Google reviews, the compliant way

Reviews are the strongest local trust signal a practice has, and most practices handle them in one of two wrong ways: they never ask, or they ask in a way that violates the platforms' rules and, since late 2024, federal regulation.

The rules are short. Google expressly allows asking for reviews and even provides every business a share link for the purpose. What Google prohibits is "review gating": pre-screening patients and steering only the happy ones to the public form. The FTC's Reviews Rule (16 CFR Part 465) goes further and applies to everyone: no buying reviews, no incentives conditioned on sentiment, no suppressing negative feedback. "Leave us a five-star review and get a whitening discount" is not a growth hack; it is a violation with real fines attached.

Yelp is the special case. Its published policy is "Don't Ask for Reviews," full stop, and its software filters reviews it believes were solicited. The compliant Yelp strategy is presence: claim the page, keep photos and hours current, respond professionally, and display "find us on Yelp" materials rather than asking.

What actually works, inside the rules: ask everyone, in person, at the moment of goodwill. The end of a good visit is the moment; the front desk saying "that would mean a lot as a Google review" while gesturing at a counter card with a QR code is the mechanism. Consistency beats cleverness, and volume comes from making the ask a habit rather than a campaign.

This playbook is built into Smyly's Marketing Hub: the Google assets ask plainly and unconditionally, the Yelp assets only announce, and no template in the product can carry incentive language. The compliance is in the artwork, so the practice does not have to remember the rules at the front desk.