How to get more Google reviews for your trades business

Ask a homeowner how they picked their last plumber or electrician and you will hear some version of the same thing: they searched on their phone, glanced at the star ratings, read a couple of the recent reviews, and called one of the top few. Price came later. The reviews got you the call or they didn't.

That makes your Google reviews one of the highest-return things you can work on, and most trades barely touch them. Here is why they matter more than people think, how many you actually need, and a simple system to keep them coming in without turning yourself into a pest.

Why reviews matter more for trades than almost any other business

When someone hires a tradesperson, they are letting a stranger into their home to do work they cannot judge themselves. They do not know if your soldering is any good. What they can see is whether forty other people in their town trusted you and were glad they did. Reviews are how a nervous homeowner borrows other people's confidence.

They also do two jobs at once, and this is the part owners miss:

• They help you get found. A steady stream of recent, positive reviews is one of the strongest signals Google uses to decide who lands in the local map pack, where most "near me" calls come from. More good reviews, arriving regularly, nudges you up that list.
• They help you get chosen. Once you are in the results, your star rating and review count are the first things a searcher compares. Surveys on local buying habits (BrightLocal runs a well-known one every year) consistently find most people read reviews before choosing a local business and won't seriously consider one rated below about four stars.

So reviews are not a vanity number. They move you up the page and then close the homeowner once you are there. Very little else you can do for free does both.

How many Google reviews do you actually need?

There is no magic threshold, and chasing a round number misses the point. What matters is how you look next to the other companies a homeowner is comparing in that moment. A useful way to think about it:

Aim to pass your busiest competitor, then keep a fresh trickle coming in. Recency counts as much as the total.

The takeaway: get into the double digits so you don't look risky, then focus on never going quiet. A business adding a review or two every couple of weeks looks alive and trusted. One that got twelve reviews in 2023 and nothing since looks like it might have folded.

The right way to ask (and why most trades do it wrong)

Most owners "ask for reviews" by handing over a business card with a Google logo on it, or mentioning it once as they pack up the van. Then they wonder why nobody follows through. The problem isn't the customer; it's friction and timing.

Two things make almost all the difference:

• Ask at the peak moment. The best time is right after the job is done and the customer is visibly happy: the furnace is roaring back to life, the water is running clear, the new panel looks tidy. That feeling fades within a day. Ask while it's fresh.
• Make it one tap, not a task. "Leave us a review on Google" is homework. A direct link that opens straight to the review box is a five-second favour. If they have to search your business name, pick the right listing, and find the button, most won't bother, not because they didn't like you, but because they got busy.

A message as plain as this outperforms any clever wording: "Thanks for having us out today, Sarah. If you were happy with the work, would you mind leaving a quick Google review? Takes about a minute, here's the link." Friendly, specific, and the link does the rest.

Turn asking into a system, not a chore

Here is the honest problem: even when owners know all of this, the ask is the first thing that drops on a busy week. You finish a hard job, you're already thinking about the next one, and the review request never gets sent. Do that for a month and the flow dries up.

The fix is to take the remembering out of your hands. On the sites we build, the owner dashboard sends a review request by text automatically the moment a job is marked won, so the customer gets a one-tap Google link while the good work is still fresh, and you never had to think about it. That one change is usually the difference between a trickle of reviews and a steady stream, because it happens whether you remember or not.

Whatever tools you use, aim for the same three things:

• Every happy customer gets asked, not just the ones you remember on a quiet day.
• The ask goes out fast, while the job is fresh, ideally the same day.
• The link is one tap, straight to your Google review box.

What to do about a bad review

You will get one eventually, and it is not the disaster it feels like. A profile with all five-star reviews and nothing else can even read as fake. What matters is how you respond, because future customers read your reply more closely than the complaint.

Keep it calm, short, and public, then take the details offline: thank them for the feedback, acknowledge the issue without arguing, and offer to make it right by phone. A measured, professional reply turns one unhappy review into proof that you handle problems like a grown-up, which is exactly what the next homeowner is trying to find out. Never ignore it, and never get into a back-and-forth in the comments.

The takeaway

Reviews are the closest thing a trades business has to free advertising that also helps you rank. You don't need a hundred of them and you don't need to be pushy. You need to pass your busiest competitor, keep a fresh one landing every couple of weeks, and make the ask automatic so it survives your busy season. Do that and more of the homeowners already searching for your trade end up calling you instead of the company next to you. Our trades website checklist covers the rest of what turns searchers into booked jobs.