Stop review gating: Safer ways to get more Google Reviews

If you want more Google reviews, review gating might look like an easy shortcut, but it’s not.

Review gating is a deceptive tactic that can lead to your business being penalized, fined, and distrusted.

It brings legal risks, damages your reputation, and violates platform policies.

In January 2022, the FTC fined Fashion Nova $4.2 million for hiding negative reviews, proving that review gating is illegal under FTC regulations.

That case changed how businesses handle online reputation. What once appeared to be “smart review management” was actually review manipulation.

This blog explains what review gating is, why it breaks Google’s rules, and how to earn genuine reviews safely. Review gating undermines trust and creates significant compliance issues.

What is review gating?

Review gating is the practice of filtering out customer feedback, so only the positive reviews end up on public review sites.

Businesses that gate-keep reviews or suppress certain reviews often do so to present a more favorable image online.

Many businesses will send out surveys first and then ask only satisfied customers to leave a review on Google. Or they’ll ask, “Did you have a good experience?” and then say, “Well, if you did, then please leave us a review on Google.”

Example 1:

A restaurant will send out a survey and say:

• If you loved our food, they’ll send you a link to Google to leave a review
• If you encounter any issues, you will be asked to complete a private feedback form.
• Some businesses use a ‘company approval’ process as a pretext to delay or suppress negative reviews, which is considered illegal by the FTC.

The result is that only the five-star reviews get published.

Example 2:

A hotel receptionist will ask a guest, “Did you have a good stay?” If they say yes, the receptionist will then say, “Well, if so, would you mind leaving a review on Google?”

That’s conditional; they’re only asking happy customers to leave a review.

Both of these examples may seem pretty innocuous, but they’re actually instances of selectively soliciting positive reviews, a practice that Google explicitly bans.

These are clear examples of gating reviews and the practice of review gating, both of which are prohibited by law.

How does it differ from just asking for reviews?

The primary difference is that when you ask for reviews, you’re asking everyone to provide you with some feedback.

Requesting reviews from all customers, regardless of their experience, is essential to ensure authenticity and compliance with platform and FTC guidelines.

Review gating, on the other hand, only solicits reviews from satisfied customers.

The difference is all about fairness:

• To generate honest reviews, you should give all customers an equal chance to share their thoughts.
• Ethical review solicitation means sending a review request to every customer, not just the happy ones. Review solicitation should always be fair and transparent to avoid compliance issues.
• Review gating involves manipulating the review process to ensure only positive reviews are published.

If you send out review requests via email in a neutral manner, with the exact timing, the same message, and the same link, then you’re likely to be okay.

But as soon as you start filtering out the negative reviews, then you’re soliciting biased ratings, and that’s when you start to get into trouble.

Soliciting reviews ethically means inviting feedback from all customers, while review gating selectively filters responses, which is not compliant.

Why review gating is such a problem

Review gating damages trust, and it’s against Google’s rules. It misleads customers, hides valuable information, and can result in your profile getting suspended.

By manipulating reviews through review gating, businesses create a false impression that can have serious legal and ethical consequences.

Misleading customers and damaging trust

Customers use online reviews to figure out if a business is worth their time or money. When a business attempts to conceal negative reviews or comments, it is essentially distorting reality.

Reviews should accurately reflect the actual customer experience to ensure transparency and maintain trust.

The result is that you end up with biased reviews that mislead potential customers.

When customers discover that a business is hiding its negative reviews or filtering out unfavorable feedback, trust is compromised. And trust is a heck of a lot harder to rebuild than any five-star review.

Violating Google’s policies (especially)

Google sees review gating as a form of fake engagement.

Their Contributed Content Policy is pretty clear on this: “don’t discourage or prohibit negative reviews – and don’t selectively solicit positive reviews from customers.”

That means if your review strategy involves any pre-screening, then you’re violating Google’s review gating policy.

The Google review-gating policy has strict guidelines against filtering or selectively displaying reviews. Violating these rules can result in review removal or even account suspension.

Penalties and enforcement

Breaking Google’s review policies can lead to significant trouble.

Other review platforms also enforce strict policies against review gating and review manipulation, so it’s essential to comply with their guidelines as well.

