Important Update: Google Review Policy Compliance

Hey Climbers,

Over the last few days, there has been a lot of discussion around Google’s review policies, especially around review gating, employee mentions, incentives, QR codes, and how review requests should be handled.

We have reviewed the policy carefully, and we want to make sure Climbo continues to help businesses collect genuine customer feedback in the safest and most compliant way possible.

Google’s policy is very clear on a few key points:

“Contributions to Google Maps should reflect a genuine experience at a place or business.”

Google also states that merchants must not:

“Discourage or prohibit negative reviews, or selectively solicit positive reviews from customers.”

And when soliciting reviews, merchants should not:

“Require or pressure users to leave ratings or write reviews while on the premises, nor should they request that specific content be included.”

This includes:

“Merchants requesting that staff solicit reviews that include specific content, including content that identifies a staff member.”

At the same time, Google also clearly says that merchants are allowed to:

“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.”

So the goal is not to stop collecting reviews.

The goal is to collect reviews in the right way: neutral, genuine, non-selective, and without incentives or pressure.

Here is what we are changing.

1. Review Gating: Removing Sentiment-Based Filters

We are removing review filtering based on sentiment.

This means we will no longer support flows where the customer is first asked to choose a rating, stars, thumbs up/down, smiley face, or any other sentiment indicator, and then receives a different experience based on that response.

For example, this type of flow is no longer considered safe:

Happy customer → sent to Google

Unhappy customer → sent to private feedback form

That can be interpreted as selectively soliciting positive reviews and discouraging negative reviews.

Instead, we are moving to a neutral two-choice approach.

Every customer will see the same two options, without any sentiment filtering:

Share Your Experience Publicly

The customer can leave a genuine public review on the available platforms.

Contact the Business Directly

The customer can privately contact the business with a question, concern, or feedback.

Why this is safer:

Every customer gets equal access to the public review option. We are not asking for a rating first. We are not changing the experience based on whether the customer is happy or unhappy. We are simply giving customers two fair and neutral choices: share publicly or contact the business directly.

This aligns much better with Google’s requirement not to “discourage or prohibit negative reviews” and not to “selectively solicit positive reviews.”

The private contact option is not a filter. It is simply a direct communication channel for customers who want to speak with the business.

2. Employee Alias Tracking: Moving Away From Staff Names

We are also updating how employee aliases work.

Google’s policy says merchants should not request that specific content be included in reviews, including content that identifies a staff member.

Because of this, we are making the employee alias feature safer.

We will block the ability to use obvious first names, last names, or parts of employee names as aliases.

We will also add a clear warning in the UI explaining that Google does not allow businesses to ask customers to mention staff members by name in reviews.

Instead of using staff names, we will encourage businesses to use safer internal labels such as:

Department name

Service name

Product name

Role

Branch

Team

Treatment/service category

Examples:

Customer Support

Hair Coloring

Dental Cleaning

Sales Team

Reception

Room Service

Milan Branch

Installation Team

The purpose of the alias should be internal tracking, not asking the customer to mention a person.

If one of these safe aliases naturally appears in the review text, the review can still be automatically assigned to the related employee, team, department, or service.

For example, if a review says:

“The hair coloring service was excellent.”

And the alias is “Hair Coloring,” the system can assign that review internally.

But the business should not ask the customer to write:

“Mention Sarah in your review.”

That is exactly the type of specific-content request Google warns against.

We are also developing manual review assignment as soon as possible. This will allow the business owner to manually assign reviews to employees after the review has been published, without needing to rely on staff names or asking customers to mention anyone.

This is the safest long-term direction: internal attribution after the review, not solicitation before the review.

3. Default Review Templates: Removing Incentives

We are updating our default review request templates.

Any default template that says something like:

“Leave us a review and enjoy 10% off your next visit”

will be removed or rewritten.

Google’s policy clearly states that merchants must not:

“Offer incentives – such as payment, discounts, free goods and/or services - in exchange for posting any review.”

So we do not want Climbo to encourage businesses to offer discounts, coupons, rewards, gifts, free products, or services in exchange for reviews.

Our default templates will now use neutral language focused on genuine customer experience.

Example:

Thank you for choosing us.

We’d love to hear about your recent experience. Your genuine feedback helps other customers learn more about our business.

You can share your experience here:

Another example:

Hi {{customer_name}}, thank you for visiting {{business_name}}.

If you’d like, you can share your genuine experience here:

The new standard is simple:

Ask for genuine feedback, not positive feedback.

Do not offer incentives.

Do not ask for 5 stars.

Do not suggest what the customer should write.

Do not ask them to mention a staff member.

4. QR Codes On-Site: Still Allowed, But Businesses Must Be Trained Properly

QR codes are not the problem.

The issue is how they are used.

Google allows merchants to encourage genuine reviews, but also says merchants should not “require or pressure users to leave ratings or write reviews while on the premises.”

So businesses can still use QR codes in-store, on cards, receipts, packaging, posters, or at the front desk.

However, staff must be trained to avoid pressure.

Safe approach:

“If you’d like, you can use this QR code later to share your genuine experience.”

Risky approach:

“Can you leave us a review right now?”

Not allowed:

“Leave us 5 stars and we’ll give you a discount.”

“Show us your review to get 10% off.”

“Please mention my name in the review.”

The right way to train staff is this:

Do not pressure customers while they are still on the premises.

Do not ask for a specific rating.

Do not offer incentives.

Do not ask for specific words or staff names.

Simply make the review option available and optional.

A QR code can remain a useful tool when it is presented as a neutral way to share a genuine experience whenever convenient.

5. Updating the Unbranded Knowledge Base

We are also updating the unbranded knowledge base.

We will remove or rewrite any content that refers to:

Filtering customer experiences through the review link

Sending only happy customers to public review platforms

Using review gating to prevent negative reviews

Offering incentives, discounts, coupons, or rewards in exchange for reviews

Asking customers to leave a specific rating

Asking customers to mention an employee or staff member

Using the employee’s real name as the recommended alias

Giving customers scripts or templates to copy into their review

The knowledge base will be repositioned around compliant review collection.

The new message will be:

Help businesses collect genuine customer feedback in a neutral, fair, and compliant way.

That means:

Same review options for every customer

No sentiment-based filtering

No incentives

No pressure

No staff-name solicitation

No suggested review content

Internal tracking only

Genuine customer experience first

Final Thoughts

We know some of these changes may feel restrictive, but they are important.

The goal is not to remove value from the platform. The goal is to protect the businesses using it.

Google still allows merchants to ask for reviews. The policy specifically says businesses may encourage content that represents a genuine experience, as long as they do not offer incentives or attempt to influence the rating or contents of the review.

That is the direction we are taking.

Climbo will continue to help businesses get more reviews, but in a safer and more sustainable way:

No review gating

No incentives

No pressure

No employee-name solicitation

No manipulation

More genuine customer feedback

Better internal tracking

Safer long-term growth

We believe this is the right move for the platform, for Climbers, and for the businesses relying on us.

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