Quick answer: Under Google's contribution policy, you may not pressure customers to review while on your premises (that includes review kiosks and handed-over tablets), may not ask staff to hit review quotas, may not solicit reviews that name a staff member or contain any steered content, may not offer incentives, and may not filter who you ask (review gating). Asking every customer for an honest review after the visit, with a direct link, remains fully allowed.
1. The five prohibitions, in plain English
No on-premises pressure. Google prohibits requiring or pressuring users to leave ratings or reviews while at your location. The review kiosk, the tablet handed across the counter, the "leave us 5 stars before you go" - all of it. Why: reviews written under social pressure at the till are not independent.
No staff review quotas. Requesting that staff solicit a certain number of reviews is prohibited. The moment reviews become a performance metric, staff start gaming them, and Google treats the resulting pattern as manipulation.
No name-drop solicitation. Asking customers to mention a staff member by name - or to include any specific content - is prohibited. Employees can ask for honest reviews; they cannot script them.
No incentives. Discounts, freebies, raffle entries for reviews - long banned, now enforced with automated detection.
No review gating. Screening customers and only asking the happy ones is prohibited. Ask everyone the same way and let them self-select.
2. Why enforcement feels different in 2026
The rules themselves are not new - what changed is detection. Google's systems increasingly flag solicitation patterns automatically: bursts of reviews from one location's IP range, repeated staff names across reviews, velocity spikes after campaigns. The outcomes escalate from silent review removal, to reviews vanishing in bulk, to profile suspension. If your reviews disappeared recently, our guide on why Google reviews disappear covers the diagnosis; if the profile itself got suspended, start with the suspension fix guide.
What the April 2026 update changed. On April 16-17, 2026 Google updated the review policy so that staff review targets and asking customers to name a staff member are called out explicitly, and enforcement now runs through Gemini-based detection rather than user reports alone. Penalties escalate in steps: new reviews are paused first, existing reviews can be temporarily unpublished next, and in serious cases a public notice that fake reviews were removed appears on the profile. That review restriction is appealed separately from a profile suspension. If your legitimate reviews vanished after a suspension was lifted, that is a different problem again; see reviews missing after reinstatement.
3. The compliant system that still works
Ask after the visit, not during. Email or SMS within 24-48 hours of service - the window where response rates are highest and the ask is policy-clean.
Use a direct review link. Every extra click loses people. Generate yours free with our review link generator (link + QR code for receipts and follow-up emails - QR on a receipt is fine; a kiosk demanding a review before you leave is not).
Ask everyone, identically. Same message, every customer, built into the workflow (CRM, invoice, booking confirmation) rather than into anyone's judgment about who seems happy.
Respond to everything. Response rate and speed are trust signals for both customers and ranking. Templates by industry: free response templates.
Want the whole system run for you, compliantly? That is exactly what our review velocity management service does - steady, policy-clean review growth without your staff ever having to ask.
Frequently asked questions
Are review kiosks or tablets at my counter against Google policy?
Yes. Google's contribution policy prohibits requiring or pressuring users to leave ratings or reviews while on the premises - which is exactly what a review kiosk or handed-over tablet does. Ask afterward instead, by email or SMS, with a direct link.
Can my staff ask customers to mention them by name in reviews?
No. Google prohibits requesting reviews that include specific content, explicitly including content that identifies a staff member. Staff can ask for honest reviews - they cannot ask for name-drops or steer what the review says.
Can I set review quotas for my team?
No. Requesting that staff solicit a certain number of reviews is prohibited. Build the ask into your post-service workflow instead of into individual performance targets.
Is asking for reviews still allowed at all?
Yes - solicitation itself is fine. Google explicitly allows encouraging genuine reviews as long as there are no incentives, no on-premises pressure, no content steering, and no filtering of who gets asked (review gating). Ask every customer the same way, after the visit.
What happens if I break these rules?
Review removal is the mild outcome; profile suspension is the real risk, and 2026 enforcement is increasingly automated. If reviews vanished or your profile was suspended after a solicitation campaign, see our suspension recovery guide.
Related guides: How to get more Google reviews · Remove fake Google reviews · Response templates by industry