This includes:

• Removing all the dodgy reviews
• Suspending your Google Business Profile
• Losing search engine visibility

Even one enforcement sweep can wipe out years of customer reviews.

Google’s rules and policies on review gating

Google bans any practice that attempts to hide negative feedback or selectively solicits positive reviews.

Their policies require honest, unbiased customer feedback from all customers.

Google’s review/Contributed content policy

Google’s review guidelines say that all content should reflect the real customer experience.

You can’t filter out the negative stuff or discourage people from leaving a review if they had a bad experience.

Unbiased reviews are essential for building trust with your audience and ensuring compliance with Google’s policies.

Every customer should have the same opportunity to share their honest review.

What’s “selectively soliciting positive reviews”?

“Selective solicitation” is when you only ask happy customers to leave a review.

Even phrases like “if you enjoyed your experience, please leave us a review” can be seen as review gating, as they exclude customers who did not enjoy their experience.

Prohibiting negative reviews is a violation of Google’s policies and can result in penalties.

The safest thing to say is: “We value your feedback – please share your experience with us on Google”.

Historical changes and enforcement

Google banned review gating back in 2018, and since then, it has tightened enforcement and begun using AI to detect review gating more effectively.

In 2022, they began flagging review patterns that suggested gating, such as sudden spikes in positive reviews.

Since then, Google has removed thousands of suspicious reviews from local businesses that were found to be manipulating their ratings.

Review gating can lead to reviews being flagged as fake reviews, which may result in removal and further penalties.

What happens if you break Google’s rules

If Google detects review gating:

• All the relevant reviews may get deleted (even the good ones)
• Your business listing may get suspended
• You’ll lose ranking credibility in local search results
• Blocking negative reviews, which is considered a form of review gating, is strictly prohibited and can lead to penalties

The legal/regulatory perspective (beyond Google)

The FTC has a problem with review gating, and so should you.

Businesses can face substantial fines, public exposure, and a significant dent in their reputation if they attempt to deceive customers by using review gating.

FTC & Consumer Protection

The Federal Trade Commission is strongly opposed to review gating, and rightly so. Their 2024 Consumer Reviews and Testimonials Rule is crystal clear:

• You can’t just suppress negative reviews.
• Offering incentives for reviews, but only if they’re good, is a big no-no. Incentivizing reviews without proper disclosure is prohibited and can result in penalties or removal of reviews.
• Misrepresenting genuine customer feedback is a serious offense.

The FTC is not messing around here – they can fine you up to $51,744 per day for every one of these infractions.

Fashion Nova found that out the hard way, and got hit with a $4.2 million fine and a permanent compliance order as a result of hiding 1- to 3-star reviews.

Ethical review generation is essential for compliance with FTC rules and to avoid similar penalties.

Other platforms, eg, Yelp, Amazon

Yelp takes a dim view of soliciting biased ratings and will flag anyone attempting to do so with a “Consumer Alert” badge.

Amazon defines review gating as “asking only happy customers to leave a review” and flat-out bans it.

Maintaining a transparent review collection process is crucial to ensure authenticity and compliance with Amazon’s policies.

TripAdvisor requires that the experience for positive and negative reviews be identical when you’re soliciting them.

And the upshot is: Review gating is just plain dodgy everywhere.

So how do you collect reviews the right way?

You ask all your customers for feedback, use neutral language, and respond to every Google review. That’s the only way to build authentic reviews and genuine trust with your customers.

Generating and collecting reviews from all customers, rather than selectively, ensures compliance with platform rules and helps maintain a trustworthy reputation.

Honest reviews also provide actionable insights that can be used to improve your products, services, and overall customer experience.

1. Ask for reviews from every customer

Send review requests to every single customer, no filtering. Everyone has the same opportunity to provide feedback.

You want a mix of positive and negative reviews, because that’s what looks authentic to potential customers.

Remind your staff to encourage customers to mention reviews in their feedback, as this helps build trust and improve your reputation management.

Use language that’s dead neutral, like:

“Your feedback really matters to us – please leave a review on Google.”

Include direct links to your review platforms in your review request to make it as easy as possible for customers to leave feedback.

2. Timing & channel best practices

Timing really does matter when it comes to reviews – so when’s the best time to ask?

• For services: within 24 hours of finishing the job.
• For products: 7-10 days after the customer receives it.

