How to Get Your Google Review Link (and Make Sure It Works)

To get your Google review link, sign in to the Google account that manages your Business Profile, open your profile on Google Search or Google Maps, and select the option to ask for or get more reviews. Google shows a short link you can copy and share. When a customer opens it, it takes them straight to the review form for your business, where they can pick a star rating and write a review.

The steps take a couple of minutes. The part most businesses skip is checking that the link opens the right profile, on a phone, for someone who isn’t you. This guide covers finding the link, testing it, fixing common problems and putting it where customers will actually use it.

What a Google review link is

A Google review link is a web address that opens the review form for one specific Business Profile. Instead of telling customers to search your name, find the right listing and scroll to the reviews section, you give them one link that does all of that in a single tap.

Each profile has its own link. If you run three locations, you have three links, and each one only works for the location it belongs to. The link doesn’t expire on a schedule, but it depends on the profile staying live and unchanged, which is why testing matters.

The same link sits behind the QR code Google offers in the same panel. If you want the printed version, our guide to the Google review QR code covers where to place it and how to design it so it scans.

How to find your Google review link

Google changes its menus from time to time, so treat these steps as general directions and look for similar wording if a label has moved. Google’s Business Profile Help pages on requesting reviews show the current version.

From Google Search on a computer

1. Sign in. Use the Google account that owns or manages the Business Profile.
2. Open your profile. Search for your exact business name, or search “my business.” Your profile’s management panel appears at the top of the results.
3. Find the reviews option. Look for a button labeled something like “Ask for reviews,” “Get more reviews” or “Read reviews” followed by “Get more reviews.”
4. Copy the link. A panel opens with a short link and, on a computer, a QR code. Select “Copy” or highlight and copy the address.
5. Save it somewhere shared. Paste it into a document your team can reach, labeled with the location name and address.

From the Google Maps app on a phone

1. Open Google Maps while signed in to the managing account.
2. Open your business from your profile picture menu or the business section of the app.
3. Look for an option to ask for or share reviews.
4. Use the share button to copy the link, or send it directly to a customer through the phone’s share sheet.

The QR code download is generally only available from a computer browser. The link itself is available on both.

If you manage many locations

Businesses with several profiles often manage them from a single account or business group. Work through each profile one at a time and record its link next to its address. Don’t assume the links follow a pattern you can guess. They don’t, and a guessed link that happens to open the wrong branch is worse than no link.

What if the option isn’t there?

If you can’t find any way to ask for reviews, the cause is usually one of these:

• The profile isn’t verified. Unverified profiles have limited management options. Complete verification first. Our guide to setting up a Google Business Profile walks through it.
• You’re signed in to the wrong account. Many owners have a personal Gmail and a work account. Check which one is listed as an owner or manager on the profile.
• You have a limited role. Some manager roles can’t see every option. The profile owner can check and adjust roles.
• The profile is suspended or under review. Management features may be restricted until that’s resolved.
• The menu has moved. Search Google’s Business Profile Help center for “request reviews” to see the current steps.

The Place ID method (a fallback)

Before Google added a built-in share option, many businesses built their review link by hand using the profile’s Place ID, a unique identifier Google assigns to each place. You can still find a Place ID with the Place ID Finder in Google’s Maps Platform documentation, and a link in this format opens the review form:

https://search.google.com/local/writereview?placeid=YOUR_PLACE_ID

Use this only if the built-in option isn’t available to you, and test it carefully. The link Google gives you in your profile is the simpler and more reliable choice, because it comes from Google directly and you don’t have to copy a long identifier without errors.

How to test your Google review link

A link that looks right can still open the wrong place. Test it the way a customer would experience it, not from your own signed-in laptop.

1. Open it on a phone. Try an iPhone and an Android phone if you can, since most customers will open it on mobile.
2. Check the business name and address. The review form should show your business, at the right location.
3. Try it signed out. Open the link in a private browser window. Google will ask the customer to sign in before posting, which is normal. What you’re checking is that it leads to your profile, not an error page.
4. Try it from each channel. Paste it into a test email, a text message and your website, then open each one. Some email tools rewrite links for click tracking, and it’s worth seeing that the final destination is still correct.
5. Don’t post a test review. Stop at the form. Reviews of your own business from you or your staff break Google’s policies, even as a test.

Repeat the test whenever something changes on the profile: a move, a rename, a merger of duplicate listings or a reverification. Put a reminder in the calendar to check it every few months even if nothing has changed.

Where to use your review link

The link is only useful where customers see it at the right moment: soon after a good experience, with their phone or inbox in front of them.

