Google Business Profile setup
How to create and verify the profile the reviews sit on.
SEO · Reviews
How to get Google reviews in Malta
without breaking Google’s rules.
You can ask happy customers for a review. You cannot pay them, discount them or tell them what to write. Here is the method Google itself publishes.
Short answer
You can ask customers who had a real experience to leave a Google review. You cannot pay them, discount them or give them anything in exchange, and you cannot ask only for positive reviews. Google publishes an official review link and QR code for this. Pair it with a complete profile and a clear website, both part of SEO in Malta and web design in Malta.
Key takeaways
- How do I get more Google reviews without breaking the rules? Ask customers who had a real experience, after the visit, using Google’s official review link or QR code, with no reward and no instructions about what to write. Google’s own tip page (help article 3474122) and prohibited-content page (7400114) spell this out.
- Can I offer a discount for a Google review? No. Google treats payment, discounts, free goods or services in exchange for a review, a changed review or the removal of a negative review as fake and misleading content. Profiles that break the rule can lose reviews or see a warning.
- Where do I find the official review link? Inside your Google Business Profile. Google’s help article 16816815 explains how to create a review link or QR code and suggests putting it on receipts, in thank-you emails, at the end of a chat, or on a printed card.
Why they matter
Reviews are how new customers check you.
In Malta and Gozo, a lot of first visits start on Google Maps: a dentist in Birkirkara, a plumber in Mosta, a restaurant in Marsaxlokk. The rating and the latest reviews sit next to your name, your hours and the button to call.
You can ask customers who had a real experience to leave a review. You cannot buy a rating, discount it or hand-pick only the happy ones. Google publishes both the invitation method and the ban, and this guide follows those pages as we read them on 9 November 2026.
A complete website still helps. The profile and the site should say the same name, phone number and hours. That pairing is part of web design in Malta and of SEO in Malta. If the profile itself is missing, start with how to set up a Google Business Profile or why a business does not show on Maps.
The rules
What Google allows, and what it bans.
Google’s own tip page on getting more reviews (help article 3474122) says reviews must reflect a genuine experience. Offering incentives (free or discounted goods or services) in exchange for a review, a changed review or the removal of a negative review is treated as fake and misleading content.
The prohibited-content page (help article 7400114) repeats the same ban and adds others: reviews that were paid for, reviews posted from multiple accounts, reviews written to undermine a competitor, and asking staff to collect a set number of reviews or to ask for specific wording. You also must not discourage negative reviews or solicit only positive ones.
What Google does allow is a plain invitation: ask people who actually used your business to share that experience, without a reward and without telling them what to write. If Google decides a profile broke the fake-engagement rules, it can remove reviews, stop new ones for a time, hide existing ratings or show a warning. That is in help article 14114287.
| You may | You may not |
|---|---|
| Ask a real customer to leave a review of a real visit | Pay anyone, or give a discount, gift or free service, for a review |
| Share Google’s official review link or QR code | Ask someone to change or remove a bad review in exchange for anything |
| Reply to reviews politely, without a sales pitch | Ask only for positive reviews, or tell people what to write |
| Flag a review that breaks Google’s rules | Post reviews yourself, through staff accounts, or on a competitor’s profile |
The official tool
How to get the review link and QR code.
Google publishes a help page on creating a review link or QR code (article 16816815). You generate it from your Business Profile. Customers who open it land on the review form for your business, not on a generic search.
Google’s own suggestions for where to use that link are simple: put it on receipts, in thank-you emails, at the end of a chat, or as a printed QR code in the shop. The same page repeats the incentive ban, so a poster that says “scan for 10% off when you review us” is not allowed.
A tradesman in Rabat can send the link after the job is finished and paid. A clinic can include it in the follow-up email the patient already expects. A shop in Victoria, Gozo can keep a small card at the till. In every case the visit has to have happened first.
How to ask
When to ask, and what to say.
Ask after the work is done, while the visit is still easy to remember, and only once. A plumber who finished a boiler in Fgura that morning can say: “If you are happy to share how the job went, here is Google’s review link. There is no pressure and nothing in it for you except telling the next customer what happened.”
