Google review management for UK local businesses
Collecting reviews is a quarter of the job. Replying to them, watching for the ones that break Google’s rules, and knowing what all of it did to your rating and your calls is the rest. We run the whole cycle, weekly, from £149 a month.
What review management covers
Review management is the ongoing work of collecting reviews, replying to every one of them, monitoring what gets published about you, and reporting what changed. Done properly it runs every week rather than in bursts, it goes out under your business’s own identity, and it stays inside Google’s review policy and UK consumer law.
Where it usually falls over
Almost nobody stops because it did not work. They stop because it was one more weekly job.
It started well and stopped in March
Someone enthusiastic set it up, then got busy. Review programmes die of neglect far more often than they fail on merit.
A one-star has sat unanswered for three weeks
Which is read by every customer who arrives after it, and answers a question about you that you did not get to answer yourself.
You bought software and inherited a job
The platform sends the requests. Nobody writes the replies, nobody chases the integration when it breaks, nobody reads the dashboard. The licence is not the work.
There is a review from someone who was never a customer
It has been there for months because nobody knew there is a process for reporting it, or what Google will and will not act on.
The rating moved and nobody knows why
Without a monthly record of volume, velocity and response time, a rating is just a number that changes.
Replies get written when someone is annoyed
Which is exactly the wrong moment, and it is permanently public. Replies are a public document about how you treat people.
The four parts, run for you
Each one is a job on its own. Together they are what "review management" is supposed to mean.
Requests after every completed job
Sent from your business, at the right moment, with the direct review link and a single follow-up. Older customers worked through in batches so the curve looks like real life.
How the review requests work →Every review answered within 24 hours
Written by a person, in your voice, specific to what the customer actually said. Positive reviews get thanked properly; anything serious comes to you for approval before it goes live.
Negative reviews handled, not argued with
Acknowledge, correct the record once, take it offline. Nothing defensive, nothing that discloses a customer’s details, nothing that gives a reader a second reason to worry.
Policy-breaking reviews reported properly
Reviews from non-customers, competitors, abuse or content about a different business are flagged through Google’s process with evidence. Google decides, not us, and we tell you what the likely outcome is before you get your hopes up.
The profile watched, not just the reviews
New reviews, suggested edits to your hours or address, and questions posted to your Q&A — all watched, because any of the three can change what a customer sees without telling you.
One monthly report in plain numbers
New reviews, rating movement, review velocity and response time. From Growth up, rank movement on your local terms and the calls that came from Google.
What a month looks like
The rhythm matters more than any single piece of it.
Audit and connect
Current reviews, rating, velocity and unanswered backlog assessed. Booking system connected, request wording approved, the backlog of unanswered reviews cleared.
Requests out, replies out
Every completed job asked. Every new review answered within 24 hours. Anything that needs your judgement reaches you the same day.
Problems handled
A bad review gets a considered reply, not a fast one. A policy-breaking review gets reported with evidence. A suggested edit to your hours gets reverted.
The report
What came in, what it did to your rating, how fast we answered, and what we would do differently next month. One page, no dashboard login required.
What we won't do
A review management company that will bend these rules for you will bend them to you.
The policy, the refusal ledger and the UK law behind each rule are published in full.
Read the full compliance policy →What it costs
Cheaper than a local SEO retainer, and more than a software licence, because it is people doing the work rather than a dashboard you have to run.
Proof that reviews come in — cheaply, and with no risk.
- Google Business Profile set up & optimised
- Automated review requests, with photo mechanic
- Every review replied to within 24 hours
- Customer Feedback System
- Monthly report
Where "trust us" becomes "here are the calls you got."
Priced on your market, your ad spend and how fast you want to move.
Foundation covers profile, requests and replies. Growth adds weekly posts, rank tracking, call tracking and citation clean-up. Scale adds social posting and Google Ads, quoted per client. Per location, ex VAT, no contract. No contract — cancel any month. Compare all three plans in full.
Questions we get asked
RemovalCan you delete a bad Google review?
No, and neither can anyone who tells you they can. Only the person who wrote a review can delete it, and only Google can remove one — and only when it breaks their content policy, for example a review from someone who was never a customer, abuse, or content about a different business. We report what qualifies, with evidence, and answer what does not.
ScopeWhat is the difference between review management and reputation management?
Review management is what we do: collecting, answering, monitoring and reporting on reviews. Reputation management as it is usually sold is broader and vaguer — press, search suppression, sometimes tactics that would not survive being described out loud. If a reputation problem is really a service problem, more reviews will publish it faster, not hide it.
PlatformsDo you manage Trustpilot, Facebook or Checkatrade too?
We work Google first, because that is where local buying decisions and the map pack are. Where your trade genuinely lives somewhere else as well — Checkatrade for a builder, a treatment platform for a clinic — we cover it. We will not pretend that reviews on another platform move your Google Maps ranking, because they do not.
RepliesWho writes the replies, and how fast?
A person on our team writes them, in your voice, within 24 hours of the review appearing. Anything contentious, clinical or legally sensitive is drafted and sent to you for approval first. You can veto any reply, and you can write your own whenever you want to.
FakesWhat happens if we get an obviously fake review?
We report it through Google’s process with whatever evidence exists — booking records showing no such customer, the same text posted on other businesses, an account with a pattern. Some come down and some do not. Since the DMCC Act 2024, fake reviews are also a matter for the CMA, which has made platforms noticeably more responsive than they used to be.
SoftwareWe already pay for review software. Do we need you as well?
Probably not both. Software sends the requests and leaves you the work: the replies, the wording, the integration when it breaks, the reporting nobody reads. We are the version where the work is done and you get a report. If your team genuinely runs the software you have, keep it — we would rather say that than sell you a duplicate.
Related services
Fifteen minutes on your reviews
Where you stand against the businesses ranking above you, what your unanswered reviews are costing you, and the first three things we would change. Free, and yours whether or not you hire us.