Google Review Link: How to Get Yours, Make a QR Code and Use It

Your Google review link is a short web address that takes a customer straight to the box where they leave a review of your business. No searching for you, no scrolling, no "where's the reviews bit?". One tap and they're writing.

It's free, it takes two minutes to find, and it's the single easiest thing you can do to get more reviews. Here's how to get your link, how to turn it into a QR code, where a trade should actually use it, and why you don't need a "review link generator".

How to get your Google review link

Finding the Google review link for your business takes about two minutes. You need to be verified and signed in to the Google Account that manages your profile. If you can't see the options below, that's usually why. My guide to Google Business Profile verification covers sorting that out.

On a computer

These steps follow Google's own help page on review links and QR codes.

1. Open your Business Profile. Go to business.google.com, or search "my business" on Google while signed in.
2. Select Read reviews. It's one of the buttons on your profile. Google moves these about now and then, so look for the reviews option if the label has changed.
3. Select Get more reviews. A box opens with your review link, a QR code, and buttons to share by email, WhatsApp or Facebook.
4. Copy the link. Select Copy. Paste it somewhere safe, like a note on your phone, so you've always got it to hand.

The link usually starts with g.page/r/ and ends in /review, with a jumble of letters in between. That's normal. Every business gets its own.

On your phone

You can open your profile on your phone through Google Search or the Google Maps app while signed in, and the review options are there too. Google says review QR codes can currently only be made on a computer browser, not on a phone, so do that part at a desk.

If you can't find Get more reviews

• You're signed in to the wrong account. Lots of people manage their profile from a different Google account to the one on their phone. Check the account picture in the top corner.
• You're not verified yet. Finish verification first, then the review options appear on your profile.
• The profile has a problem. If your listing has gone from the map or shows a warning, sort that before anything else. My guide to a suspended Google Business Profile explains what to do.
• You're on your phone and want the QR code. Use a computer for that bit.

Test it before you send it

Open the link in a private window on your phone, as if you were a customer. It should open a review box for your business with stars to tap. If it opens someone else's business, or nothing at all, go back and copy it again.

Customers need to be signed in to a Google account to leave a review. Google says they can make one with any email address, not just Gmail, but it's worth knowing in case someone says the link "didn't work".

Do you need a Google review link generator?

No. Search for "Google review link generator" and you'll find lots of free tools that ask for your business name and spit out a link. Most of them build the link from your Place ID, Google's internal reference for your business.

They often work, but there are good reasons to use Google's own link instead:

• Place IDs can change. Google's developer guidance says place IDs may change over time, and recommends refreshing ones more than 12 months old. A link built from an old ID can quietly stop working.
• Some tools send customers through their own website first. If that tool shuts down, every QR code you've printed points nowhere.
• Some want your email address so they can sell you review software.
• Google already gives you a link, free, from the source.

If you've already printed a generator link on something, test it now. If it works, fine. Next time you reprint, use the link from your profile.

How to make a Google review QR code

Google makes one for you. In the same Get more reviews box on a computer, right-click the QR code and choose to save the image. That's it.

A few tips before you send 500 business cards to the printer:

• Print it big enough. A QR code the size of a fingernail is hard to scan. Give it room, with a clear white border.
• Don't stretch or recolour it unless you test the result.
• Add a line of text so people know what it's for: "Happy with the job? Scan to leave a Google review."
• Test the printed proof with two or three different phones before you order the full run.

Where to use your Google review link

The best places are wherever a customer is looking at something from you, shortly after the job. For trades, that's mostly these, roughly in order of how well they work.

1. A text on the day of the job. The best one by a mile. Short, from your number, with the link. My guide on how to get more Google reviews has scripts to copy.
2. WhatsApp, if that's how you talk to customers anyway.
3. Your invoice or receipt email. A line at the bottom: "If you were happy with the work, a Google review really helps: [link]".
4. A leave-behind card with the QR code, handed over at the end of the job, or left with the paperwork for a new boiler or a certificate.
5. Your email signature, for customers you deal with by email.

A text you can copy

"Hi [name], it's [your name] from [business]. Thanks for having me round today. If you've got a minute, an honest Google review would really help: [your review link]. Thanks, [your name]"

Save it as a template or a keyboard shortcut on your phone, so sending it takes ten seconds while you're loading the van.

What about putting it on the van?

People ask about a Google review QR code on the van. Honestly, I wouldn't bother. The people who see your van in traffic or parked on a street mostly haven't used you, and the people who have used you already have your number. If you've got room on the van, your phone number and website will earn more.

The same goes for quotes. Someone who hasn't hired you yet has nothing to review. Send the link after the work, not before.

Rules worth knowing before you share it

Google's review link page carries the same warning as its review policies: reviews must reflect a genuine experience, and offering incentives (free or discounted work, for example) in exchange for reviews is treated as fake engagement and strictly prohibited.

• Send the link to every customer, not just the ones you're sure are happy. Asking only happy customers breaks Google's rules on selectively asking for positive reviews.
• Ask for an honest review, not a five-star one.
• Don't hand customers your phone and wait while they write it. Google says merchants shouldn't pressure people to leave reviews while on the premises, and it's awkward for everyone.

Automate the asking

Having the link is half the job. The other half is remembering to send it after every single job, which is where most trades fall down. You're packing up, the next job's waiting, and the text never gets sent.

That's what review automation fixes. When a job's marked as finished, the customer automatically gets a short request in your business's name with your review link. Everyone gets asked, nobody gets filtered out, and you don't have to remember.

Where this fits

A steady flow of reviews is one part of a profile that wins work. The rest (categories, services, photos and the setup itself) is in my Google Business Profile checklist, and the bigger picture is in the local SEO guide for tradespeople.

If you'd like to know how your reviews and profile compare with the trades around you, the free Search Opportunity Review on my local SEO for tradesmen page will show you. I'll be straight about whether reviews are the thing to work on, or whether something else matters more.