The most effective way to get reviews is the simplest: ask at the right moment, with a link that goes straight to writing one. What you can't do is give something in return, because Google prohibits it and may remove those reviews.
Why reviews carry so much weight
BrightLocal's 2026 Local Consumer Review Survey, of 1,002 US adults, found that 97% read reviews online and 74% look for reviews from the last three months. It isn't Panama, but the behavior is similar: people want to see recent opinions before they message you.
Google also counts the number and rating of your reviews when it decides how well known your business is in map results.
What Google prohibits
Google Maps' content policy is clear. It is not allowed to:
- Offer incentives for a review: payments, discounts, free products or services.
- Selectively ask for positive reviews, meaning only asking the customers you think will speak well of you.
- Discourage or prohibit negative reviews.
- Pressure customers to write one on the premises, or ask them for specific content.
What is allowed is asking your customers to share their real experience, without influencing the rating or what they write.
Your review link and QR code, for free
Google gives you a link and a QR code that go straight to leaving a review. From your Business Profile, open your reviews and look for the option to get more reviews. There you can copy the link or download the QR code. According to Google, the QR code can currently be downloaded from a computer, not from a phone.
Before you use it, open it on your phone and confirm it lands on the review form.
Where to put it so people use it
Google suggests placing it on receipts, in thank-you emails, at the end of a chat conversation or printed in your store. In practice, it works where the customer is already happy and has their phone in hand:
- On the table or at the register, after eating or paying.
- In the WhatsApp message where you confirm the order arrived fine.
- On the bag or packaging of what you deliver.
And reply to every review. The same BrightLocal survey found that 80% prefer businesses that reply to all their reviews, but generic replies put off half of them. Write the way you talk.
How I do it
Google's QR code is free and you can print it yourself. What I make is the QR table sign: a two-sided sign for the table or the register, designed with your brand, printed and mounted, with the review QR on one side and whatever you choose on the other (your menu, WhatsApp, Instagram or Yappy). I test every QR code before delivering it. The Classic 4 × 6 costs $15, or 3 for $36.
No sign says "leave a review and win something". That's exactly what Google prohibits.
What you can do today: get your review link from your profile, test it on your phone and send it to the last three customers who left happy. No gifts, just "your opinion would really help me".
Want to see what yours would look like?
I will review your current digital presence across 6 concrete points and put together a draft of your page, at no cost and with no strings attached. That way you decide with something concrete in hand, not with a vague idea.