Choosing what to ask for
Decide whether to ask customers for a Google review or a website testimonial
A Google review helps people find you in local search. A testimonial on your own site helps them decide once they arrive. You can ask for one, the other or both, as long as every customer gets the same request.
- Recommends what to ask for from four questions
- Keeps every customer on the same request
- Explains what each kind of proof is good for
Decision helper
What should your request ask for?
Answer for the customers you are about to contact as a group. The recommendation applies to all of them equally.
Answers are not stored or sent.
The problem, solved
When the review habit leaves your own site short, and how to fix it
- Problem 1
We only ever ask for Google reviews
The profile fills with star ratings while your service pages still have nothing longer than a line to show a visitor who is comparing quotes.
How StoryProof solves it
A StoryProof collection link asks for the longer version: a video, an audio note or a written story in the browser, kept for your own pages.
- Problem 2
Only the happy customers get asked
Picking who to ask by how the job went is the selective asking Google’s policy rules out, and it quietly skews what you hear back.
How StoryProof solves it
Add every customer as a contact and email the whole list the same request, so who gets asked never depends on a guess about their mood.
- Problem 3
A critical answer comes back
Asking everyone means some replies are unhappy, and an owner who has not planned for that starts to ask fewer people.
How StoryProof solves it
Submissions wait in your queue until you approve them. With automations, a rating of 2 stars or fewer also alerts your team so someone can pick up the phone.
- Problem 4
Good stories sit unused in an inbox
A detailed customer story does nothing for the buyer on your pricing page if it never leaves the email it arrived in.
How StoryProof solves it
Pick which approved testimonials go into each widget, so the pricing page and each service page get the stories that answer their visitor’s doubts.
What each one is good for
In StoryProof
Send one fair request with StoryProof
- 1
Write one request for every customer
Same wording, same timing, same options for everyone. That is what keeps it fair and within Google’s rules.
- 2
Collect the testimonial in StoryProof
StoryProof emails your request. Customers answer with video, an audio note or text from one link.
- 3
Offer the Google link to everyone who responds
Include it in your thank-you email to every respondent. Never only to the ones who were positive.
- 4
Publish the testimonials that help buyers
Approve what fits, then choose which testimonials appear in each widget on your site.
What happens next: Your Google profile and your website then grow from the same, even-handed request.
Before you start
Rules that apply either way
What this does not cover, and what to check on your side. Better to know now than after launch.
- 01
No selective asking
Google’s policy does not allow merchants to discourage negative reviews or selectively solicit positive ones.
- 02
No rewards for Google reviews
Google prohibits offering payment, discounts or free goods in exchange for posting any review.
- 03
Showing Google reviews on your site
That is a separate question with its own steps, covered in the guide to embedding Google reviews.
- 04
Your testimonials are not Google reviews
Testimonials collected for your own site are first-party, not independent reviews. Check Google’s structured data guidance before adding review markup to the pages that show them.
FAQ
Questions people ask
Short answers to what usually comes up next.
Are Google reviews or testimonials better?
They do different jobs. Google reviews help people find and trust you in search. Testimonials on your own site help a visitor decide once they are there.
Can I send happy customers to Google and unhappy ones to a private form?
No. Routing customers by how they feel is selective solicitation, which Google’s policy does not allow. Give everyone the same options.
Can I quote a customer’s Google review on my website?
Ask the reviewer first. They wrote it for Google, and a short message asking whether you may quote it on your site keeps your permission clear.
What if asking everyone brings in a critical Google review?
Reply publicly, calmly and with what you will do about it. A fair spread of ratings with thoughtful replies is more believable than an unbroken row of five stars.
Still have a question? Ask the StoryProof team or book a demo.
Ask once, fairly, for the proof you need
Send one request to every customer and turn the answers into testimonials for your site.
Sources
- Prohibited and restricted content, Google Maps User Contributed Content Policy. Checked 2026-11-04.
Last updated 2026-11-04.