Google is now asking your customers if you bribed them for a review.

Edward Sturm flagged a change every local business owner should hear: Google has started asking reviewers directly whether a business offered a reward in exchange for their review.

The line you can't cross

Google's policy is blunt: no payment, discounts, free goods, or free services in exchange for a review, and that includes incentives to revise or remove an existing one. What's new is the enforcement posture. Google appears to be proactively probing for it, not just reacting to complaints.

Why “everyone does it” is a trap

Incentivizing reviews is common, which is exactly why it's dangerous, common doesn't mean safe. The penalties aren't a slap on the wrist: removed reviews at best, a full Business Profile suspension at worst. A suspended listing can make a business effectively invisible in local search overnight. Reviews matter enormously to local ranking, which is why it's tempting to cut corners, and why we never do. We help clients earn reviews the compliant way, at a steady clip, so there's nothing to get busted for. It's core to our Local SEO.

The listing you own is too valuable to gamble on a shortcut. That's marketing made with love.