Get the review link from your Business Profile
Google gives every verified Business Profile a link that opens the review form for that business, with the stars and the text box ready. You find it in the tools for managing your profile, not on the public listing, so sign in with the Google account that manages the business first.
At the time of writing, Google’s help pages put it under Read reviews, then Get more reviews, in the Business Profile on a computer. That screen shows the link with a copy button, and a QR code you can save. Google renames these menus from time to time; if you can’t find them, search Google Business Profile Help for “get more reviews” and follow the current steps.
Copy the link exactly as Google gives it. Don’t make one from the address bar while looking at your listing: that address opens the listing, where customers have to find the review button themselves, and every extra tap loses people.
A few more things to know before you make the code:
- Each location has its own link. If you run two shops, make two codes and label the files, so the right code goes to the right counter.
- Google’s own QR code holds the same link. Making your own is worth it if you want the code in your colours, as a vector file for a printer, or at a size you choose. If Google’s suits you, use it, and test it the same way.
- A static code is enough. The review link belongs to your profile and normally stays the same for as long as the profile does.
Why a short link scans better
A QR code is a grid of small squares called modules, and the more text it holds, the more modules it needs. At the same printed width, more modules means smaller ones, and a phone camera has to resolve each one. A short link gives you big, easy squares.
| Link | Characters | Code version (modules) | Smallest print |
|---|---|---|---|
| A short review link | about 40 | 4 (33 × 33) | 2 cm |
| A long address with an ID in it | about 80 | 7 (45 × 45) | 2.5 cm |
| A long address plus tracking parameters | about 120 | 9 (53 × 53) | 3 cm |
The versions are at error correction level Q, which restores about a quarter of a damaged code; sizes follow the rule our studio uses, at least 0.5 mm per module. The difference matters most on receipts and stickers, where every centimetre counts.
Don’t run the link through a URL shortener or a tracking redirect to make it shorter. Google’s link is already short, a shortener adds one more service that can fail, and a phone camera shows the address it is about to open: customers are warier of an unknown shortener than of a Google address.
Where to put it
Ask when the customer has just had a good experience and has their phone in hand, and keep the request plain. A label next to the code, such as “Tell us how we did: scan to review us on Google”, says what it opens. People are rightly cautious about codes that don’t say.
- Receipts and invoices. Many till systems can print a QR code or an image in the receipt footer; check yours. Thermal receipt printers usually print about 8 dots per millimetre, so a 0.5 mm module is four dots wide, which prints cleanly. A 2.5–3 cm code fits an 80 mm or 58 mm roll.
- The counter or the till. Read from 50 cm to 1 m, so 5–10 cm wide, at eye level rather than flat on the counter.
- Takeaway bags, boxes and stickers. People open them at home, with time to spare. A 3–4 cm sticker is enough.
- The bill folder or a table card in a restaurant, read from 30–50 cm, so 3–5 cm.
- Follow-up emails and texts: send the link itself, not a picture of the code. People read those on the phone they would have to scan with.
Leave a clear light margin round the code, four modules wide, and keep it dark on a light background. Our guide to QR code size for printing has the full numbers.
What Google allows when you ask
Google’s policy for content posted on Maps sets out what businesses may and may not do when asking for reviews. Breaking it can get reviews removed and restrictions placed on your profile, so read the current policy, but the core is stable:
- No incentives. Don’t offer anything in return for a review: no discount, free drink, prize draw entry or loyalty points, and nothing for changing or removing a negative review. “Leave a review and get 10% off” breaks the rule even if you don’t ask for five stars.
- No review gating. Don’t ask only the customers you expect to be happy, and don’t put a first screen in front of the review form that sends happy customers to Google and unhappy ones to a private feedback form. Google’s policy names selectively soliciting positive reviews as prohibited. Ask everyone, or no one.
- No pressure, no script. Don’t require or pressure customers to review while they are still on the premises, and don’t tell them what to write or which rating to give. A code by the till is fine; a member of staff waiting while the customer posts is not.
- No reviews from inside. Owners and staff shouldn’t review their own business, or a competitor’s.
So keep the wording neutral. “Tell us how we did” is fine. “Love us? Give us five stars!” asks for a rating. Consumer protection law in many places also treats paid or fake reviews as misleading, separately from Google’s own rules.
Test that it opens the review box
The common mistake is a code that opens the listing instead of the form. Check before you print a batch:
- Scan the printed proof with a phone signed in to a personal Google account, not the account that manages the business. It should open the review form, with the stars, for your business.
- Check the business name on the form, especially if you have more than one location.
- Try both an iPhone and an Android phone. Depending on the apps installed, the link opens in the Google Maps app or in the browser; both should reach the form.
- Try a phone that isn’t signed in to Google. It will ask the person to sign in, because Google reviews need an account. That is expected, not a broken code.
- Scan from where customers will stand, in the real light: a receipt in a dim restaurant, a sticker on a glossy bag.
If the code opens your listing but not the form, you copied the listing’s share link instead of the review link. Get the link again from the review tools and make a new code.
Make it in QR Island
In the studio, choose Link, paste the review link exactly as Google gave it, and pick a world that suits your place, such as Corner Café. Get QR code shows the flat, print-ready code; download it as PNG or SVG, or open the free print sheet, which lays it out at true sizes from its smallest safe size up. For a short review link that is 2 cm. Free codes are made in your browser and never expire.
For the counter, the island sign pack (+US$4.99, added to an Island pack or an Editable code) has a “Scan me” template whose headline you can change to “Review us on Google”: a PDF in each of its four styles with a poster, flyers, a table tent, cards and stickers, plus story, post and screen pictures.
