If you are a plumber, electrician, roofer, or any other tradesperson, you have probably noticed that the businesses sitting at the top of Google Maps all have one thing in common: a healthy number of genuine reviews. That is not a coincidence. Google reviews are one of the strongest signals that determine where your business appears in local search results, and they are also the first thing a potential customer looks at before picking up the phone.
The good news is that getting more Google reviews as a tradesman is not complicated. It does not require any marketing degree or expensive software. It requires a simple system, a bit of consistency, and the confidence to ask. This guide walks you through exactly how to do it.
Why Google Reviews Directly Affect Your Rankings
Google’s local search algorithm weighs three main factors when deciding which businesses to show in the Map Pack: relevance, distance, and prominence. Reviews fall squarely under prominence. The more reviews you have, and the higher your average rating, the more Google trusts that your business is established and reputable.
But it goes beyond just the number next to your name. Google also looks at the words inside your reviews. When a customer writes something like “brilliant plumber, fixed our boiler same day in Guildford,” Google picks up on those keywords and location signals. That review is quietly helping you rank for searches like “emergency plumber Guildford” without you having to do anything extra.
Reviews also have a direct impact on click-through rates. A business with 85 reviews and a 4.8-star rating will almost always get chosen over one with 6 reviews and a 5.0 rating. People trust volume. They understand that no business is perfect, and a large number of overwhelmingly positive reviews feels far more credible than a handful of flawless ones.
If you have not yet set up or optimised your Google Business Profile, that is the foundation everything else sits on. Our guide to Google Business Profile for tradespeople covers the full setup process.
The Review Card System: Make It Effortless for Your Customers
The single biggest reason tradespeople do not get enough reviews is friction. Your customer was happy with the job. They told you so at the door. They meant it when they said they would leave a review. But then they got home, made dinner, put the kids to bed, and forgot entirely. You cannot blame them. Leaving a Google review means opening Google Maps, finding your business, tapping the right buttons, and writing something. Most people simply will not do that unprompted.
This is where physical review cards solve the problem. A review card is a small, professionally printed card with a QR code that links directly to your Google review page. You hand it to the customer at the end of the job, they scan it with their phone camera, and it opens the review form immediately. No searching, no extra steps.
At Localengine, we post 250 branded review cards to every client as part of the service. They are designed to sit in your van or toolbox so you always have them to hand. The cards are simple: your business name, a short line like “Your feedback helps us grow,” and the QR code. Nothing pushy, nothing desperate. Just a polite prompt that removes the friction.
Tradespeople who use review cards consistently tell us the same thing: they went from getting one or two reviews a month to five or six, without changing anything else about how they work. The jobs were always good. The customers were always happy. The missing piece was just making it easy.
When to Ask: Timing Makes All the Difference
Knowing when to ask for a review matters almost as much as asking in the first place. The best moment is right after you have finished the job and the customer is visibly pleased with the result. That might be when you have just shown them the new bathroom, or when the heating kicks back in after a boiler repair, or when you have tidied up and they are standing there saying how relieved they are.
At that moment, the experience is fresh. They can still feel the relief and satisfaction. If you hand them a review card and say something like, “I’m glad you’re happy with it. If you get a minute, a quick Google review would really help me out,” most people will be genuinely willing to do it.
What you want to avoid is asking days later by text or email. It is not that follow-up messages never work, but by that point the emotional peak has passed. The customer has moved on to thinking about other things, and your message becomes just another notification to dismiss. The in-person handoff, right at the moment of satisfaction, is far more effective.
One practical tip: keep a small stack of review cards in your pocket or clipped to your invoice pad, not buried in the van. If you have to go rummaging through a toolbox to find one, you will stop bothering after the first week.
How to Respond to Every Review You Receive
Responding to reviews is something a surprising number of tradespeople skip, and it is a missed opportunity on two fronts. First, it signals to Google that your business is active and engaged, which is a minor but genuine ranking factor. Second, it shows future customers that you are the kind of person who cares about the experience, not just the invoice.
For positive reviews, keep your reply warm but professional. Thank them by name if they have used it, mention the specific job if appropriate, and keep it brief. Something like: “Thanks, Sarah. Glad we could get the leak sorted quickly for you. Appreciate you taking the time to leave a review.” That is enough. You do not need to write an essay.
Negative reviews require a different approach, and they will happen eventually no matter how good your work is. The key is to stay calm and professional. Never argue, never get defensive, and never make it personal. Acknowledge the concern, apologise if something genuinely went wrong, and offer to resolve it offline. Something like: “Sorry to hear you weren’t happy with the finish. We’d like to put it right — could you give us a call so we can arrange a time to come back?”
