The playbook · en español
The short answer: ask at the moment your customer is happiest, hand them a direct link or QR code, and guide what they mention — the specific service, your town, one concrete detail — never what they say. Those three specifics are what Google and the AI engines extract when deciding who to recommend. Never script, never pay: that violates Google policy and FTC rules. Check what machines currently see about your business — free, 60 seconds.
Machines read your reviews as evidence. When someone asks Google — or ChatGPT, or Gemini — "who rebuilds fences in Napa," the systems look for a business whose reviews actually contain the evidence: fence, Napa, something real that happened. A five-star review that says "great place!" is a warm gesture and nearly empty data. A five-star review that says "they rebuilt our back fence in one day and explained the price before starting — worth the drive from Vallejo" is a recommendation engine's dream: service, place, and proof, in the customer's own words.
That's the whole trick, and it's honest: you never tell customers what to say — you ask them to mention what actually happened.
| Ask them to mention | Instead of | Why machines care |
|---|---|---|
| The specific service — "rebuilt my fence," "did my balayage," "fixed my transmission" | "Great work!" | You can't be recommended for fence work if no review ever says "fence" |
| The town — "here in Napa," "worth the drive from Fairfield" | No location at all | Geography in review text backs up your service area beyond what your profile claims |
| One concrete detail — "done in one day," "explained the price first," "habla español" | "Highly recommend" | Specifics read as authentic to humans and machines; vague praise reads as noise |
That last example is worth underlining: if your team speaks Spanish and a customer mentions "habla español" in a review, you become findable for a search almost nobody in your town is winning. We've scanned 37 Napa businesses — the Spanish-speaking visibility gap is real.
One sentence, said at the peak moment — when they thank you, not three days later by blast email:
"A review really helps us — and if you mention what we did for you and that we're in [your city], it helps people searching for exactly that find us."
That's the entire script, and notice what it does: it's honest, it's specific, and it guides the topics — service and city — while leaving every word to the customer. In email, the same line works with your review link under it. In person, a QR card at the counter beats any follow-up message, because every extra step loses people.
Signed in as the account that manages your Google Business Profile, search your business name on Google and look for the "Ask for reviews" button on your profile panel. Google gives you a short link — it looks like g.page/r/…/review — plus a QR code. Both drop the customer directly into the write-a-review box. We did this for our own profile this week; it takes about a minute. Put the link in your email signature, your invoices, your thank-you texts; print the QR for the counter.
Review replies are indexed text too, and they're the only review-adjacent words you fully control. A reply like "Thanks for trusting us with your kitchen remodel here in Napa" naturally restates the service and the city — one more piece of machine-readable evidence, written by you. Reply to every review, good and bad: volume, recency, and owner responses are core trust signals in both local ranking and AI recommendations.
See what machines see about your business — free 60-second scan →
The bright lines: never pay for reviews, never script them, never write them for customers — Google's policy removes incentivized reviews and can suspend profiles, and FTC rules on fake reviews carry real fines. And know your platforms: this playbook is for Google. Yelp prohibits asking for reviews entirely — don't solicit there at all. Guiding what customers mention is legitimate everywhere the ask itself is allowed; dictating words is legitimate nowhere.
Ask at the moment they're happiest — when they thank you, not days later — and hand them the direct link or QR code so it's one tap. A wording that works: 'A review really helps us — and if you mention what we did for you and that we're in [your city], it helps people searching for exactly that find us.' You're guiding what to mention, never what to say — scripting or paying for reviews violates Google policy and FTC rules.
You can't dictate the words, but you can ask them to mention three things: the specific service ('they rebuilt my fence' — not 'great place!'), the town ('here in Napa'), and one concrete detail of the experience ('done in one day,' 'explained the price first,' 'habla español'). Those specifics are exactly what Google and AI engines extract when deciding who to recommend — a business is never recommended for fence work if no review ever says the word 'fence.'
In Google Search, while signed into the account that manages your Business Profile, find the 'Ask for reviews' button on your profile panel. It gives you a short link (it looks like g.page/r/…/review) and a QR code that take customers straight to the write-a-review box. Put the link in your email signature and thank-you messages; print the QR for your counter.
No. Google's policy prohibits incentivized reviews and can remove them or suspend the profile, and FTC rules on fake and incentivized reviews carry real fines. Guiding what customers mention is legitimate; paying, scripting, or writing reviews for them is not. And one platform difference worth knowing: Yelp prohibits asking for reviews at all — the ask described here is for Google.
Review text is part of what AI engines read before naming businesses in answers. Here's what AI visibility is and how to check yours free.