Review generation for tradesmen: getting more Google reviews

What to take away

Google Business Profile reviews feed the local map pack. Directory reviews mostly stay inside the directory.
Ask in person when you finish the job, then send one SMS with a short link that evening.
Never pay, discount or refund in exchange for a review.
Hold a customer's number with a lawful basis and a visible way to opt out.
A steady trickle of reviews reads better than a cluster arriving after a quiet month.
Review-generation software such as Podium or NiceJob earns its place once the manual ask stops scaling.

Where tradesmen get found now

Domestic customers rarely start with a trade body. They search for an electrician near me, look at the map pack, then open two or three profiles.

Google vs Trades Directory

Google Business Profile

Who can post: Anyone with Google account
Where it appears: Search and Maps
Local search pull: Direct, map pack
Cost: Free to hold
Best use: Steady flow after jobs

Trades directory

Who can post: Customers who booked
Where it appears: Directory's own listing
Local search pull: Little direct effect
Cost: Often paid membership
Best use: Customers comparing firms

Google Business Profile decides that first shortlist. The reviews on it, and how recently they arrived, are visible before anyone clicks through to a website.

Recency matters as much as the star rating. A profile whose newest review is two years old looks dormant next to one with a review from last month.

Directories such as Checkatrade add a second layer. Reviews there are tied to jobs booked through the platform, so the rating covers less work but is harder to game. Tradesmen usually need both, and the common mistake is treating them as one job.

Google Business Profile

Who can post: Anyone with a Google account
Where it appears: Search results and Maps
Pull on local search: Direct, through the map pack
Cost: Free to hold a profile
Best use: A steady flow after each job

Trades directory

Who can post: Usually customers who booked through the platform
Where it appears: The directory's own listing
Pull on local search: Little direct effect on Google
Cost: Often a paid membership
Best use: Customers already comparing local firms

The ask, in five steps

Finish the job cleanly. Walk the customer round, confirm nothing is outstanding, and leave the invoice total in writing.
Ask out loud, once. Say that a Google review helps you win the next job, then stop talking.
Send one SMS that evening with a direct review link. No follow-up text a week later.
Record the request date and the outcome somewhere you will actually check.
Reply to everything that arrives, including the two-star and three-star reviews, within a week.

Sending that text means using a customer's phone number for a purpose beyond the job itself. The ICO's UK GDPR guidance sets out the lawful bases you can rely on and the rights customers can exercise, including objection. A line in the message telling them to reply STOP keeps the promise visible.

A template that works: "Hi [first name], thanks for having us out today. If you have a minute, a Google review helps other local customers find us: [review link]. Reply STOP to opt out." One message, one link, one way out.

Build one link and reuse it everywhere

A customer who searches your business name may land on a competitor's pin or a dormant listing. A direct review link removes that risk. Sign in to your Google Business Profile, open the Reviews section and use the Ask for reviews card: Google generates a short, shareable link that you copy once and send to every customer. Our guide to creating a Google review link for UK customers covers what to do when the card is not showing in your profile.

Put it on the invoice, in the quote email signature and in the WhatsApp message that confirms the appointment. The link should be one tap away when the customer is happiest.

What you may and may not do

The Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 added fake reviews to the list of banned commercial practices. The Competition and Markets Authority enforces those rules and can act against a business directly, while Trading Standards handles complaints locally. Buying a review is therefore a consumer law risk and not only a platform one.

Incentives sit in the same place. A £10 discount for a review is not a genuine review, and Google's fake engagement policy treats undisclosed rewards as manipulation.

Screening matters too. Asking only the customers you expect to be pleased is review gating, which Google's prohibited and restricted content policy catches under the same heading. Ask everyone, then handle what comes back.

Google's guidance in Business Profile Help on getting more reviews puts the weight on timing and on replying, not on volume.

Keeping it running without an agency

Most sole traders start with a saved link and a template message rather than a platform. When the requests outgrow a weekly check, the tools built for the job are Podium, NiceJob and Birdeye for automated SMS requests, and Reviews.io for collecting and displaying reviews on a website. Each is a paid subscription, so it earns its keep only once you are sending enough requests to lose track of them.

Weekly review tracking

Track requests sent each week
Track reviews received each month
Spreadsheet columnsdate asked, channel, review appeared
High requests with flat reviews means link or timing wrong

When volume grows, our workflow guide explains what to automate first in a review service and what should stay manual.

Track two numbers only: requests sent each week and reviews received each month. If requests run high and reviews stay flat, the link or the timing is wrong. A simple spreadsheet with three columns is enough: date asked, channel, and whether a review appeared.

Common questions

Should I ask in person or send a text?

Both, in that order. The spoken ask gives the request weight, and the text makes it easy to act on.

Do I need to reply to every Google review?

Yes, good and bad. Replies are public and show the next customer how you handle a problem.

Can I offer a discount in exchange for a review?

No. Incentives undermine the review and can breach consumer law as well as platform policy.

Which matters more, Checkatrade or Google?

Google for local search, the directory for customers already comparing firms. Most tradesmen should keep both ticking over rather than pick one.