How to create a Google review link and QR code
Google generates both for you. On a computer, open your Business Profile, click Read Reviews and then Get more reviews. Copy the link with the Copy button, and save the QR code by right-clicking it and choosing Save image as. You don't need a paid generator.
By Petr Pleva, founder of Clientee
A Google review link is only useful if it takes the customer straight to the star rating. Send a general Google Maps link instead and they still have to find the review button on your profile, and some people give up at that point. Below you’ll find how to get the right link, how to turn it into a QR code that still works next year, where to show it and how to check it before you print anything.
How to create a Google review link from your Business Profile
Google offers this inside the profile manager. The steps from Google’s current help page:
- On a computer, go to your Business Profile and sign in with the account that manages it. The quickest route is business.google.com.
- Click Read Reviews, then Get more reviews.
- A window opens with your link and a QR code. Click Copy to copy the link.
The same window lets you send the request by email, as a WhatsApp message or as a Facebook post.
In our experience the link usually starts with g.page/r/ and ends in /review. Google doesn’t document that format, so treat it as an observation, not a rule. It’s short enough to fit in a text message.
What about a phone?
If you search for your business name on Google while signed in as the owner, you’ll see a panel for managing the profile. It usually has a button along the lines of Ask for reviews that leads to the same link. Google renames these buttons and moves them between apps fairly often, and its help page currently describes only the computer steps. I’d start there.
Building the link from a Place ID (fallback)
Sometimes you can’t get into the profile. A former employee set it up, or an agency manages it and has stopped replying. In that case you can build a review link by hand from your Place ID, the identifier Google Maps uses for your business.
- Open the Place ID Finder in the Google Maps Platform documentation.
- Type your business name into the search box and pick it from the list.
- Copy the Place ID it shows. It looks something like
ChIJgUbEo8cfqokR5lP9_Wh_DaM. - Add it to the end of this address:
https://search.google.com/local/writereview?placeid=YOUR_PLACE_ID
Google’s help for businesses doesn’t mention this link format. People have used it for years and it still opens the review form, but it’s unofficial and Google could change it without notice. The Maps Platform documentation also says Place IDs “may change over time”, for example when a business moves or Google updates the Maps database. Once you have access to the profile again, switch to the official link from the first section.
How to make a Google review QR code
The Get more reviews window already contains a QR code. Right-click it and choose Save image as…. Google’s help page says review QR codes can currently be generated only in a computer browser, not on mobile devices.
This code points directly at Google’s link with nothing in between. For most businesses that’s all you need.
Be careful with online QR generators
If you make the code somewhere else, check first whether it’s static or dynamic.
| Static QR code | Dynamic QR code | |
|---|---|---|
| What the code contains | the destination address itself | the generator’s own address, which redirects onwards |
| If the service closes or the trial ends | keeps working | may stop working |
| Change the destination without reprinting | no | yes |
| Safe for stickers and flyers | yes | only with a provider you trust |
Many free generators make dynamic codes by default and ask for a subscription after the trial. If you don’t pay, the code on your printed flyers stops going where it should. Read the terms before you print and choose a static code.
Tip: a QR code that points to your own address
If you have a website, set up a short address such as yourbusiness.co.uk/review and redirect it to Google’s link. Put that address in a static QR code. If Google’s link ever changes, you update the redirect and your printed material stays as it is. Whoever looks after your website can set this up in a few minutes.
Where to put the link and QR code
Google’s own suggestions are receipts, thank-you emails, the end of a chat conversation and a QR code printed in your shop. Places that suit service businesses:
- Counter or reception. A small stand with the QR code and one line: “Happy with your visit? Leave us a review on Google.” This suits places where people wait, such as a salon or a garage.
- Receipts and invoices. QR code in the footer. On invoices sent by email, add a clickable link as well.
- Email signature. One line under your contact details, without images or banners.
- Text message after the job. A short message with the link a few hours after the work is done.
- Thank-you page on your website. Shown after someone books or places an order.
- Job sheet or business card. When a tradesperson hands over finished work, a printed QR code is right there.
Keep the message short and personal. For example: “Hi, thanks for coming in today. If you have a minute, we’d appreciate a review: [link]. Sam from the garage.”
Sending these by hand after every job is easy to forget. Our Google reviews service sends the link to each customer by text or email after their visit, connected to reputation management in the CRM. For the wider approach to asking for reviews and replying to them, see our guide on how to get Google reviews.
Test it on a phone before you print
Try the link and the QR code yourself first. It takes a few minutes and can save you a reprint.
- Scan the QR code with the camera. The standard camera app reads QR codes on both iPhone and Android. Check that the review form opens for your business, not for a business with the same name in another town.
- Open the link in a private window. Google should ask you to sign in, because only signed-in users can leave a review. That’s expected, and it shows you what a customer without an account sees.
- Try both phone types. Depending on what’s installed, the link opens in the browser or in the Google Maps app. Ask a colleague with the other kind of phone to try it too.
- Check the print. The QR code on a counter stand should scan from about a metre and a half away. Don’t shrink it to the size of a stamp, and avoid glossy material that reflects light.
Customers without a Google Account can create one with a non-Gmail email address. Google says so in its help pages, which is useful to know when someone asks.
What not to do
Google Maps has strict rules for reviews, and breaking them can lead to removed reviews or restrictions on your profile. Two of them apply directly to review links and QR codes.
No rewards for reviews. Under the “Rating Manipulation” section of the Maps content policy, merchants must not “offer incentives – such as payment, discounts, free goods and/or services” for reviews. A sign next to your QR code saying “Free coffee for a review” breaks this rule. So does a prize draw for people who leave reviews.
No filtering out unhappy customers. Some tools first ask “How satisfied were you?” and send only the people who pick top marks to Google, while everyone else lands on an internal form. The same policy forbids merchants to “discourage or prohibit negative reviews, or selectively solicit positive reviews from customers”. Send the same link to every customer.
You’ll find the full text in the Maps user-contributed content policy, in the section on fake and misleading content.
Also avoid reviews from staff or relatives, and don’t write reviews from your own accounts. Google treats these as a conflict of interest and removes them.