How to get more Google reviews: link, templates and the rules in Norway

Why do Google reviews matter for being found?

Google Business Profile is your business listing on Google Search and Google Maps: address, opening hours, photos and the reviews clients leave. When someone searches for “hairdresser Lillestrøm” or “plumber Oslo”, the local results show these profiles.

Google's help page on local ranking says local results are mainly based on three factors: relevance (how well your profile matches the search), distance (how far you are from the person searching) and prominence (how well known your business is). Reviews are part of prominence, and Google says it directly: “More reviews and positive ratings can help your business's local ranking.” The same page adds that there is no way to request or pay for a better local ranking.

Reviews do a second job too: people read them before they call. Google notes that a mix of positive and negative feedback often feels more trustworthy, so you do not need a perfect 5.0. You need a steady flow of honest reviews and visible replies.

The rest of this guide is a routine: get the link, ask every client, reply to every review and stay inside the rules. The profile itself is covered in the Google Business Profile guide, and the bigger picture in how a local business gets found on Google.

How do you get your Google review link and QR code?

1. Use a computer. Google says review QR codes can currently only be generated in a computer browser, not on mobile devices.
2. Open your Business Profile. Sign in with the Google account that manages the profile (you can start at business.google.com).
3. Select Read reviews, then Get more reviews. A window shows your review link and a QR code.
4. Copy the link. Select Copy and paste it into a note you can reach from your phone. This is the Google review link for SMS, email and receipts.
5. Save the QR code. Right click it and choose Save image as. Print it for the counter, the waiting area or the back of your business card.
6. Test it. Open the link on your own phone and check that the review form for the right business opens.

Google also suggests sharing the link by email, in a WhatsApp message or in a Facebook post.

How to get more Google reviews: when and how to ask

The best time to ask customers for reviews is shortly after the visit, while it is fresh: the same day by email, or a day or two later by SMS. Ask after every visit, not only when it went well. Google does not allow businesses to selectively solicit positive reviews, and Forbrukertilsynet's guidance on user reviews says requests must not go only to customers expected to be especially satisfied.

• SMS or email after the visit. The most reliable channel, because it reaches everyone and can run by itself. Timing and the consent rules are in automatic messages for salons.
• Review QR code at the counter. Google suggests displaying it in your premises. Let it invite, not push: Google's policy says businesses should not require or pressure customers to write reviews while on the premises.
• On the receipt or invoice. One line with the link. Craftsmen can add it to the invoice email after the job.
• In person. A short, neutral question at the end of the visit, then the link in writing.

A plumber in Oslo can send the SMS the day after the job, when the client has seen that everything works. A salon in Lillestrøm can send it two days after the visit, when the result has settled.

How should you respond to Google reviews?

Google says replying shows clients that you value their feedback, and that positive reviews and helpful replies can help your business stand out. The profile must be verified before you can reply. Then open your Business Profile, select Read reviews, choose Reply next to the review, write your answer and select Reply. Google checks replies against its policies, usually within 10 minutes but sometimes up to 30 days, and the reviewer is notified.

• Thank and be specific. Mention what the client mentioned, not a generic “thanks for the review”.
• Never share personal or health details. Not the treatment, the price or what happened in the chair, even if the client wrote it first. In clinics, health personnel have a duty of confidentiality under helsepersonelloven § 21, also in a reply on Google.
• Move problems offline. Apologise where it fits, explain what you can and cannot do, and give a phone number or email to sort it out.
• Be conversational, not promotional. Google advises against using replies to offer deals.
• Sign with your name and reply within a couple of days.

What does the Google review policy not allow?

Google's Maps content policy says contributions must reflect a genuine experience, and fake engagement is removed. In practice, these are the things that get businesses in trouble:

Forbrukertilsynet's guidance discusses when a small reward can be acceptable for reviews in a business's own channels, but Google leaves no such room: any incentive is out. If Google finds a breach of its fake engagement policy, it can remove the reviews and restrict the profile, for example by blocking new reviews for a period, unpublishing existing reviews for a period, or showing a warning that fake reviews were removed.

What do Norwegian rules say about fake reviews?

Norwegian law comes on top of Google's rules. Since 1 October 2023, when the changes implementing the EU modernisation directive came into force, two points have been on the list of commercial practices that are always unfair (forskrift om urimelig handelspraksis § 1):

• Point 23c: submitting fake consumer reviews or recommendations, or getting someone else to do it, or giving a misleading presentation of reviews or recommendations in social media to market your services.
• Point 23b: stating that reviews come from customers who actually used or bought the service, without reasonable and proportionate steps to make sure they do.

From the same date, markedsføringsloven § 8 says that when a business gives consumers access to consumer reviews, information about whether and how it ensures that they come from real customers is material. In practice: if you show reviews on your website or in ads, say where they come from and how they are handled.

The rules are enforced. On 11 March 2026 Forbrukertilsynet reported that the Market Council (Markedsrådet) had decided its first case about user reviews in marketing on 18 December 2025, and had backed the authority fully. Forbrukertilsynet sums up the duties: have routines to make sure reviews come from real consumers, tell consumers what those routines are, and never post or encourage fake reviews. The law allows infringement fines for serious or repeated breaches. Note that Forbrukertilsynet's own guidance on user reviews says it has not been updated after the modernisation directive, so read it together with the current law.

What can you do about fake or unfair reviews?

First, separate unfair from fake. Google says you should not report a review just because you disagree with it, and only reviews that break its policies are removed. A one star review from a real client is feedback, and the best answer is a calm public reply and a phone call.

1. Report the review. In your Business Profile, select Read reviews, choose Report next to the review, pick the reason (for example Spam) and select Send report. Evaluation typically takes several days.
2. Follow it in the Reviews Management Tool. Google's Reviews Management Tool shows whether a decision is pending, or whether the report was reviewed without finding a violation.
3. Appeal once if you disagree. The same tool lets you submit a one time appeal for up to 10 reviews, and you get the result by email.
4. Reply in public meanwhile. Short and factual, without accusing anyone. Readers see your reply long before Google decides.
5. Extortion: do not pay. If a wave of one and two star reviews is followed by a demand for money to remove them, take screenshots and report it through Google's merchant extortion report form.

Reviews posted to hurt a competitor also break Google's fake engagement policy, so report them the same way.

A 30 day plan for more Google reviews

Reviews work best as one part of a bigger routine; the 90 day marketing plan for small businesses shows where they fit. For the first month, this is enough:

What to measure

• New reviews per month, counted in your profile and compared with the three months before you started.
• Requests sent and reviews received. Reviews divided by requests shows whether timing and wording work.
• Average rating, followed over months rather than days.
• Reply rate and reply time: the share of reviews with a reply, and how many days it took.

A steady flow beats a spike. Google's policy lists unusual volumes or patterns of reviews as a sign of rating manipulation, so my advice is to ask after each visit rather than message your whole client list in one evening; a message to the whole list should also be treated as marketing.

Checklist: more Google reviews this week

• Copy your review link and save the QR code from a computer.
• Test the link on your phone.
• Write one SMS, one email and one receipt line with the link.
• Ask every client after every visit, with nothing in return.
• Put the QR code at the counter, without pressing anyone to use it there.
• Reply to every new review within two days, without personal or health details.
• Tell staff: no quotas, and no asking clients to mention names.
• Add a short note on how reviews are handled wherever you show them on your website.
• Report fake reviews and follow them in the Reviews Management Tool.