Channel	How to use it	Watch out for
Follow-up email	One short thank-you and one clear button or link to the review form.	Burying the link under several other calls to action.
Text message	A two-line message with the link, sent soon after the visit or job.	Texting people who haven’t agreed to receive texts from you.
Invoice or receipt	A line near the total, or a QR code for printed copies.	Long links that people can’t type from paper. Use the QR code on print.
Website	A “Review us on Google” link on a thank-you page or contact page.	Showing it only after a customer rates you highly in a survey.
Email signature	A quiet line for staff who deal with customers directly.	Using it in cold outreach to people who were never customers.
Review cards	A printed QR code or tap card handed over at the end of service.	Cards that point to a vendor’s redirect rather than your Google link.

For wording, our review request email templates and text message templates have messages you can adapt. For physical cards, including NFC tap cards, see our guide to Google review cards.

Should you shorten or brand the link?

The link Google provides is already short. You don’t need a link shortener, and adding one creates a dependency: if the shortening service changes its terms or disappears, every place you’ve published the short link stops working.

A redirect on your own website domain, such as yoursite.com/review, is a reasonable option if you control it and keep it maintained. It’s easy to say out loud and easy to update if the Google link ever changes. The rule is the same for any redirect: it must go straight to Google’s review form, for everyone, with nothing in between.

Rules that apply to how you share it

Having the link is not the hard part. Sharing it within Google’s rules is where businesses get into trouble. Google’s review policies and the FTC’s rule on consumer reviews set out a few clear limits:

• Send it to every customer. Don’t send the link only to people you expect to be happy. Selectively asking for positive reviews is known as review gating, and Google prohibits it.
• No star-rating filter in front of it. A survey that sends high scorers to Google and low scorers to a private form is gating, even when software does the sorting.
• No incentives. No discounts, gifts, entries into a draw or payment in exchange for using the link. Google’s policies prohibit incentivized reviews.
• Not for staff or family. Employees, owners and relatives shouldn’t use the link to review your business. That’s a conflict of interest under Google’s policy.
• Not in bulk to strangers. The link is for real customers who used your business.

Our full breakdown of the Google review policy explains each rule and how Google enforces it.

A worked example

This scenario is illustrative, not a real client.

A family-run bakery with two locations has been asking for reviews by saying “look us up on Google” at the register. Reviews trickle in, and several end up on the wrong location because customers pick the first result.

The owner signs in on her laptop, opens each profile and copies both review links into a shared spreadsheet, labeled by street address. She opens each link on her phone in a private window and on her son’s Android phone. One opens correctly. The other opens a duplicate listing that was created years ago by a previous manager and never removed.

She reports the duplicate through the profile’s suggest-an-edit option, copies the correct link from the verified profile, and tests again. Only then does she add the links to the bakery’s order confirmation emails and print QR cards for each counter. The wrong-location reviews stop, and new reviews land on the profile they describe.

Common mistakes

• Sharing the link to your whole profile instead of the review form. A link to your Maps listing makes customers hunt for the review button. Use the review link itself.
• Using one link for every location. Each location needs its own.
• Never retesting. Profile changes can break a link quietly.
• Posting a test review. Stop at the form. Your own reviews break the rules.
• Relying on a third-party redirect you don’t control. If it breaks, every printed card and old email breaks with it.
• Putting it behind a satisfaction survey. That turns a useful link into a policy violation.

When it’s worth getting help

For a single location, you can do all of this yourself in an afternoon. It gets harder with many locations, duplicate listings, suspended profiles or a review request process that runs through several tools. Our Google Business Profile management service covers setup, duplicate cleanup and keeping links accurate, and our review management service helps build a compliant request process around them.

Frequently asked questions

Is the Google review link free?

Yes. Google provides the review link and QR code in your Business Profile at no cost. You don’t need a paid tool to create one.

Does a customer need a Google account to use the link?

Yes. Google requires people to be signed in to a Google account to post a review. The link will prompt them to sign in if they aren’t already, and then open the review form.

Does my Google review link ever change?

It doesn’t expire on a schedule, but changes to the profile, such as a move, a merger of duplicate listings or reverification, can affect where it points. Retest it after any change and every few months regardless.

Can I get a review link for a business I don't manage?

The built-in option only appears for people who manage the profile. Customers who want to review any business can open its profile on Google Maps or Search and use the review button there.

Can I track how many people click my Google review link?

Google doesn’t provide click analytics for the review link. You can watch how many new reviews arrive after you start using it in a channel, or use tracking in your own email or text tool, as long as the link still goes straight to the review form.