Why Google reviews matter so much for tradesmen

Most of the people who hire you can't judge a soldered joint, a consumer unit or a level course of bricks. They can judge what other people say about you. A Google review is word of mouth that stays up, and it reaches people your old customers will never meet.

Think about how a new customer finds a trade now. Their boiler stops, they search for a heating engineer near them, and Google shows a map with three businesses on it. Each one has a star rating and a number of reviews next to its name. Before they have read a word of your website, they have already compared you on those two numbers.

That is why reviews matter more for trades than for almost any other kind of business. You are asking someone to let you into their home, often to spend hundreds or thousands of pounds on something they don't fully understand. Reviews from people in the same position are the closest thing they have to a reference.

Reviews help you show up on Google Maps

Reviews don't only persuade the customer. They help decide whether the customer sees you at all. Google says local results are based mainly on three things: relevance, distance and prominence.

Relevance is how well your Business Profile matches what someone searched for. Distance is how far you are from them. Prominence is how well known your business is, and Google says plainly that this is based partly on how many reviews you have. In Google's own words, more reviews and positive ratings can help your business's local ranking.

Google doesn't publish a magic number of reviews or a target rating, and anyone who tells you one is guessing. What you can say is that two plumbers the same distance from a customer, with equally complete profiles, are separated by things like reviews. A steady flow of genuine ones is one of the few ranking factors you control completely.

What customers actually look at before they ring

BrightLocal runs one of the biggest yearly surveys on how people use reviews. Its Local Consumer Review Survey 2026 asked 1,002 adults in the US, so it is not a UK study, but the habits it describes will be familiar to anyone who has hired a trade from their phone.

97% of consumers read reviews online, and 41% say they always read them when looking at businesses.
74% look for reviews written in the last three months, and 32% look for reviews from the last two weeks.
68% will only use a business with four stars or more, and 31% will only use one with 4.5 stars or more.
80% say they are likely to use a business that responds to all of its reviews.

Recent reviews count as much as the total

That second figure is the one most trades miss. Forty reviews from three years ago and nothing since looks like a business that has gone quiet, or one that has stopped doing a good job. Two or three new reviews a month tells the customer you are busy, current and still looking after people.

It also means you can't fix your reviews with one push. Asking every customer you have had in the last five years in one weekend gives you a burst, then silence. What works is a habit: every finished job, every time, a polite ask.

1. Ask in person before you leave

The best moment to ask is when the customer is stood looking at the finished work. The heating is back on, the new bathroom is clean, the lights work. They are pleased, you are there, and a review is the easiest yes you will get all day.

Keep it simple and honest. Something like: if you are happy with the job, a Google review really helps a small business like mine, I will send you the link tonight. That is all it takes.

What you must not do is pressure them. Google's policy says businesses should not require or pressure people to leave ratings or reviews while on the premises. So ask, then leave it. Don't stand over them while they type, and don't hand them your phone to do it on.

And never offer money off for a review. Google prohibits offering incentives such as payment, discounts, free goods or services in exchange for a review, and it removes reviews posted because of one. A tenner off the invoice can cost you the review and put your profile at risk.

2. Send the link within a day, to every customer

Asking in person plants the idea. Sending the link is what gets the review written. If one habit separates trades with plenty of reviews from those with a handful, it is this: a link, sent quickly, to everyone.

Quickly means within a day. The job is fresh, the customer remembers your name, and they are still in the mood to say something nice. Leave it a fortnight and they have moved on to the next thing in their life.

Everyone means everyone. It is tempting to only send the link to the customers you got on well with. Google calls that selectively soliciting positive reviews, and its policy forbids it. It also doesn't help you. A business with only glowing reviews looks less believable than one with a real mix, and Google itself notes that a mix of feedback often seems more trustworthy.

The hard part is remembering. After a long day, the last thing on your mind is sending review links. This is where it pays to have it happen automatically, so it goes out whether you remember or not.

3. Use your direct review link, not search for us on Google

Telling a customer to search for you on Google and leave a review sounds easy. In practice they search, find three businesses with similar names, scroll, tap the wrong one, can't find the review button, and give up.

Google gives every Business Profile a direct review link. It opens straight on the stars, so the customer can rate you and write a line in under a minute. You will find it in your Business Profile under Read reviews, then Get more reviews. The steps are at the bottom of this guide.

One thing worth knowing: customers need to be signed in to a Google account to leave a review. Google notes they can create one with any email address, not only Gmail, which is worth mentioning to an older customer who says they don't have Google.

4. Leave a QR code behind

A QR code turns your review link into something a customer can scan with their phone camera. Put it where people look at the end of a job: the back of your business card, the bottom of your invoice, a sticker inside the boiler cupboard door, or the side of the van.

The advantage is timing. The customer can scan it there and then, while they are still pleased, instead of meaning to do it later. Google lets you download a review QR code from the same Get more reviews screen as your link, although for now you have to do it from a computer, not a phone.

5. Reply to every review

Replying is the step most trades skip, and it is the one future customers notice. In the BrightLocal survey, 80% said they are likely to use a business that responds to all of its reviews. A reply shows you are real, you care, and you are still trading.

Good replies are short and personal. Thank the customer by name and mention the job: thanks Sarah, glad the new radiators are keeping the house warm. Google's own advice is to avoid the same generic thank you on every review, keep it conversational rather than promotional, and sign off with your name.

How to respond to a bad review

Every trade gets one eventually. The review itself matters less than how you answer it, because the next customer reads your reply as much as the complaint.

Don't argue, don't share the customer's private details, and don't reply in the heat of the moment. Write it, sleep on it, then post something calm. Acknowledge what went wrong, apologise where it is fair to, explain briefly what you can and can't do, and offer to put it right by phone or email.

A reply like that can turn a one star review into a reason to hire you. It shows a customer what happens when something goes wrong on their job, which is exactly what they are worried about.

What not to do: the review rules in UK law

Since 6 April 2025, fake reviews have been banned in UK law under the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024. The Competition and Markets Authority published its fake reviews guidance on 4 April 2025, and under the new regime it can fine a business up to 10% of its global turnover without going to court first.

The rules cover fake reviews, which claim to be from a real customer's genuine experience but aren't, and concealed incentivised reviews, where someone was given money or something else for a review and that isn't made clear. They also cover presenting review information in a misleading way, such as hiding the bad ones on your own website.

Don't write reviews of your own business, or ask friends, family or staff to.
Don't buy reviews, or pay anyone who promises to get you reviews.
Don't offer a discount, a free extra or entry into a prize draw for a review. Google bans it outright, even where the law would let you disclose it.
Don't only ask the customers you think are happy.
Don't hide or delete genuine bad reviews from your own website or social media.
Do keep a simple record of how you ask for reviews, in case you are ever asked.

How many Google reviews does a tradesman need?

There is no official number. Google doesn't publish one, and the right figure depends on how many reviews your local competitors have. A sensible first goal is to have more recent reviews than the other trades who show up on the map for your main search, and to keep a few new ones coming in every month.

If you finish ten jobs a month and send a link to every customer, you will not get ten reviews. Plenty of people mean to and never do. But you will get some, every month, and within a year that adds up to a profile that wins work on its own.

Make it a habit, not a campaign

None of this is complicated. Ask in person, send the link within a day, use the direct link, leave a QR code, and reply to everything. The trades with hundreds of reviews aren't doing anything clever. They are doing those five things on every single job.

Traddie can take care of the second step for you. Turn on the review request automation and it sends your Google review link to the customer once, the day after they pay your invoice. You still ask in person and reply yourself, but the link never gets forgotten.

Google reviews for tradesmen: why they matter and how to get more