I was on a call with a business owner in the South a couple of weeks ago, and he was fired up about Google.
Reviews are so important to business owners. But Google recently changed its review policy, so you shouldn't ask a customer to mention your techs by name anymore, and you can't make the ask conditional. That means no more "if our tech did a great job, leave us a review." It has to be neutral, the same invite for every customer.
And Google has started enforcing it. The owner I spoke with has had reviews removed from his Google Business Profile. And once they're taken down, there's seemingly nothing you can do to get them back.
What changed
Google updated its review policy and started enforcing it hard. Three things matter for trades business owners:
You can't ask a customer to name a technician in a review as Google now doesn’t want businesses requesting "content that identifies a staff member."
The ask has to be neutral. Instead of "if your technician did a great job, please leave us a review," send something like: "Thanks for choosing [Company] today. How was your experience? Tap here to leave us a review: [link]."
Be consistent. A spike of 20 reviews in a week or two when you normally get none can look suspicious to Google. Aim for a steady stream instead.
You can read the official Google policy here.
So a short 5-star review that names your tech, posted an hour after the job, is exactly the kind Google's systems now flag and may remove. Google pulled 292 million reviews in 2025 and the owner I spoke to said he watched one competitor lose hundreds of reviews after the change rolled out.
You can still incentivize reviews
Reviews are one of the top KPIs our partners incentivize techs for with around half of the businesses on ShareWillow running a review bonus. The median payout is $10 a review, and plenty of owners pay more for a review with a photo.
The problem is that reviews naming techs could now be at risk of removal. But you can still reward your techs for doing great work that generates reviews, Google just doesn't want you coaching customers to name a tech or leave a positive review.
To get around this change from Google, credit the tech by the job, not by the customer typing their name in a review. If you log who runs each call, you shouldn’t need a name in each review to identify who to credit a review bonus to.
Reviews were always about the quality of your work, and that's one thing Google can't take down. So keep paying for it.
Best,
Ryan
P.S. If you're not already rewarding your team for reviews, book a call here and we can show you how to structure the incentive and measure the success.