Can you ask clients for Google reviews? A guide for regulated practices

Reviews are one of the first things people read on a Google profile. For most businesses the advice is simple: ask every customer. For regulated practices it takes a little more care, because two sets of rules apply at once. Google sets rules for its platform, and your regulator sets rules for how you advertise.

What Google allows

Google's policy for reviews on Maps is clear on a few points. A business shouldn't:

• Offer anything in exchange for a review, such as a discount, a gift or a free service
• Ask only happy clients for reviews, or screen people first and send only the satisfied ones to Google
• Discourage or prevent negative reviews
• Post reviews from owners or staff, current or former, since that is a conflict of interest

Reviews that break these rules can be removed, and a pattern of them can put the whole profile at risk.

Where your regulator comes in

Professional regulators don't usually control what clients choose to post on Google. They do control how you use reviews and testimonials in your own advertising, and some limit how you ask for them.

• Physiotherapists: provincial colleges set advertising standards. In Ontario, the College of Physiotherapists of Ontario only allows testimonials in advertising when they meet specific conditions, including patient consent.
• Lawyers: law societies require marketing to be accurate and not misleading, and rules on testimonials and endorsements vary by province.
• Accountants: provincial CPA bodies have professional conduct rules that cover advertising and client confidentiality.

Rules differ by province and change over time, so check your own regulator's current guidance before you start asking.

A simple, fair way to ask

If your regulator allows it, the safest approach is also the simplest: ask everyone the same way, at the same point, and make it easy to say no.

1. Pick one moment, such as when a course of treatment ends or a file closes.
2. Use the same short message for everyone, whatever you think their experience was.
3. Include the direct review link from your Business Profile so it takes one tap.
4. Don't follow up more than once, and never ask someone to change a review.

Replying without breaching confidentiality

This is where regulated practices most often slip. Replying to a review can reveal that someone is your client or patient, which they may not have shared publicly, even if they wrote the review themselves.

• Don't confirm the person is a client or patient.
• Don't mention their treatment, case, file or fees.
• Keep replies short and general, and invite them to contact the office directly.

For a positive review: "Thank you for taking the time to leave a review." For a negative one: "We're sorry to read this. Please call our office so we can talk it through." That's enough.

What about fake or unfair reviews?

If a review breaks Google's policy, for example it's spam, off topic or from someone who was never a client, you can report it through your Business Profile. Google decides whether to remove it. Avoid arguing in public, which rarely helps and can create confidentiality problems.

Our position

We never write, buy or post reviews for the practices we work with. Reviews have to come from real clients or patients, and only where your regulator allows. Read more on our standards page.

Sources

• Google Maps user contributed content policy: prohibited and restricted content
• College of Physiotherapists of Ontario, advertising standard resources
• Canadian Bar Association, common mistakes in legal advertising

This guide is general information, not legal or professional advice. Rules and Google features change, so check the current source before acting.