Google Updates Reviews Policy To Restrict Staff Mentions & Solicitations

Apr 17, 2026 - 7:21 am 1 by
Filed Under Google Maps

Google Awards

Google has updated its reviews policy to add two items; (1) do not have your staff solicit a certain number of reviews and (2) the content of the review should not mention the staff member's name and information.

This update was added to this section of the user generated review policy. Here are the lines added:

  • Merchants requesting that staff solicit a certain number of reviews
  • Merchants requesting that staff solicit reviews that include specific content, including content that identifies a staff member.

Amy Toman spotted this change and posted about it on LinkedIn - she wrote, "I expect they've seen too many review contests or requirements." Sounds like it. "Be sure to update your staff on this; don't want your reviews being filtered even more than they are currently," she added.

Google Review Policy Update

Forum discussion at LinkedIn.

 

Popular Categories

The Pulse of the search community

Google Search Volatility

More Details

Search Video Recaps

 
Video Details More Videos Subscribe to Videos

Most Recent Articles

Google

Google AI Overviews Pushing Searchers Into AI Mode, Drops Show More Button

Aug 28, 2026 - 1:30 pm
Search Forum Recap

Daily Search Forum Recap: August 28, 2026

Aug 28, 2026 - 10:00 am
Search Video Recaps

Search News Buzz Video Recap: Google GoTo Parameter Fight, PDFs Go Missing In Google, SEO For AI Responses & Google and Microsoft Ads News

Aug 28, 2026 - 8:01 am
Google Ads

Google Ads Book Buttons Expand To Search & Performance Max

Aug 28, 2026 - 7:51 am
Google Search Engine Optimization

Google Announces Search Updates For Transparency, Actionable Updates Get Blog Posts

Aug 28, 2026 - 7:41 am
Google

Google Preferred Sources, Tailor Your Feed & Search Profiles Are Different

Aug 28, 2026 - 7:31 am
 
Previous Story: Google Local Service Ads To Pull Rich Content Through Your URLs