How to get Google reviews, in short: ask every customer within a few days of the service, using the direct link from your Business Profile, without offering incentives and without picking only the happy ones. How many you need depends on the search and the city: across the 24 UK local pack listings we checked on 26 September 2026 the median was 210 reviews, with an average rating of 4.85.
A Google review is the rating a customer leaves on a business's profile, shown in Search and in Maps, and picked up by ChatGPT when it describes your business. For anyone selling in a local area it's also one of the signals that decide who gets into the three listings of the local pack, the map box Google shows above the organic results. It comes from outside your site, like links, so it belongs to off-page SEO.
Fine, but how many do I need?
That's the question that always comes up, and most guides never answer it, because the number isn't in any manual. You find it by looking at who is already in the local pack for the search you care about.
Meanwhile the same mistakes keep turning up:
- the free coffee "for anyone who leaves five stars";
- the internal survey, with the Google link sent only to those who answered well;
- thirty requests in one week, then silence for a year.
The second one has a name in UK law: cherry-picking. And since 6 April 2025 the CMA can fine up to 10% of global turnover for banned review practices.
So on 26 September 2026 we pulled eight local results pages in the UK and recorded the rating and review count of every listing.
Here's what you'll find:
- how many reviews local pack businesses really have (and why in 5 searches out of 8 the first listing has fewer than the third);
- how much reviews weigh in local rankings, according to Google and to the industry;
- where to get the link and how to write the request;
- what UK law has required since 6 April 2025, under the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act.
Let's start with the numbers.
How many reviews the businesses in the UK local pack have (median 210, minimum 1)
Across the 24 listings in the top three positions of the local pack for eight UK searches, on 26 September 2026, the median was 210 reviews, the minimum 1 and the maximum 3,600, with an average rating of 4.85.
Eight searches, eight cities, desktop results with the location set to the city in question.
| Search | Reviews, 1st listing | Median reviews, top 3 | Lowest rating in top 3 |
|---|---|---|---|
| plumber manchester | 82 | 208 | 4.8 |
| dentist london | 212 | 523 | 4.8 |
| hairdresser edinburgh | 255 | 255 | 4.6 |
| accountant leeds | 53 | 53 | 4.9 |
| electrician bristol | 124 | 88 | 5.0 |
| gym birmingham | 184 | 259 | 4.7 |
| restaurant york | 1,400 | 3,100 | 4.5 |
| divorce solicitor manchester | 35 | 30 | 4.7 |
All 24 listings are at 4.5 stars or above.
So what's the minimum?
There isn't a general one. The gap between sectors makes any threshold useless.
An accountant in Leeds ranks first with 53 reviews.
A restaurant in York has 1,400 and still ranks first, ahead of two competitors with 3,100 and 3,600.
Asking "how many do I need" without saying for which search and in which city is a question with no answer.
And here comes the figure that undoes the most common assumption…
In 5 searches out of 8 the listing in first place has fewer reviews than the one in third.
In Manchester the first plumber has 82, the third 430. On "divorce solicitor manchester" the third listing has a single review.
So the count doesn't matter?
It does, but it's not a leaderboard: it's a credibility threshold. Past it, distance, relevance and the rest of the profile take over. How the mechanism works is covered in our guide to local SEO.
The practical way to use this table is to repeat it for your own case:
- search your main query from the city where you sell;
- open the three local pack listings;
- note the rating and review count.
That's your target. Not a number read on a blog (this one included).
How much reviews weigh in local rankings (roughly 16-17%)
Google lists three local ranking factors, relevance, distance and prominence, and says more reviews and positive ratings can help; according to Whitespark, review signals account for roughly 16-17% of the weight in the local pack.
Google's sentence is blunt: "More reviews and positive ratings can help your business's local ranking" (Google Business Profile Help).
The weight against other signals is estimated by Whitespark's Local Search Ranking Factors, 2026 edition.
One caveat: it's a survey of local SEO practitioners, mostly North American. It's an estimate of industry perception, not Google data.
In their ranking of individual factors:
- 6th place: high ratings, between 4 and 5 stars;
- 9th place: number of Google reviews with text;
- 11th place: recency;
- 14th place: a steady flow of new reviews over time.
That fourteenth place is the item businesses underrate most.
Thirty reviews in one week and then nothing for a year are worth less than thirty reviews spread across twelve months. And they're more likely to trip Google's spam filters.
What customers look at (74% only consider the last three months)
According to BrightLocal's Local Consumer Review Survey 2026, run on 1,002 adult US consumers, 74% only consider reviews from the last three months.
68% won't consider a business under 4 stars. 47% rule out businesses with fewer than 20 reviews.
These are American figures: on why SEO statistics can't be moved wholesale between markets we wrote a separate article.
And in Europe?
