Why Your Reviews Stopped, And How To Restart Them
Why reviews arrive in bursts and then stop
Look at your review dates. Most businesses see a cluster, then a gap, then another cluster. That pattern is what happens when reviews depend on a customer remembering on their own. Somebody has a particularly good day, tells a friend, writes a review. Then nothing for four months.
Google reads that gap. Recency is a separate signal from volume, which is why a competitor adding three a month can outrank you even with a lower average.
The ask has to be attached to something
Deciding to ask more is not a system. Attaching the ask to a moment that already happens is. Pick the point where the job is finished and the customer is happiest, and make the request part of that moment every single time.
For a clinic that is when treatment is complete and the fit is right. For a trades business it is when the work is signed off. For a professional service it is when the file closes.
What to actually say
Short, specific, and without apology. Something close to this works: If you were happy with how this went, would you mind leaving a Google review? It genuinely helps people in town find us. I can text you the link right now.
Then send the link while they are still standing there. The gap between asking and sending is where most requests die.
Get your review link
- Open your Google Business Profile.
- Find Ask for reviews or Get more reviews.
- Copy the short link Google generates.
- Save it as a text shortcut on the phone you use, so it takes two taps.
A realistic target
If you see thirty customers a month and ask every one, expect four to eight reviews. That is a normal conversion. Over six months it turns eleven reviews into fifty, and fifty is where you stop being invisible.
What not to do
Do not offer discounts or gifts in exchange for reviews. It violates Google policy and it can get your reviews removed. Do not write them yourself. Do not use a service that generates them. Canadian businesses have had profiles suspended for this and getting reinstated is slow.
Want this done for you?
We set up review request systems as part of our monthly work. If you want the templates we use, just ask.
Email us