The reason this matters is that every potential customer who reads that negative review will also read your response. If they see a measured, professional reply, it actually builds trust rather than destroying it. People understand that things occasionally go wrong. What they care about is how you handle it.
How Many Reviews Do You Actually Need?
This depends on your area and your trade, but as a general rule, you want to be in the same ballpark as the top three businesses showing in the Map Pack for your main search terms. If the top-ranking plumber in your county has 120 reviews, you do not necessarily need 120 to compete, but you need to be in a range where Google considers you credible. Sitting on 8 reviews when your competitors have 80 is going to hold you back regardless of how good your website or citations are.
For most trades in most UK towns, getting to 40-60 genuine reviews will put you in a strong competitive position. In larger cities or more competitive trades, you might need more. The important thing is to check. Search for your trade and location on Google Maps, look at the top three results, and note their review counts. That is your benchmark.
If you are working on your broader local SEO as a plumber or any other trade, reviews are one piece of the puzzle alongside citations, your Google Business Profile, and your website. But they are arguably the piece that carries the most weight with both the algorithm and the actual humans searching for you.
Review Velocity: Why a Steady Stream Beats a Sudden Burst
Google does not just count your total reviews. It also pays attention to the pattern. A business that receives two or three reviews every week looks far more natural and trustworthy than one that suddenly gets 30 reviews in a single weekend after months of silence.
This concept is called review velocity, and it matters for two reasons. First, a sudden spike in reviews can trigger Google’s spam filters. If your profile jumps from 10 reviews to 50 overnight, Google may flag some of those reviews for investigation and potentially remove them. Second, a steady flow of recent reviews tells both Google and potential customers that your business is actively trading and consistently delivering good work. A business with 100 reviews but nothing in the last six months looks stale.
The review card system helps with this naturally. Because you are handing out cards job by job, your reviews arrive at the pace you are actually completing work. If you are doing three jobs a day and even a third of those customers leave a review, you are adding seven or eight reviews a week. Over a few months, that compounds into a substantial and entirely organic review profile.
This steady approach also makes it much easier to maintain your average rating. If you have 200 reviews and the occasional 3-star slips in, it barely moves the needle. If you have 15 reviews, one bad one can drop your rating noticeably.
Never Buy Fake Reviews: The Risks Are Not Worth It
It can be tempting, especially when you are starting out and competitors seem miles ahead. Services offering 10 or 50 Google reviews for a flat fee are easy to find. But buying fake reviews is one of the worst decisions you can make for your business, and the consequences have become increasingly severe.
Google has invested heavily in detecting fake reviews. Their algorithms analyse reviewer accounts, writing patterns, timing, IP addresses, and more. When fake reviews are detected, Google does not just remove them. In serious cases, they can suspend your entire Google Business Profile, which means you disappear from Google Maps completely. Rebuilding from a suspension is a painful, slow process, and some businesses never fully recover their previous rankings.
Beyond Google’s enforcement, there is also a legal dimension. The Competition and Markets Authority in the UK has made it clear that fake reviews are a form of misleading advertising. Businesses caught purchasing reviews can face formal investigations and penalties.
The bottom line is simple: there are no shortcuts that do not carry serious risk. The tradespeople who win on Google reviews are the ones who do good work and make it easy for happy customers to say so. If you are looking for ways to build your online presence properly, our local SEO tips for plumbers article covers the fundamentals that work alongside a strong review profile, and the same principles apply whether you are an electrician looking for more leads in Essex or a roofer in Kent.
Bringing It All Together
Getting more Google reviews as a tradesman comes down to three things: doing good work (which you are already doing), asking at the right moment (right after the job, while the customer is happy), and removing the friction (with a direct link or QR code card in their hand).
You do not need to overthink this. You do not need a complicated marketing funnel or a review management platform with a monthly subscription. You need a stack of cards in your van, a brief and genuine ask at the end of each job, and the discipline to do it consistently.
At Localengine, our monthly service includes 250 branded review cards posted directly to you, alongside everything else you need to rank locally: your website, Google Business Profile management, citations across 40+ directories, and GeoGrid rank tracking so you can see your progress on a map. It is all handled for you at a flat rate of £300 per month with no setup fees. If you want to stop wondering where your next job is coming from and start building the kind of online presence that generates leads steadily, get in touch and we will take it from there.