Small business3 min read
Why isn't my website showing up on Google?
Work through these seven checks in order. One of them is almost always the answer.
Ask in person at the moment the customer is happiest, then immediately send them your short Google review link by text. Make it a routine rather than a campaign — two reviews a week compounds far better than an occasional push. Never offer discounts or incentives for reviews; that breaks Google's policy and risks your listing.
Google gives every business a short link that opens the review box directly. Use only that.
The phrasing matters less than the timing and the link. Something like 'It would really help us if you could leave a quick review — I'll text you the link now' works fine.
| Not allowed | Why it matters |
|---|---|
| Offering discounts for reviews | Violates Google policy; reviews can be removed |
| Entering reviewers into a prize draw | Same problem — it is an incentive |
| Only asking happy customers selectively | Called review gating; against policy |
| Writing reviews yourself | Fraudulent, and often detected |
| Buying reviews | Detected, removed, and can suspend your listing |
| Asking staff to review | Against policy and obvious to readers |
A calm, human reply to a bad review often reads better to future customers than the review itself reads badly. A page of perfect five-star reviews with no responses actually looks less trustworthy.
More than your closest competitors, and recent ones. Twenty recent reviews usually beats a hundred from four years ago, because recency is part of how they are weighed and how customers read them.
You can report reviews that break Google's policies — spam, off-topic, or from someone who was never a customer. Removal is not guaranteed. A genuine but negative review will not be removed.
Yes, briefly. It shows you are engaged and it encourages others. A short, specific thank you is enough; it does not need to be long.
Google reviews matter most for most local businesses because they appear in the map results. Industry-specific sites can matter in some trades, but Google is the priority.
ROVQIX Growth
SEO & growth team, ROVQIX
The ROVQIX growth team handles technical SEO, Core Web Vitals and AI-search visibility for the sites we build. Recommendations here are the ones we apply to client projects and to rovqix.in itself.
ROVQIXdesigns and builds production web platforms — Next.js front ends, Node.js APIs and the infrastructure behind them. Tell us what you're building and we'll scope it with you.
Work through these seven checks in order. One of them is almost always the answer.
Ten questions. The answers to three of them tell you almost everything.
They do different jobs. The risk is building only on land you do not own.
No spam. Just the occasional case study and craft breakdown.