Do not stand over someone with a tablet in the shop and wait for a star rating. Google says merchants should not require or pressure people to leave a rating while they are on the premises, and should not request specific wording.
Replies matter as much as the ask. Google’s tips page says to be professional, keep it short, answer the point, and avoid using the reply to push a deal. Thank a good review in one or two lines. On a critical review, say what you will fix and invite the person to continue by email if details should stay private. Never offer a coupon to take the review down.
Want the website and the profile to tell the same story? Apply now for a website
Free tool
Build a review request you are allowed to send.
Pick your kind of business and when you usually see the customer last. The planner writes a plain request with no incentive language, plus a reminder of what Google bans. Nothing you pick is sent anywhere. You still generate the real link inside your own Google Business Profile.
Review request planner
Your request
This planner needs JavaScript. The rules are also written in the article.
Malta Digital has 18 Google reviews of its own. We ask clients the same way we have described here: after the work, with no reward attached.
Want a site that matches what people see on Google?
We build the website, line up the name and hours with your profile, and leave you a place to put the official review link. You own the site.
Together
The website and the profile have to agree.
A review that praises a phone number which is no longer on the website wastes the click. Put the same number, the same hours and the same locality on both. If you serve Gozo on set days, say so in both places.
Do not buy reviews, do not join schemes that promise a rating, and do not write them yourself. Those shortcuts break Google’s rules and they break trust with the next customer who reads them on a bus to Valletta.
If you later want more of the right people to find you, that is a separate conversation about SEO in Malta or about ads. The reviews only help if they are real.
Prices
Where this sits next to a website.
Google Business Profile and its review link are free from Google. The website that should match the profile starts at €990 for a Professional Website, €2,490 for a Business Website and €4,900 for a Growth Website. A 24-hour website is €2,990 for up to 15 pages.
We do not sell a standalone “buy reviews” service, and we will not. If you want the pages, the profile details and the place for the link handled together, apply below.
Want us to line the website up with your Google profile? Apply now for a website
A few straight answers
What you might be wondering.
How do I get more Google reviews without breaking the rules?
Ask customers who had a real experience, after the visit, using Google’s official review link or QR code, with no reward and no instructions about what to write. Google’s own tip page (help article 3474122) and prohibited-content page (7400114) spell this out.
Can I offer a discount for a Google review?
No. Google treats payment, discounts, free goods or services in exchange for a review, a changed review or the removal of a negative review as fake and misleading content. Profiles that break the rule can lose reviews or see a warning.
Where do I find the official review link?
Inside your Google Business Profile. Google’s help article 16816815 explains how to create a review link or QR code and suggests putting it on receipts, in thank-you emails, at the end of a chat, or on a printed card.
When should I ask for a review?
After the job or visit is finished, while it is easy to remember, and only once. Do not stand over someone in the shop and wait for a rating. Google says not to pressure people on the premises or request specific wording.
How should I reply to a bad review?
Be polite, keep it short, address the point and avoid a sales pitch. Invite private details to email. Never offer a coupon to take the review down. You can flag a review that breaks Google’s rules.
Do I need a website as well as a Google profile?
The profile and the website should show the same name, phone number, hours and locality. A website also gives you a place to explain the work in your own words. Website packages start from €990.
Does Malta Digital buy reviews?
No. Malta Digital has 18 Google reviews. We ask clients after the work, with no reward, the same way this guide describes.
Sources
Where these facts come from.
- Google Business Profile Help: tips to get more reviews (3474122) (opened 9 November 2026)
- Google Business Profile Help: prohibited and restricted content (7400114)
- Google Business Profile Help: create a review link or QR code (16816815)
- Google Business Profile Help: restrictions for policy violations (14114287)
Keep reading
Related guides.
Business not showing on Google Maps
Why a Malta business is missing from the map and how to fix it.
Do you need a website if you have Facebook?
When a social page is enough, and when you need an address you own.
A useful first step
Want the website and the profile to agree?
Professional Website from €990, Business Website from €2,490 and Growth Website from €4,900. Tell us about your Google profile and we reply with how we would line the site up with it.
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