What is review gating?
Review gating is screening customers before asking them for a public review. Customers who seem satisfied get a link to Google or another review site. Customers who seem unhappy get a private feedback form, a phone number, or no request at all. The result is a set of public reviews drawn mostly from the customers the business expected to be positive.
"Review gating" is an industry term. Google's policy doesn't use it, but it describes the same behavior: merchants may not "discourage or prohibit negative reviews, or selectively solicit positive reviews from customers."
What does review gating look like for a moving company?
Gating can sit anywhere in the follow-up after a move. Some forms it takes:
- A rating screen in front of the link. A text after the move asks, "How did we do, 1 to 5?" Customers who answer 4 or 5 get the Google review link. Customers who answer 1 to 3 get a "Tell us what went wrong" form.
- Selective asking by the crew. The crew lead asks for a review only at moves that went smoothly and skips the ones with damage claims or delays.
- Discouraging negative reviews. Customers are told to call the office with any problem "instead of posting a review."
- A software setting. If a review request tool sends customers down different paths based on their answer to a first rating question, it gates reviews the same way a person would.
Each of these limits who gets asked to leave a public review based on what the business expects them to say.
Does Google allow review gating?
No. Google's Maps user contributed content policy covers it under rating manipulation, which "includes Incentivized or Biased Reviews, which are not allowed and will be removed from Maps." Under that heading, the policy says: "We do not allow merchants to: ... Discourage or prohibit negative reviews, or selectively solicit positive reviews from customers."
The same policy describes what Google does allow. Merchants may "solicit or encourage the posting of content that does represent a genuine experience, without offering incentives to do so or attempting to influence the rating or the contents of the review."
Google's advice for businesses points the same way. Its tips for getting more reviews tell businesses to "value all reviews" and note that "a mix of positive and negative feedback often feels more trustworthy."
Is review gating illegal?
The FTC's position has two parts, and neither one says gating is safe:
- The Consumer Reviews and Testimonials Rule (16 CFR Part 465) has no specific ban on gating. The FTC's own Q&A answers the question "Can my business ask for reviews only from customers whom we think are happy with our services?" this way: "The rule does not contain a specific prohibition against such conduct. But this practice could violate the FTC Act."
- The FTC's guide for marketers, Soliciting and Paying for Online Reviews, lists as a rule of thumb: "Don't ask for reviews only from customers you think will leave positive ones."
Whether a particular review program breaks the law is a question for a lawyer. On Google, the answer doesn't depend on that question, because the Maps policy prohibits selective solicitation outright.
How is review gating different from review suppression?
Gating controls who is asked for a review. Review suppression is about stopping or removing reviews after customers want to post them, and the FTC rule covers it in Section 465.7.
According to the FTC's Q&A, the rule prohibits using physical threats, intimidation, or "unfounded or groundless" legal threats to prevent a review or get one removed, and prohibits false accusations against a reviewer made knowingly or with reckless disregard for the truth. The Q&A also covers reviews displayed on a business's own website. Organizing reviews, for example by putting the reviews customers voted most helpful at the top, isn't suppression. Organizing them so that negative reviews are hard to find could be an unfair or deceptive practice under Section 5 of the FTC Act.
How do you ask for reviews without gating?
Ask every customer, the same way, every time:
- Send one request to everyone. Every completed move gets the same message with the Google review link.
- Put nothing in front of the link. Don't ask for a rating first, and don't make the link depend on the answer.
- Don't steer the content. Google doesn't allow businesses to attempt "to influence the rating or the contents of the review."
- Don't offer incentives. Google prohibits incentives for posting, changing, or removing reviews.
- Reply to the reviews you get, positive and negative.
The steps for creating and sharing a review link are in how to get more Google reviews.