A recent figure comes from a survey by Altroconsumo and Euroconsumers published on 5 March 2026, of 4,216 European consumers, 1,008 of them in Italy (Altroconsumo):
- 65% read reviews before buying online;
- only 4% feel confident they can spot a fake review;
- 71% leave a review when they're satisfied, against 24% when they're not.
That last pair of numbers explains why the profile of a business that never asks tends to get worse over time.
Unhappy customers write anyway. Happy ones often wait to be asked.
The metrics to watch when measuring local work are listed in our article on SEO KPIs.
Where to get the link to ask for a review (three clicks)
You get the direct review link from your Business Profile, signed in with the account that manages it, via "Read reviews" and then "Get more reviews": it opens the review form straight away.
The steps:
- search for your business name on Google while signed in, or open the profile from Google Maps;
- go to "Read reviews" and then "Get more reviews";
- copy the link or download the QR code Google generates.
The QR code is for physical touchpoints: till, receipt, table, van.
The link is for places where the customer already has their phone in hand: WhatsApp, text message, the email that closes the job.
Before you print it on a thousand flyers, though…
Open it from a phone not signed in to the business account and check it lands on the right listing. Duplicate profiles are more common than you'd think, and then the reviews end up on a listing that doesn't rank.
The full procedure is in the guide on how to optimise Google Business Profile.
How to ask for a review without breaking Google's rules (asking yes, paying no)
Asking for a review is allowed, paying for it isn't: Google Maps' content policy bans incentives such as payment, discounts or free goods, and allows businesses to encourage reviews of genuine experiences without offering anything in return.
The policy lists among the things businesses must not do: "Offer incentives - such as payment, discounts, free goods and/or services - in exchange for posting any review". In the same document it allows merchants to "Solicit or encourage the posting of content that does represent a genuine experience, without offering incentives to do so or attempting to influence the rating or the contents of the review" (prohibited and restricted content policy).
The line is clear:
- the free coffee for anyone who leaves five stars: out;
- the message reminding the customer they can say how it went: in.
Prize draws, discount vouchers and loyalty points tied to a review? They're incentives even when the business calls them something else.
Pre-screening (and why the CMA calls it cherry-picking)
The second practice to avoid is pre-screening: sending an internal survey and then passing the Google link only to those who answered well.
Google's policy names it directly: businesses must not "Discourage or prohibit negative reviews, or selectively solicit positive reviews from customers".
UK regulators take the same view. The CMA's guidance on fake reviews describes cherry-picking as something that "might be done either through suppressing negative reviews that have been submitted or by encouraging just those who are satisfied to leave reviews" (CMA, Fake reviews guidance CMA208, paragraph 4.5).
Are you asking every customer for a review, or only the happy ones?
Since 6 April 2025, inviting only satisfied customers is one of the banned review practices the CMA can fine up to 10% of global turnover. Let's look together at how review requests reach your customers today and how to tie them to closing the job, with no risk.
Book a strategy consultationThe message that works (four parts)
What works is a short, personal message, sent within a few days of the service, from a person and not from a noreply address.
A structure that holds up in almost every sector:
- a specific reference to what was done ("Thursday's boiler repair", "Tuesday's check-up");
- an explicit request to describe the experience, without suggesting a rating;
- the direct link, only one, with no choice of platforms;
- an honest estimate of the time it takes.
What if you have a job management or booking system?
Send the request from there, triggered by closing the job or issuing the invoice, rather than from a monthly marketing campaign.
It's the difference between the steady flow Whitespark puts in fourteenth place and the wave that arrives when someone remembers the profile.
What UK law has required since 6 April 2025 (DMCC Act)
Since 6 April 2025 the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 bans fake reviews, undisclosed incentivised reviews and the misleading presentation of reviews, including hiding negative ones and inviting only satisfied customers; the CMA enforces the rules directly and can fine up to 10% of global turnover.
The Act added them to the practices that are always unfair (Schedule 20). The CMA's guidance (CMA208) sets out what changes for a business that asks for or publishes reviews:
- submitting or commissioning a review that claims to be, but isn't, based on a genuine experience is banned, and so is buying or selling fake reviews;
- an incentivised review isn't banned as such, but it must say it was incentivised and still reflect a genuine experience; where the platform doesn't allow incentivised reviews, as Google doesn't, the guidance says submitting one is likely to be misleading;
- publishing review information in a misleading way is banned, including hiding negative reviews and inviting only satisfied customers;
- anyone who publishes consumer reviews must take reasonable and proportionate steps to prevent and remove fake and misleading ones.
What does that mean for a local business?
The request goes to every customer, at the same point in the process, and nothing is offered in return for a review on Google.
Your own website counts too
A business that shows customer reviews on its own pages is publishing consumer reviews, so it needs a way to check they come from real customers and shouldn't quietly leave out the negative ones.
So if you show reviews on your site, sort out two things together: a sentence telling visitors how reviews are collected and checked, and correct structured data, covered in the guide to schema markup.
