How to Respond to Google Reviews – Easy Steps

Responding to Google reviews on your company’s Google Business Profile is critical to maintain a trusted reputation online. Not only is it important to respond to the Google review quickly, but the content of your response is arguably even more important.

To skip ahead to the right section, click on the task you’d like to complete:

1. Respond to a Google Review within the Google Business Profile interface.
2. Craft a thoughtful and effective response to a particular review.

How to Respond to a Google Review Within Your Google Business Profile Interface

If you’re not sure where to go to write the review response, follow the quick steps below. Note that we highly recommend responding to Google Reviews from a desktop/laptop computer instead of a smartphone to avoid making critical typos or prematurely submitting your response.

1. Ensure you are logged into a Google Account that has access to manage your Google Business Profile listing. You will need at least “Manager” level permissions to respond to a review.
2. Visit business.google.com in your internet browser.
   
   1. If you manage only one business, this should take you directly to your business profile.
   2. If you manage multiple businesses, you’ll need to click on which business you’d like to manage.
3. Select Read Reviews.
   
4. Click the “Unreplied” tab to see all reviews that still need a response.
   
   
   1. If you see the message that says you’ve replied to new reviews and doesn’t show any reviews requiring a response, click the blue “Check Reviews” button. We’ve experienced many cases where Google does not immediately display the reviews requiring a response. It may take clicking this button up to three times to see all unreplied reviews.
5. Find the review you want to respond to and click the “Reply” button at the bottom of the review.
   
6. Type up your review response and carefully check it for errors. If needed, you can check out our tips on writing an effective response.
   
7. Once completed, click the blue reply button.
8. You will now see the original review with your response underneath it.
   
   
   1. If you need to edit your response to correct a typo, you can click the Edit text underneath your response.

Note that if you use a quality reputation management system, it should allow you to respond to the Google review directly within your reputation management portal. Of course, you can always respond to reviews directly within your Google Business Profile, but you may want to check your reputation management system’s documentation since it may have additional tools to help you craft a response.

How to Write an Effective Response to a Google Review

If you’re unsure what to say in response to a customer review, this section provides some tips that may make the process easier.

First, determine if the review exhibits an overall positive or negative sentiment about your company. Generally speaking, a negative sentiment would be a Google rating of 3-stars or lower. A positive sentiment would be a 4 or 5-star review.

Which type of review are you trying to respond to:

1. Respond to a positive review.
2. Respond to a negative review.

How to Respond to a Positive Google Review

Congrats on receiving a positive Google review! Here are some general tips for responding to a positive review:

• Customize your response to their unique situation. Don’t be vague and regurgitate a canned response.
• Be genuine in your response and echo your commitment regarding any specific comments or words they used to describe your services and interactions. For example, if they point out your superior communication, re-iterate your dedication to transparent and timely communication.
• Don’t disclose information about the person or product/service that they didn’t already share within the context of their original review. Respect their privacy!
• If they did provide a little bit of constructive criticism within their review, acknowledge it, thank them for their feedback, and commit to reviewing it with your team.

How to Respond to a Negative Google Review

Receiving a negative Google Review (especially a 1-star review) can feel extremely discouraging and disheartening. It’s easy to jump into defense mode. Instead, you should look at a negative Google review as an opportunity to:

1. Address a potential internal issue that could use improvement.
2. Show potential customers that you care about your customers, especially when they have a negative experience.

The following are a few general tips for responding to a negative review:

• Don’t get defensive. See this as an opportunity to improve and win over potential customers with your response. We’ve seen where getting defensive can lead to additional reviews being left by that customer on other platforms (Facebook, Yelp, etc.), or even the customer soliciting friends to also leave negative reviews in retaliation.
• Customize your response to the situation at hand to build trust.
• Thank the visitor for bringing this issue to your attention.
• Affirm the customer’s concern (be empathetic!) and express that it will be addressed.
• Don’t overpromise in your response.
• Direct the conversation offline with a clear next step. Offer the best method for them to reach out to you to make the situation right (and actually follow through).
• If the review is truly illegitimate/fake (e.g. spam or a negative review attack from a competitor), consider reporting the review to Google.

If you need more help responding to negative reviews, check out our guide on how to respond to a negative review. Additionally, you can see how review count, frequency, recency, and average rating affect your SEO and credibility.

Get More Tips to Elevate Your Review Collection and Response Process

If you’d like to elevate your online reputation, you might check out our reputation management service.

If you’ve got a pretty good handle on your review collection and response process, but just need a few extra tips, consider signing up for our free monthly newsletter. We send out detailed reputation management, SEO, and marketing tips once a month.