The first ten Google reviews are the hardest you will ever get. An empty listing, or one with two reviews, reads as unproven — and a customer weighing you against an established competitor with 150 reviews will usually pick the safe option. The good news: getting to ten is a two-week job if you are deliberate about it.
Week one: the people who already know you
- ·Every regular or repeat customer you know by name — ask in person, next time they are in, with the link or a QR code in hand.
- ·Past customers whose phone numbers or emails you have — a short, personal message, one at a time, not a blast: "Hi [name], we just opened our Google listing — if you have 30 seconds, a review would really help us get started: [link]".
- ·Anyone you have done work for recently, even before the business was fully set up.
From day one, ask every new customer
Put a QR code on the counter, the receipt, or the invoice from your very first day of trading, and give staff one sentence to say at the end of each visit. New businesses that build the asking habit early hit fifty reviews months before ones that "start doing reviews" once they are busy.
Do not fake the start
- ·No reviews from friends or family who were never customers. Google detects clustered fake reviews and can filter your whole listing — a brutal setback for a new business.
- ·No paying for reviews or offering a discount for one. Same risk, plus it is against Google's policy.
- ·No buying review packages. Those are the fastest way to get a new listing suppressed.
What ten real reviews does for you
Ten genuine reviews with a solid average changes how the listing reads — from "unproven" to "real business that people use". It is usually enough to stop losing customers purely on review count, and it gives Google enough signal to start showing you for local searches. After ten, the same habit that got you there keeps the number climbing on its own.
FAQ
How do I get my first Google reviews for a brand-new business?
Start with people who already know you — regulars and past customers — asked personally, one at a time. From day one, ask every new customer at the point of service with a QR code. Aim for ten in the first two weeks.
Can I ask friends and family to leave reviews to get started?
Only if they are genuinely customers. Reviews from people who never used the business are fake reviews; Google detects clusters of them and can filter your entire listing, which is very hard to recover from as a new business.
How many reviews does a new business need to look credible?
Around ten genuine reviews with a good average is the point where a listing stops reading as unproven. It is also roughly where Google has enough signal to start surfacing you in local results.
Is it too late to ask a customer from a few months ago?
No. A short, personal message referencing their visit works fine: "Hi [name], we've just set up our Google page — if you have a moment, a review would help us a lot." One at a time, not a mass send.