It's the same issue raised by the rules on AI-generated content: transparency stated on the page has become a legal requirement before being an editorial choice.
Negative reviews and replies (why a 4.6 beats a 5.0)
A negative review isn't removed on request: you can report it to Google only if it breaks the content policy, for example if it's fake, comes from a competitor or contains insults. Everything else is handled with a reply.
On the same local ranking page Google writes that "Positive reviews and helpful replies can help your business stand out."
So what's a "helpful" reply?
Three parts, and none of them is a generic thank-you:
- acknowledge the specific issue;
- say what has been changed;
- offer a direct channel to settle the matter away from the shop window.
A profile with twenty five-star reviews and no replies is less credible than one averaging 4.6, with a few low ratings and replies written by a person.
Back to the Euroconsumers figure: only 4% of respondents feel confident they can spot a fake review. But the suspicion remains.
And flawless perfection is the first thing that triggers it.
Mistakes that cost more than the reviews you don't have
The costliest mistakes are buying reviews, asking only happy customers, bunching requests, ignoring the text and stopping at Google: the first two are banned, the others cut the value of every review you collect.
- Buying review packages. Beyond the legal ban and Google's policy, the operational risk is bulk removal: you lose in a day what took two years to build.
- Asking only happy customers. Google's policy prohibits it, the CMA guidance treats it as cherry-picking, and it distorts how representative the overall rating is.
- Bunching the requests. A burst weighs less than a steady flow and looks like an artificial pattern.
- Ignoring the text. In the Whitespark ranking the words customers use in their reviews are a factor in their own right, in thirty-sixth place. A review that says "boiler replacement in Manchester" contains the query you need.
- Stopping at Google. In hospitality and tourism opinions form across several platforms at once, and the Google listing is only the one seen first.
How many enquiries does your Google listing bring in today?
In the UK local pack the median is 210 reviews, but in 5 searches out of 8 the first listing has fewer than the third: the count alone isn't enough. In 30 minutes we'll look at your listing, reviews and service pages and tell you what's missing to get into the top three.
Book a strategy consultationIf the local profile brings in quote requests, look at it together with everything else. That's the work we do in SEO and lead generation projects, where the Google listing goes into the same count of enquiries as the service pages.
For smaller businesses, the reasoning on which channels to keep open is in the article on marketing for SMEs. Anyone working by appointment will find the case of SEO for medical practices and clinics closer to home.
Frequently asked questions
It depends: on the search and the city. In our count of 26 September 2026 across 24 UK local pack listings the median is 210 reviews, with a minimum of 1 for a divorce solicitor in Manchester and a maximum of 3,600 for a restaurant in York. The useful benchmark is the review count of the three listings that rank today for your search in your city.
No, not for Google reviews. Google Maps' content policy prohibits offering payment, discounts, free goods or services in exchange for posting a review. UK law allows incentivised reviews only if they are disclosed as such, and the CMA guidance says that where a platform does not allow them, as Google does not, submitting one is likely to be misleading.
No. Google's policy prohibits selectively soliciting positive reviews, and the CMA guidance on fake reviews treats encouraging only satisfied customers to leave reviews as cherry-picking, one of the banned practices in force since 6 April 2025. Send the request to every customer in the same way, without pre-screening.
It depends on what you measure. There is no legal expiry for reviews in the UK. What fades is their weight with customers and with rankings: recency is the eleventh factor in the Whitespark 2026 ranking, and in BrightLocal's Local Consumer Review Survey 2026, on a US sample, 74% say they only consider reviews from the last three months.
It depends: if it doesn't break the rules, it isn't removed on request. You can report it to Google only if it breaks the content policy, for example because it is fake, comes from a competitor or contains offensive content. In every other case the tool available is a public reply.
It depends, but sooner is better. There is no legal deadline in the UK; the request works best within a few days of the service, while the experience is fresh. A steady flow of recent reviews is also one of the factors that weigh on local rankings.
Where to start (today, not with the next newsletter)
Not a magic number, but the count of the three listings ahead of you today.
Not a burst, but a flow: thirty reviews over twelve months beat thirty in one week.
Not only happy customers, but everyone: cherry-picking is a banned practice, with fines of up to 10% of global turnover.
Not perfect five stars, but replies written by a person.
And then there's a point the industry rarely makes: reviews are treated as a reputation problem and almost never as a data source.
The text customers write contains the words they use to describe the service, which are almost never the ones on the website. Unblocking a drain versus drainage services. Braces versus orthodontic treatment.
Those words are keyword research already done, free and written by the people who pay.
Bringing them into the service pages every quarter does more than the twentieth email asking for one more star.
Two concrete things to do today.
One: search your main query from your city and note the rating and reviews of the three local pack listings. That's your target.
Two: take the "Get more reviews" link, open it from a phone not signed in to the business account and check it lands on the right listing. Then tie the request to closing every job.
To work out where to start on your profile, book a strategy consultation.
See you next time!
