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urious about Google Customer Reviews? We've got you covered. This guide walks you through the what, why, and how of Google Customer Reviews - including how they connect to Seller Ratings, Product Ratings, and visibility in Google Shopping - so you can decide if it’s the right tool for your business.
Please Note:
Account details may vary. The feature is now part of the subscription

Positive Google reviews are important because they directly influence your business’s search engine rankings and visibility in search engine results. Google reviews are important for building consumer trust, improving your online reputation, and are a key factor in local SEO performance.

What Are Google Customer Reviews?

Google Customer Reviews is a free service from Google that allows online businesses to collect verified reviews after checkout. These reviews are aggregated and displayed publicly as Google Seller Ratings, the star ratings that show up on Google Ads and Shopping listings.

Unlike reviews on your Google Business Profile, which are location-based, GCR is designed for transactional eCommerce and ties into Google Merchant Center.

Why Google Customer Reviews Matter in 2025

Today’s businesses can't live without reviews - and Google dominates. According to a ReviewTrackers report, Google accounts for over 70% of all online business reviews, and nearly two-thirds of consumers consult Google reviews before making a purchase.

For eCommerce merchants, Google Customer Reviews (GCR) provides a free, structured way to collect buyer feedback and build trust directly in the SERPs. When used right, it can power Google Seller Ratings, contribute to Product Ratings, and increase visibility in Google Shopping - even for businesses with zero ad spend.

What are The Benefits of Google Customer Reviews?

There are always benefits of collecting customer feedback, but let's take a look at how collecting with Google Customer Reviews specifically can help your business's online reputation.

1. It's Free

Google User Reviews is the only way you will be able to get Google Seller Ratings (stars that show in Google Ads) without paying to collect with a Google Licensed Review Partner. For smaller stores, that’s a major win.

2. It Boosts Ads & Shopping Performance

All the feedback collected through Google Customer Reviews counts towards your Google Seller Ratings - the stars that show below your business in Google Ads. As we've mentioned, you ordinarily have to pay for this privilege.

Seller Ratings have been shown to increase CTR by 17% and on-site conversions by up to 28%. These stars create powerful trust signals right where they matter most.

Remember: In order to qualify for Google Seller Ratings, you must collect at least 100 reviews per country within a 24-month period and have an average star rating of at least 3.5.

3. It Enhances Product Visibility

Along with Google Seller Ratings, if you set up your Google Customer Reviews to ask for feedback on specific products, the feedback collected will count towards your product ratings. When product-level reviews are collected, they can power Product Ratings - the stars that appear beneath items in Google Shopping and search results.

Again, these stars increase conversion and will do wonders for your online success. This is how Google Business Reviews help your business grow.

4. It Builds Authority & Trust

You can’t display individual GCR reviews on your site, but you can show a Google badge with your rating. This is marked 'Google Rating', a well-recognized trust mark, especially in competitive verticals

5. It Provides Customer Insights

By collecting and analyzing customer reviews, businesses gain valuable insights into feedback trends like customer satisfaction and areas for improvement. You can view this data in your Merchant Center, helping you optimize product, delivery, and service experience.

Eligibility Requirements for Google Customer Reviews

Although Google Customer Reviews is a free service, it's not right - or even possible - for every business.

Why? Well, the platform needs you to have a certain few things in place. Google Customer Reviews also require that its participants adhere to the product’s policies.

To use GCR, your business must:

  • Have a working checkout and order confirmation page
  • Be able to display the opt-in survey on 100% of checkouts
  • Participate in Google Merchant Center
  • Adhere to Google’s review collection policies

If you're a service business, marketplace, or don’t control your checkout flow, GCR likely won't be a fit.

How Do Google Customer Reviews Work?

The process is simple:

  1. When a customer completes checkout, they're offered the chance to opt in to a post-purchase survey.
google customer reviews collecting
Source: BigCommerce
  1. Google sends the survey after delivery where customers leave a 1 - 5 star rating and an optional comment.
google customer reviews rating
Source: BigCommerce
  1. Reviews are aggregated into your business’s Seller Rating in Google Ads, Shopping, and Merchant Center.
google reviews finished
Source: Suso Digital.

If you enable enhanced setup, product-specific feedback can also be collected - powering Product Ratings.

How To Set Up Google Customer Reviews

Setup is relatively simple:

  • Log into your Google Merchant Center
  • Enable Google Customer Reviews under “Growth” > “Manage Programs”
  • Add the opt-in module to your order confirmation page
  • Optionally: enable product review markup if collecting item-level feedback

For full implementation instructions, visit Google’s Help Docs.

