What does Google's review policy actually allow?
Google allows you to invite any customer to leave an honest review after a real visit or purchase. It bans paying, discounting or gifting anyone specifically in exchange for a review, gating a reward behind a 5-star rating, or filtering out unhappy customers before they post. Reward the visit, not the review, and you stay safe.
What Google explicitly forbids
- Offering a discount, gift or cash "in exchange for a positive review"
- Only asking customers who already said they were happy (review gating)
- Buying reviews or using review-exchange groups
- Posting reviews for your own business, or asking staff and family to do it
- Incentives tied to star rating (e.g. "5 stars = free coffee")
What is actually safe to do
- Ask every customer, regardless of how the visit went
- Reward the visit or purchase itself (a stamp, points, a spin of a wheel) and separately invite an honest Google review
- Put a QR code on the receipt, table or counter so asking is effortless
- Make leaving a review fast: pre-filled Google link, no login friction
- Respond to every review, good or bad, to show you read them
Why businesses get flagged or suspended
Google's spam systems look for patterns: a spike of 5-star reviews in one day, reviews mentioning "free gift", identical wording across reviews, or reviews from accounts with no history. A café that ran a "leave 5 stars, get a free dessert" promotion is a textbook case that gets reviews mass-removed and can trigger a full profile suspension.
How Dawwerni keeps you compliant by design
On Dawwerni, the customer scans a QR code, plays a short game (spin wheel, quiz, mystery door) and wins a reward for their next visit — win or lose has nothing to do with reviews. Afterward, the flow separately invites an honest Google review with a one-tap link. The reward is never conditional on stars, so the whole funnel respects Google's policy automatically.
If you already got flagged
- Stop the promotion immediately and remove any signage mentioning "free item for review"
- Read Google's review policy page and note the exact rule you broke
- Reply calmly to any removed-review notice; do not appeal with the same wording
- Rebuild slowly by asking every customer, not just happy ones, going forward
FAQ
Can I offer a free item for a Google review?
No. Google explicitly forbids trading a discount, gift or cash for a review, whatever the rating. You can reward the visit itself and separately, without conditions, invite a review.
Will Google remove reviews I asked for?
Not if you ask everyone and never mention a reward for reviewing. Reviews get removed when they look incentivized: identical wording, a rating spike, or mentions of "free gift for review".
Is a QR code on the receipt asking for a review allowed?
Yes. A neutral, no-strings QR code inviting a review from every customer is standard practice and fully compliant, as long as no reward is attached to leaving it.
Turn visits into reviews, repeat visits and sales
Try Dawwerni free for 7 days. Setup takes about 10 minutes.