Review gating

Review gating is a selective-review solicitation pattern in which a business asks customers for feedback, routes customers who report a positive experience toward a public Google review, and discourages, diverts, or withholds negative feedback; Google does not allow this practice on Google Maps.

Google does not use the phrase review gating as a named policy term. This definition is a plain synthesis of Google's stated boundary: reviews and ratings should reflect an actual experience and be genuine and unbiased, while merchants may not discourage or prohibit negative reviews or selectively solicit positive ones.¹

Review gating does not mean every request for a review. A private feedback survey is not itself review gating; it becomes gating when the customer's response controls who receives the public review link. Google permits a business to solicit content that represents a genuine experience when it offers no incentive and does not influence the rating or the review contents. Google Business Profile Help recommends sharing a review link or QR code, then accepting the honest mix of positive and negative feedback customers choose to publish. Read the wider Google reviews guidance and the answer on getting more Google reviews.¹²

Google's policy also prohibits requiring or pressuring people to leave a rating or write a review while on the premises, or requesting specific content. Google gives staff-directed examples of this pattern: asking staff to solicit a certain number of reviews, or asking staff to solicit reviews with specific content, including content that identifies a staff member. The policy also prohibits offering payment, discounts, free goods, or free services in exchange for posting any review, or for revising or removing a negative one. Google owns the policy boundary for reviews on Google Maps. For US businesses, the Federal Trade Commission's Consumer Reviews and Testimonials Rule took effect on October 21, 2024 and addresses deceptive and unfair conduct involving reviews. The FTC says that rule does not specifically prohibit asking only customers believed to be happy, but that practice may still violate the FTC Act. That federal framework is separate from Google's direct prohibition on discouraging negative reviews and selectively soliciting positive ones.¹³

Sources

1. Google Maps User Generated Content Policy Help, "Prohibited & restricted content": Rating manipulation and review policy (read 2026-09-25)

2. Google Business Profile Help, "Tips to get more reviews": Review link and QR code guidance (read 2026-09-25)

3. Federal Trade Commission, "The Consumer Reviews and Testimonials Rule: Questions and Answers": Current rule guidance (read 2026-09-25)