POLICY

What Is Review Gating, and Why Google Doesn’t Allow It

Review gating is the practice of screening customers first and only sending the happy ones to leave a public review.

What it looks like

A survey that asks "How was your visit?" and only shows the Google review link to people who answer four or five stars.

Why Google prohibits it

Google wants reviews to reflect the full range of customer experiences. Selectively soliciting positive reviews is against its policy.

The risk

Profiles caught gating can have reviews removed or face other restrictions, which can undo years of work.

What to do instead

Send the same review request to every customer. Use private feedback forms separately to catch problems, but never make the public link conditional on a good answer.