Glossary · Review collection
Review gating
Review gating is the practice of pre-screening customers before asking them for a public review — typically an intermediate "How was your experience?" step that routes happy customers to Google and steers unhappy ones into a private feedback form. Google's review policy prohibits it: businesses must not "discourage or prohibit negative reviews, or selectively solicit positive reviews from customers" (Google Business Profile Help, article 9273900). In the United States, the FTC's Consumer Reviews Rule (16 CFR Part 465, in force since October 2024) makes suppressing negative reviews an unfair practice with civil penalties of up to $53,088 per violation. A compliant review ask goes to every customer, uniformly, with no sentiment filter between the ask and the review form.
In practice
What it means for a local business.
Gating became widespread because it works in the short term: filtering out unhappy customers inflates the average rating. Platforms responded in two ways. Google removes reviews collected through gating flows and can suspend Business Profiles, and its systems flag statistically improbable rating distributions. Regulators followed — the FTC rule turned what used to be a policy violation into a fineable offense, and the UK CMA, Australian ACCC, and New Zealand Commerce Commission enforce equivalent positions.
The compliant alternative is structural, not cosmetic: put the same review link in front of every customer — printed on the receipt, on a counter card, said out loud — and let the destination be the actual review form. Tools differ here. Some review platforms still sell an intermediate rating screen as a feature; a thin redirect that lands customers directly on Google's form cannot gate by design.
Primary source: Google Business Profile Help — review policy (article 9273900)
Go deeper
Related guides & tools.
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