Use a range of channels to get the word out:

• Email: include a direct link to your Google review page.
• SMS: send a quick link that’s easy to click on a phone.
• QR codes: stick ’em on receipts or near the checkout.
• WhatsApp or Messenger: Add a Personal Touch.

Automation can help, but ensure it’s not just filtering out unhappy customers.

3. Be upfront about incentives

If you’re offering rewards for reviews, ensure you’re transparent about it.

Good disclosure: “I got a free sample from [Brand Name] in exchange for my honest review.”

Bad disclosure: hiding it in fine print or only offering rewards for positive reviews. Google, Yelp, and Amazon are all against such practices, so it’s best to avoid them altogether.

4. Respond to every review

Don’t be afraid of bad reviews – respond to them. And do it properly.

Responding to reviews is essential for building strong customer relationships, as it demonstrates that you value feedback and are committed to continually improving your service.

Best practices:

• Thank happy customers personally.
• Acknowledge any negative experiences in a negative review and inform the customer of the steps you will take to rectify the issue.
• Don’t argue or get defensive – it’s unprofessional.
• Never attempt to offer compensation to encourage them to delete or edit their review; that’s against the rules.
• Value constructive feedback from both positive and negative reviews, as it helps you improve and demonstrates your commitment to transparency.

When you do things the right way, people perceive you as accountable and transparent, which means you’re more likely to build trust with them.

WiserReview – Best review management software

If you want more reviews without risking a fine, WiserReview is the ticket. It automates review collection and stays 100% compliant with Google’s review-gating policy and the FTC guidelines.

The software supports the generation of ethical reviews, ensuring that all customer feedback is collected transparently and in accordance with legal standards.

Why WiserReview Stands Out

WiserReview sends review requests to every single customer, collects both private and public feedback, allows customers to provide private feedback, and even analyzes customer satisfaction trends to help you improve.

Key features:

• Sends review requests to all customers, no filtering.
• Collects private feedback and public reviews in one system.
• Allows customers to provide private feedback, ensuring you receive honest input from all experiences.
• Centralises your Google reviews and Facebook reviews in one place.
• Displays reviews on your website with SEO-optimised Google review widgets.
• Integrates with Shopify, WordPress, and more via Zapier.

Real benefits:

• Get authentic reviews, not fake ones.
• Enhance your online reputation without compromising your integrity.
• Capture and showcase every positive experience to boost your brand image.
• Save hours managing review sites manually.

Pricing: A free plan is available, and paid plans start at under $9 per month, which is quite affordable, even for the smallest businesses.

WiserReview proves that you don’t need review gating to build trust with your customers. You need to do things the right way.

So how do you spot a review-gating scam?

If you notice any of the following, you might have spotted a review-gating scam:

• Review Pattern Analysis: All reviews are 5-star, with no negative ones appearing. A sudden surge of more positive reviews or an unusually high number of positive review entries can be a sign of manipulation.
• Anomalies in Review Distribution: All the reviews appear to be released simultaneously, immediately after a campaign.
• Customer Complaints: People are saying you won’t let them leave reviews if they have a bad experience. This often means that only positive feedback from customers with positive experiences is being accepted, while anyone with a negative experience is filtered out, distorting the proper balance of feedback.
• Selective Filtering: The business may practice review gating by only allowing specific customers to leave reviews, typically those expected to leave positive ones.

These are all pretty clear warning signs that a company might be using review gating or filtering out negative reviews.

Wrap up

Review gating is not only unethical but also dangerous. It risks fines from the FTC, penalties from Google, and a permanent loss of customer trust.

Ethical review solicitation is essential; always follow platform rules and avoid practices that could be perceived as manipulating feedback.

The smart path is transparency:

• Ask everyone for feedback.
• Respond to everyone.
• Learn from positive and negative reviews equally.
• Focus on collecting reviews from all customers to ensure a fair and accurate representation of your business.

By focusing on authentic reviews, unbiased customer feedback, and ethical tools like WiserReview, your business can grow faster, safer, and with genuine trust.

Your online reputation isn’t built on perfection; it’s built on honesty. Honest feedback from your customers is the foundation of lasting credibility.

So stop review gating and start building credibility, one honest review at a time.