Reviews move both rankings and buyers, but the rules are strict: Google prohibits paying for reviews and prohibits filtering who you ask, and Yelp discourages asking at all. The winning setup is a frictionless ask to every customer, every day, with a reply to everything that comes in.
What reviews actually do for rankings
Review count, average rating, velocity, and even the words inside reviews feed the prominence and relevance side of local ranking. When a customer writes that your shop had the best live resin selection in town, that text helps you surface for live resin searches. You cannot script that. You can only earn volume and let the keywords arrive on their own.
Google's two hard rules
First, no incentives — no discounts, no loyalty points, no raffle entries in exchange for a review. Second, no review gating: you may not survey customers first and steer only the happy ones toward Google. Either practice violates the review policies, and enforcement ranges from deleted reviews to a suspended profile. In a category already under extra scrutiny, do not hand Google a reason.
Yelp is a different game
Yelp tells businesses not to ask for reviews at all, and its filter suppresses reviews it suspects were solicited, especially from accounts with no history. Do not point your review-ask machine at Yelp. Keep that profile complete, respond to what shows up, and let it grow on its own.
Build the ask into the transaction
The ask works when it is immediate and effortless. A QR code at the register that opens your Google review form directly. A line in the emailed receipt. A card in the bag. Every customer gets the same ask — that keeps you clear of gating and produces the steady week-over-week velocity that looks like what it is: a busy store.
Reply to everything
Replies are visible to every future customer and signal an attended business. Thank the positives briefly and specifically. For negatives, apologize for the experience, move it to a direct channel, fix what is fixable. One caution particular to this industry: keep replies away from medical effects — stick to service, product availability, and price.
What this looks like in practice
A dispensary in Ann Arbor prints a QR code on every receipt pointing at its Google review link and trains budtenders on a single line: if you had a good visit, a review helps us out. No coupons, no filtering, everyone gets asked. The owner replies within two days, naming product categories where natural. Six months on, the profile has added seventy-odd reviews with strain and category language scattered through them, and the store surfaces for searches it never wrote a page for.
Key takeaways
- Review text is a relevance signal; volume brings keywords you cannot script.
- No incentives, no gating: both violate Google policy and risk the profile.
- Do not solicit reviews on Yelp; its filter punishes it.
- Ask every customer the same way, at the moment of purchase.
- Reply to every review; keep replies clear of medical claims.
Frequently asked questions
Can I offer a discount for leaving a review?
No. Google's policy prohibits incentivized reviews outright, and a batch of reviews mentioning the same freebie is easy for both Google and competitors to spot and report. The short-term bump is not worth a suspended profile.
Is it okay to ask only customers I know are happy?
That is review gating, and Google banned it explicitly. Ask everyone the same way. A few critical reviews mixed in actually reads as more trustworthy to shoppers than a wall of five-star praise.
Do the words in reviews really affect rankings?
Yes. Review content feeds relevance, which is why a store whose reviews mention concentrates keeps showing up for concentrate searches. You influence this only indirectly, by stocking and serving well enough that people name specifics.
Should I respond to negative reviews?
Always, briefly and without arguing. Future customers read your reply more carefully than the complaint. Offer to make it right through a direct channel, and never mention what the customer purchased — that is their private business.
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