How to Get More Google Customer Reviews

Here’s how to increase your Google Business Reviews: 

  1. Make opt-in seamless - prominently place the module at checkout
  2. Use timely reminders - post-delivery email and SMS nudges
  3. Personalize review requests - human messages get higher response
  4. Display trust signals - show your Google badge on-site
  5. Use REVIEWS.io to automate collection + monthly Google submission

Pro Tip: 

- SMS requests see 3x higher open rates than email alone.

- Encouraging customers to write reviews and leave Google reviews is easier when you provide clear instructions and offer multiple following methods. 

For example, include direct review links in your marketing materials, such as emails, SMS, or printed handouts, to simplify the process.

What Are Google Seller Ratings?

Google Seller Ratings (GSR) are the star ratings that appear alongside your business name in Google Ads and Google Shopping. They help shoppers quickly evaluate your trustworthiness, often before even clicking through to your site.

These stars are not based on product feedback, but on overall customer experience - like delivery times, service quality, and returns.

How Do You Get Google Seller Ratings?

To qualify, you need to meet Google’s Seller Rating requirements:

  • Collect at least 100 verified reviews in the same country over a 24-month period
  • Maintain an average rating of 3.5 stars or higher

Seller Ratings can be powered by:

  • Google Customer Reviews (GCR) - the free method
  • Google Licensed Review Partners - like REVIEWS.io

REVIEWS.io Bonus: If you collect reviews through our platform, we submit them to Google monthly, helping you qualify faster - and without relying solely on GCR.

What Are Google Product Ratings?

Google Product Ratings are stars that show for individual products, separate from your store's overall performance.

They are:

  • Aggregated from multiple sellers and platforms
  • Matched by product identifiers (GTINs, MPNs, SKUs)
  • Only displayed when 3+ reviews exist for a product

While you don’t “own” the rating, collecting high-quality, well-matched product reviews helps influence the aggregated score.

REVIEWS.io simplifies this by submitting both product and company reviews directly to Google.

How Reviews Appear in Google Shopping

If you're selling through Google Shopping, your reviews can appear in two places:

Rating Type Where It Appears Powered By Based On
Seller Ratings Google Ads & Shopping merchant name GCR or review partner Business reviews
Product Ratings Shopping listings & organic results GCR + other sources Product reviews matched by GTIN, MPN, SKU

Since 2020, Google has offered free product listings, so collecting reviews (even without ad spend) gives you star-powered visibility.

Since 2020, Google has offered free product listings, so collecting reviews (even without ad spend) gives you star-powered visibility.

How Do I Find My Google Reviews?

There are two types of reviews you might want to find:

Reviews of your business:

  1. Log into your Google Business Profile account.
  2. Navigate to “Manage reviews” in the sidebar.
  3. View and respond to reviews left by your customers.
manage google customer reviews
Source: Search Engine Journal.

Reviews you’ve written:

  1. Sign into your Google account.
  2. Go to Google Maps or Search.
  3. Open “Your contributions” > “Reviews”.
  4. View, edit, or delete your past reviews.
manage google reviews you have left
Source: Google Maps Community.

Many businesses also create a dedicated Google reviews page or reviews page on their website to showcase customer feedback and make it easy for new customers to find and leave reviews.

How to Edit or Delete Google Customer Reviews?

The first thing to remember is only the person who posted the Google Customer Review can edit or delete it. 

To edit or delete a Google Customer Review as the review poster, follow the following steps:

  • Sign into the Google account that posted the review
  • Go to Google Maps or Search
  • Navigate to “Your contributions” > “Reviews”
  • Click the 3-dot menu next to the review
  • Select Edit review or Delete review
edit or delete google customer reviews you left
Source: Kinsta.

Unfortunately, if your business receives unfair, inappropriate, or misleading feedback from competitors, you won't be able to remove it. Still, Google allows you to Report a review or Mark it as unhelpful if that review violates Google’s review policies.

To do this, you can:

  • Click the three-dot menu > Report Review
  • Mark it as unhelpful
  • Let Google determine if it violates their policy
report google customer reviews

Drawbacks of Google Customer Reviews

We’d be fools to argue that Google Customer Reviews isn’t a great service, because it is. But as a paid review platform, we’ve seen what a truly optimized feedback strategy can achieve. And while GCR offers excellent value for zero cost, it comes with its share of limitations.

