How to get more Google reviews.
The exact text to send.

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This one is for contractors. Your first 10 reviews, the text to send, how to answer the bad ones, and why I tell shops to fix their reviews before they buy ads.

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Do Google reviews matter for contractors?

Pull up the map in your town and look for yourself. Search your trade the way a homeowner would, look at who sits at the top of the map, and count their reviews. Then count yours.

That's the whole argument. A homeowner who has never heard of either of you compares you right there, before anybody picks up a phone. Google also says review count and rating are part of how it ranks local businesses, so reviews help you show up in the first place, not just look good once you do.

How do you get your first 10 Google reviews?

If I were starting today with zero reviews, here's the plan: 10 jobs, 10 photos each, 10 texts.

Every time you finish a job, take your photos and send the customer a text with a few pictures of their job and your Google review link. Do that for your next 10 jobs and you walk away with 100 job photos and a real shot at 10 new reviews. That's a better start online than a lot of shops that have been at it for years.

Timing is most of it. Ask the day you finish, while the customer is standing in the driveway looking at the work and feeling good about what they just paid for. Wait, and they've moved on.

What text should you send to ask for a Google review?

Short, personal, and one link. Here are two I like. Copy them, put your own words in, and save them on your phone.

Text it, don't email it. People have their phone in their hand all day and they dread their inbox. A text pops up, they tap the link, and they're done.

Where to get the link. In your Google Business Profile, look for Get more reviews or Ask for reviews (the name depends on where you open it) and copy the link it gives you. Paste it into your text once and save the whole thing as a shortcut or a note, so you're not typing it out in the truck.

Want all seven of the texts I use, including the day 3 nudge and how to ask a customer from months ago? They're in the free Review Kit.

How do you make asking for reviews a habit?

Same ask, every job. When you schedule the last day of a job, set a reminder in your calendar for that afternoon: text this customer, send the review link. Use the same text every time, so nobody has to think about it and nobody gets skipped.

If your crew or your office helps, give them the same text. One thing to watch: Google's rules now call out businesses that push staff to bring in a set number of reviews, or reviews that say specific things. Make it a habit, not a quota.

Want this running without anybody having to remember? That's what our review generation system is for.

Should you only ask happy customers for reviews?

No. That's a myth, and it breaks Google's rules. Google says a business shouldn't selectively ask for positive reviews or discourage negative ones, and it strictly prohibits offering anything in exchange for a review, like a discount, a gift card or free work. You can read it yourself in Google's prohibited and restricted content policy.

So ask everybody the same way, whether you think they're thrilled or not. If you're doing good work and taking care of people, the reviews will show it.

Should you respond to good Google reviews?

Yes. Answer every review, especially the good ones. You should be excited to get one. Say thank you, mention the job you did for them, and let them know you're grateful they gave you the chance.

It takes a minute. Every homeowner who reads your reviews later sees an owner who pays attention, and that does a lot to outweigh the rare bad one.

How should a contractor respond to a bad Google review?

One bad review won't ruin you. That's a myth too. People read your reply almost as closely as the review itself. Anybody can get on the internet and smash their keyboard. An owner who answers professionally, promptly, and offers to make it right shows the next homeowner that you stand behind your work.

Keep it calm, short and helpful. Thank them, say you want to fix it, and move it to the phone.

Then actually go take care of the customer. Don't argue in public, and don't offer them anything to change or take down the review. Google prohibits that too.

Should you fix your reviews before you run ads?

Yes. Don't buy ads until your reviews are fixed. If you've been around a long time and you have three reviews while the shop down the road has hundreds, your ad might get the click. Then the homeowner looks you up and wonders why what their buddy said about you doesn't match what they see on Google.

Ads send people to look at you. Make sure what they find is worth calling. 12 Checks Before You Spend on Ads walks through the rest of the list, and SEO or Google Ads covers where to spend first.

Do photos help your Google reviews?

Photos sell the next job. Take 10 photos on every job, before, during and after, and send a few with your review text. Customers can add photos to a Google review if they want to, and a review with real pictures of the work does a lot more than five stars and no words. Just don't ask them to include photos or say anything in particular. Google's rules say not to.

Put the best ones on your Google profile and your Facebook page too. You already carry a camera in your pocket, and it doesn't cost a thing extra to use it.

Free tools that go with this

Questions contractors ask about Google reviews