Review platform: where your reviews live and why it matters
Guide · Updated October 31, 2026
Customers do not read every review platform. They read the one that appears when they search, plus the one most used in your industry. Knowing which platforms matter helps you focus effort.
This guide covers how to identify the platforms that matter for you and the differences between reviews on your own site and reviews elsewhere.
Finding the platforms that matter
- Search your business name and note which review sites appear on the first page.
- Search your service plus your city and note which sites customers would see before they find you.
- Ask new customers where they read about you.
- Focus requests on the one or two platforms that come up most, while keeping other profiles accurate.
The federal rules on reviews in plain terms
In 2024 the Federal Trade Commission finalized a rule on consumer reviews and testimonials, which took effect in October 2024. In general terms it targets:
- Fake reviews, including reviews from people who do not exist or who did not have the experience described.
- Buying positive or negative reviews, or offering rewards that are conditioned on what the review says.
- Reviews by company insiders or their relatives that do not clearly disclose the connection, in certain circumstances.
- Using unfounded legal threats, intimidation or false accusations to suppress reviews.
- Misrepresenting that a website that displays reviews is independent when the business controls it.
Separately, the Consumer Review Fairness Act of 2016 generally makes it unlawful to use form contracts that bar customers from posting honest reviews. If your intake paperwork contains a non-disparagement clause, have a lawyer look at it.
This is a summary, not legal advice. For questions about how these rules apply to your business, consult a licensed attorney.
Your own site versus third-party platforms
Reviews collected on your own website are useful for visitors already there, but readers know the business controls the page. Search engines also limit how they display star ratings that a business publishes about itself. Third-party platforms carry more independent weight, which is why their accuracy and your replies there matter.
Asking for genuine reviews the right way
The steadiest way to improve how a profile looks is a regular flow of honest reviews from real customers. How you ask matters.
- Ask everyone, not just happy customers. Screening people first and only sending satisfied ones to a review site is known as review gating. Google's policies prohibit discouraging negative reviews or selectively asking for positive ones.
- Do not pay or reward people for reviews. Google prohibits incentivized reviews, and the FTC's 2024 rule on consumer reviews and testimonials prohibits buying reviews and conditioning rewards on positive or negative sentiment.
- Never write reviews yourself or have staff, relatives or vendors post them without clear disclosure.
- Make it easy: send the direct review link soon after the visit or job, in one short message.
- Check each platform's rules. Yelp, for example, asks businesses not to ask for reviews at all.
Running reviews across several locations
With more than one location, the main risk is inconsistency: one site replies thoughtfully, another never replies, and a third argues with customers.
- Keep one list of every profile for every location, with who has owner access.
- Write a short reply guide with approved approaches for common situations, and let local managers personalize the wording.
- Define what gets escalated to a central person: legal threats, safety issues, privacy issues and media inquiries.
- Review all locations side by side once a month to spot a location whose reviews are changing.
Remove access for staff who leave, and check that every profile is still owned by the business rather than by a former employee or vendor.
A simple structure for a public reply
Future customers read your reply more closely than the original reviewer does. Keep it short, calm and specific to the business, not to the person.
- Thank them for taking the time to write, even if you disagree.
- Acknowledge the concern in general terms without confirming private details or arguing about facts.
- Say what you do as a matter of policy (for example how you handle refunds, wait times or complaints).
- Offer a private next step, such as asking them to contact the office or the manager by name.
- Sign it with a real name and role, so the reply reads as coming from a person.
Avoid copy-and-paste replies. Readers notice identical wording under every review, and it signals that nobody actually read the complaint.
Legal note: this guide is general information, not legal advice. Laws and platform policies change and vary by state. For advice about your situation, consult a licensed attorney in your state.
Getting help
Many of these steps you can take yourself. If you would like to see how we help teams track and answer reviews in one place, you can book a demo and we will walk through it with you. We do not guarantee that any review, article, listing or search result will be removed.