Reviews run on a few simple habits: ask every customer, not just the ones you know are happy; reply to the good and the bad within a day or two; and never gate, buy, or fake anything, because Google and the FTC both come down on it. Do that and reviews build trust and lift your local search at the same time.
Ask everyone, the same way
Most businesses have no review process at all. They wait for reviews to happen, which means they mostly hear from the delighted and the furious and nobody in between. The fix is to ask every customer with the same simple prompt at the same moment, a card at the register, a text after purchase, a line on the receipt with a QR code. Ask everyone, and the average rating comes out honest.
What you cannot do is screen first and only push the happy ones toward a public review. That is called gating, and it is against Google's policy and the FTC's rules.
What is review gating and why avoid it?
Review gating is screening customers first and only steering the happy ones to leave a public review while diverting unhappy ones elsewhere. Google prohibits it, and the FTC treats it as deceptive because it fakes a rating higher than reality. Ask everyone the same way, and let the reviews land where they land.
Respond on a cadence
A review sitting unanswered for a month tells everyone reading that nobody is home. Set a rhythm, check reviews every day or two, and reply to both kinds. The negative ones matter most, because prospective customers read your reply more closely than the complaint itself.
How fast should I respond to reviews?
Within a day or two, both good and bad. A prompt, calm reply to a negative review does more for prospective customers than the negative review costs you, because they are watching how you handle it. Thanking positive reviewers signals an owner who is paying attention. Set a cadence so nothing sits unanswered for weeks.
Stay on the right side of the rules
The cannabis space is full of people offering to sell you five-star reviews. Don't. Paid and incentivized-for-positive reviews violate platform policy and FTC guidance, and a purge of fake reviews can tank a profile.
Can a cannabis business pay for or incentivize reviews?
Paying for reviews is against Google and Yelp policy and violates FTC rules. If you offer any incentive for leaving a review, it must not be conditioned on the review being positive, and the reviewer has to disclose it. The safe move is to ask for honest reviews and offer nothing in exchange for a good one.
When is it worth responding to a fake review?
Report it to the platform first, since removal is the real fix, but those requests often fail. If it stays up, a short, factual public reply noting you have no record of the person as a customer lets other readers weigh it. Do not get into an argument; you are writing for everyone else reading, not the fake reviewer.
What it does for search
Reviews are not only reputation. They feed local ranking and the star ratings shoppers scan before they ever click.
Do reviews actually help cannabis SEO?
Yes, mainly local SEO. Review count, average rating, and recency are signals Google uses to rank businesses in the local map pack, and fresh reviews with keywords about your products add relevance. Reviews also feed the star ratings shoppers scan on Weedmaps and Leafly, which drives clicks before search ranking even comes into play.
A worked example
A dispensary was averaging maybe two reviews a month, all unsolicited, and it showed. We put a QR code on the receipt with a one-line ask and trained the budtenders to mention it. Nothing conditional, nothing offered, everyone got the same prompt. Review volume went from a couple a month to a couple a week, the average rating actually rose because the merely-satisfied majority finally showed up, and the owner set a Monday-morning habit of clearing every unanswered review. Within a quarter the shop moved up in the local pack for its main terms. No trick, just asking everyone and answering promptly.
Key takeaways
- Ask every customer with the same prompt at the same moment; do not gate by pre-screening for happiness.
- Reply to positive and negative reviews within a day or two; prospects judge you by how you handle the bad ones.
- Never buy reviews or condition an incentive on a positive rating; it breaks platform policy and FTC rules.
- Report fake reviews first; if they stay, answer factually for the benefit of other readers.
- Review count, rating, and recency feed local ranking and the star ratings on Weedmaps and Leafly.
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