Here’s where the cracks start to show:

1. No Customisation

One of the most common complaints from merchants is the inability to customise almost anything within the Google Customer Reviews setup.

  • The survey email? Generic and non-branded.
  • The opt-in box? Standardised with no styling flexibility.
  • The on-site badge? A block of Google’s own red, yellow, and green - great for visibility, less so for aesthetic-led brands.

If you’re a fashion, beauty, or luxury brand, this visual clash can undermine your carefully curated customer experience. More importantly, the lack of personalisation can reduce trust, lower open rates, and ultimately result in fewer reviews collected.

2. Limited Use Cases

GCR is strictly for eCommerce websites with a working checkout flow and order confirmation page. That means:

  • No service businesses
  • No B2B portals
  • No appointment-booking platforms
  • No hybrid or marketplace setups

It’s also not ideal for multi-location brands or businesses without centralized fulfilment. If your model doesn’t involve shipping products directly from your own store, Google Customer Reviews won’t work for you.

We strongly believe all businesses, regardless of industry, should be able to collect customer feedback. Unfortunately, GCR draws a hard line that excludes a lot of deserving use cases.

3. No Widgets or Review Displays

GCR does not provide any tools for review display beyond the badge.

That means:

  • No review carousels
  • No on-page trust panels
  • No product review snippets
  • No star ratings in search for your own site pages

For brands that rely on social proof and UGC to convert customers, this is a major disadvantage. Other platforms - including REVIEWS.io - offer a suite of embeddable widgets, product-specific review tiles, and even shoppable UGC galleries.

All GCR gives you is a simple star badge. Functional? Yes. But nowhere near enough to create a trust-rich, high-converting experience.

4. Difficult Review Management

Another major pain point is limited moderation. With Google Customer Reviews:

  • You can’t pre-screen reviews
  • You can’t ask customers to revise a review easily
  • You can’t flag clearly fake reviews for instant removal

In cases of spam, abuse, or competitor sabotage, your only real recourse is to flag the review manually and hope Google agrees it violates their policies.

If a customer leaves a misleading or unfair negative review that doesn’t technically break the rules, you’re stuck with it - and so is your potential next customer.

Also, for businesses with multiple locations, GCR is not ideal, as it lacks features to efficiently manage and track reviews across all locations. Businesses operating in multiple locations may require specialized reputation management tools to handle reviews for each location effectively

5. Total Dependency on Google’s Rules

Google is infamous for changing policies without much warning - and Customer Reviews is no exception.

What you can collect, display, or submit today may change next month:

  • Structured data eligibility has already shifted (e.g. banning self-serving reviews from triggering snippets)
  • Program requirements may tighten
  • GCR integration methods could evolve with little notice

And if you’re entirely reliant on GCR, a single change in how reviews are handled could derail your entire strategy. Businesses that diversify collection (e.g. using platforms like REVIEWS.io alongside GCR) are far better protected against policy shocks.

6. No Direct Interaction or Engagement

While you can collect reviews through GCR, you have limited ability to engage with them.

  • There’s no dashboard to manage replies
  • No public-facing “brand response” option
  • No way to automate responses or redirect feedback to your support team

If a customer leaves a glowing 5-star review or a scathing 1-star rant, you can’t easily respond in the way you could on other platforms.

And although asking your customers for a review on Google can be done proactively, responding to their feedback is not that easy - particularly if you want to resolve the issue and turn the experience around.

This lack of two-way interaction makes it harder to close the loop and turn reviews into long-term loyalty.

Other Review Options

If GCR isn’t right for you, or you want more control:

Third-Party Sites (e.g. Facebook, Yelp, TripAdvisor)

  • Free and public
  • Help with branded search appearance
  • But: reviews may not count toward Seller Ratings

Review Platforms (like REVIEWS.io)

Our recommended way to power Google Reviews

  • REVIEWS.io is a licensed Google partner and your fastest path to Google Seller & Product Ratings
  • Collect company + product reviews with full control
  • Automate display with custom widgets, badges & galleries
  • Submit directly to Google - no GCR limits or restrictions

Plus: boost review volume with SMS invites, video reviews, and shoppable UGC - all in one platform.

In Summary

Google Customer Reviews is a powerful, free tool for collecting real reviews that boost your performance in Ads, Search, and Shopping.

  • Use it to power Seller Ratings and Product Ratings
  • Optimize your checkout opt-in and post-purchase flows
  • Consider pairing it with a platform like REVIEWS.io for better control and visibility

Still have questions? Book a demo with our friendly sales team - we’ll help you build a review strategy that gets results.

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