The review process we run for Perth local SEO clients: ask everyone, ask early, make it a habit, and stay inside Google's rules.
To get more Google reviews in Perth without breaking Google's rules, ask every customer, straight after the job is done, with a short link that opens your Google review box, and make that ask a weekly habit rather than a one-off push. Do not pick who you ask based on whether they were happy, do not offer anything in return, and never write, buy or swap reviews, because those are the practices Google's policies ban and the ones that get reviews filtered out.
Want more of your reviews to turn into calls?
We run local SEO and Google Business Profiles for Perth businesses.
That is the process we build into every local SEO engagement in Perth, and it is the one behind our own Google profile, which sits at 5.0 from 25 reviews. Below is how it works in practice: what Google allows, what it does not, how to ask, and what to do with the reviews once they arrive.
Reviews do two jobs. Volume, recency and the rating itself feed map pack rankings, and they decide who gets the call once you are visible.
The second job is easy to forget. Someone choosing between three listings in the map pack reads the reviews and the replies before they ring anyone. A profile with recent, specific reviews looks like a business that is open and doing work this month.
If you want the wider picture of how the map pack is ranked, we have written that up separately in how to get into the Google map pack in Perth. This post is only about the reviews.
Google wants businesses to ask for reviews. Its own Business Profile tools give you a link to share with customers for exactly that reason. You are allowed to:
The theme is simple. You can make it easy for real customers to describe a real experience. You cannot shape what they say or who gets to say it.
Google's policies on user contributed content treat these as fake engagement:
Australian businesses also have the Australian Consumer Law to think about. The ACCC's guidance on online reviews treats fake reviews and selectively hiding negative feedback as potentially misleading, so this is a legal risk as well as a Google one.
Review gating is any setup that filters customers before they reach Google. The common version is a "How did we do?" message: tap a smiley face and you get the Google link, tap a frown and you get a private feedback form instead.
It looks harmless, and plenty of review tools have offered it. It still breaks Google's rule against selectively asking for positive reviews, because the unhappy customer never gets the same chance to post publicly.
The safe version is easy. Send everyone the same message with the same Google link. If you also want private feedback, ask for it separately, not as a fork in the road.
No. Any reward tied to leaving a review is an incentive under Google's policy, even if you do not ask for a positive one. That includes "10% off your next visit", a monthly prize draw for everyone who reviews, or a free add-on.
Thanking people afterwards in a reply is fine. Rewarding them for posting is not. If you want to reward loyalty, do it for every customer, with no link to whether they reviewed you.
Sign in to your Google Business Profile and use the option to ask for reviews. Google gives you a short link that opens the review box for your business directly, so the customer does not have to search for you first.
Save that link somewhere you can paste it in seconds: a text template on your phone, your job management software, your invoice footer and your email signature. A QR code made from the same link works well where customers are standing in front of you.
Ask at the moment the customer is happiest, which is usually right after the job is delivered. A request that goes out while the work is still fresh gets far more replies than an email a week later that nobody opens.
For a tradie, that is on site when the job is signed off, followed by a text with the link before you have left the street. For a clinic, salon or shop, it is at the counter as the customer leaves, with the QR code in view and the link sent by text the same day.
Keep the ask short and personal. Something like this is enough:
"Thanks again for today. If you have a minute, a Google review helps us a lot: [link]"
Let customers leave it on their own phone, in their own Google account, in their own words. Do not suggest what they should write.
Most businesses that struggle with reviews do not have a quality problem. They have a habit problem: the ask happens when someone remembers. This is what we set up for local SEO clients instead:
The fourth point matters more than most people expect. Recency is part of what Google weighs, and a steady flow of a few genuine reviews each month holds up better than a big total that stopped arriving two years ago. A sudden burst after a push also looks less natural than reviews that arrive as jobs are finished.
Yes. A reply is the only part of a review you control, and it is read by the next person deciding whether to call. We answer every review on our own profile for that reason.
Keep replies short, specific and human. Thank the person, mention the job if you can do it without sharing private details, and leave it there. Copy and paste replies read like nobody is home.
For a negative review, reply calmly and once. Acknowledge the problem, give the facts without arguing, and offer a way to sort it out offline. The reader you are writing for is the next customer, not the reviewer.
You cannot have a review removed because it is negative. You can report a review that breaks Google's policies, such as one from someone who was never a customer, a competitor, spam or abuse, through your Business Profile.
Report it once with a clear reason, then reply publicly in a calm, factual way. Removal is not guaranteed, and the reply is what future customers see in the meantime.
What we will not do is generate reviews you did not earn to bury a bad one. Google filters them, and the fall afterwards is worse than never having ranked.
Fewer than most people assume, and the flow matters more than the total. Our own profile is rated 5.0 from 25 reviews, and in August 2026 it held a top three position in the Perth local pack.
That is not a large number. It works because the reviews are genuine, recent and still arriving, because the ask is built into the job rather than run as a one-off push. In a dense category against competitors with hundreds of reviews you will need more, but a weekly habit will get you further than a target number.
Reviews are one lever of several. Your category, service area, photos and suburb pages all feed the map pack too. If you want to know which one is holding your profile back, a free SEO audit is the place to start, or see how we run local SEO in Perth end to end.
No. Google encourages businesses to ask for reviews and gives you a direct review link in your Business Profile to share. What breaks the rules is asking only happy customers, offering anything in return, writing reviews yourself or buying them. Ask every customer the same way and let them write what they like.
No. Google treats any reward tied to a review as an incentive, including discounts, freebies and prize draw entries, even if you do not ask for a positive review. In Australia the ACCC also warns businesses about misleading reviews. Reward loyalty for every customer instead, with no link to reviewing.
Review gating is screening customers before they reach Google, for example sending only people who tap a happy face to your review link and steering unhappy ones to a private form. It breaks Google's policy against selectively asking for positive reviews. Send everyone the same message with the same link instead.
Ask straight after the job is delivered, while the customer is still happy and the work is fresh. Ask in person, then text the short review link the same day. Make it a weekly habit so reviews keep arriving, because a steady flow of recent reviews holds up better than one burst.
Fewer than most people expect. Enkindle's own Google profile is rated 5.0 from 25 reviews and held a top three position in the Perth local pack in August 2026. Recency and a steady flow matter more than the total, though dense categories with established competitors will need more.
