Using AI Review Management day to day

Day to day, your job comes down to approving drafts and acting when criticism comes in. This page explains what to do in each situation and what Google allows or forbids.

Approving drafts

Each draft arrives with the review text, the star rating and the proposed reply. You can reply with a simple approval, ask for changes in writing (for example, mention a dish or correct a name) or say you'd rather reply personally.

When a negative review arrives

1. 1

   Read it calmly

   Avoid replying in the heat of the moment. Check with your team what happened, if the situation can be identified.

2. 2

   Review the suggested reply

   The draft thanks the reviewer, acknowledges their experience and invites them to continue privately. Adjust it if there's something specific to add.

3. 3

   Approve and follow up

   Once it's published, if the customer gets in touch, resolve things privately. Some customers update their review of their own accord.

What Google's policies don't allow

• Offering incentives (discounts, freebies, prize draws) in exchange for reviews.
• Asking only happy customers for reviews or filtering who is invited to review.
• Posting fake reviews, including from staff, family or the business itself.
• Asking a customer to remove a review in exchange for something.

Reporting reviews that breach the policies

If a review contains insults, offensive content, personal information or spam, or clearly comes from someone who was never a customer, you can report it to Google from the profile itself. We help prepare the report, but the decision always rests with Google: reporting does not guarantee removal. Legitimate criticism, even if you feel it is unfair, is usually not removed; in that case a good reply is your best defence.

Monthly report

Every month you receive a report with your average rating trend, number of new reviews, response rate and the most mentioned topics, positive and negative. Use it to decide where to improve, such as waiting times or service. Questions? See the FAQ.