business.

There is a second reason. Google's own tips page says a mix of positive and negative feedback often feels more trustworthy, and a few reviews with a gripe in them are what a stranger trusts when deciding who to call. Ten five-stars on a listing that went live last month can look like ten friends. A mix, asked for the same way on every job, looks like real work.

No, and not a free filter or a drawing entry either. Google's tips page is direct about it: offering "free or discounted goods or services, in exchange for customers to post reviews, change reviews, or remove negative reviews" is treated as fake and misleading content and is prohibited. The Maps policy lists payment, discounts and free goods or services the same way. That covers the ten-percent-off-your-next-visit card, the entry into a drawing, and the free filter for a five-star. It also covers the quieter version, where you offer something to a customer to take a bad review down.

What you can do is ask, and thank them. A handwritten thanks on the invoice is fine. A thanks after the review is posted is fine.

Yes, including the one-word ones. Google's help page confirms that an approved reply is posted publicly under the customer's review and that the customer is notified, so a reply does two jobs: it tells the customer you saw it, and it shows the next stranger reading the listing that someone answers. Two sentences is enough. Name the job if you remember it ("glad the water heater is holding up") so it doesn't read like the same reply pasted under every review. Do it the same evening or on a set night each week, whichever you'll actually keep up.

1. 01

   Wait a day

   Nothing you write in the first hour will be as good as what you write tomorrow. The review isn't going anywhere.

2. 02

   Reply once, in public

   One calm paragraph. Say what happened from your side without arguing the details, say what you'll do about it, and give the phone number. You are writing for the next customer who reads it, not for the one who left it. That reader is deciding whether you're the kind of business that handles a problem.

3. 03

   Fix it if it's fixable

   If the complaint is fair, go back out. Plenty of customers change the review once you've been back out, and an edited review with the fix in it does more for you than a five-star ever did.

4. 04

   Report it only if it breaks a policy

   Google's reporting page says outright not to report a review just because you disagree with it or dislike it, and that Google doesn't get involved in conflict between businesses and customers. Report it if it's spam, profanity, or plainly about a different business. The same page says review evaluation typically takes several days. A fair review from a real job stays up, so the reply is your answer to it.

Don't buy them. The Maps policy prohibits reviews "that have been paid for, directly or in kind," and it also prohibits content posted "from multiple accounts by or at the request of one person." That second line is the one that catches the friendly version: your brother-in-law, your two employees and a buddy from the other plumbing shop all writing one up as a favor. Trading reviews with another shop ("you review me, I'll review you") counts the same way: reviews written as a favor, not from a job. Google's business guidelines say it reserves the right to suspend a profile that violates them, and a suspended listing is worse than an empty one, because the phone stops ringing while you argue with a form.

The tablet at the counter, where customers tap five stars before they leave, is the one that surprises people. Google's policy doesn't name a tablet. It does prohibit content posted from multiple accounts at the request of one person, and ten reviews written on one screen over the same wifi while you stand there look a lot like that. Reviews that trip the policy can be removed, and it's not a risk worth taking for a five-star that took thirty seconds. Send the link to the customer's own phone and let them write it at their kitchen table.

We won't put a number on it, because it depends on how many jobs you run and whether you send the link. What we can say is that the count follows the jobs where the link got sent. Skip the ask on the jobs where you're in a hurry and the count stays where it is, because those are most of the jobs.

While you're waiting on reviews, keep the listing alive some other way. Post a finished job or a seasonal reminder a couple of times a month. On the price sheet, the $75 tier of Afterburn puts two Google posts a month on the listing for you, so it doesn't go quiet between reviews. If you'd rather handle it yourself, the setup guide has a short list under after it's live.

If the profile isn't verified yet, or it exists but says "Contractor" and has no photos, send us the business name, your trade, the towns you work (Omaha, Bellevue, Papillion, wherever the truck goes), and a photo of the truck. Google Business Profile setup is $75 on the sheet, and it's included in Ignition at $375 with the logo and the one-page site. What the site build includes, and how the listing and the site are wired to agree, is on the web design page. The review link is in the profile once it's yours to manage, and sending it on every job is your side of it.

GOOGLE BUSINESS PROFILE SETUP IS $75 ON THE SHEET. AFTERBURN AT $75 A MONTH ADDS TWO GOOGLE POSTS.