What is Review Gating?
The practice of filtering customers before sending them to a public review site based on their satisfaction level.
Review gating is when a business asks customers about their experience first (typically via a survey or star prompt), then only directs happy customers to leave a public review while routing unhappy customers to a private feedback form. While common, Google explicitly prohibits this practice and can penalize businesses caught doing it.
Why Review Gating Matters for Local Businesses
Review gating violates Google's Terms of Service and risks having all your reviews removed. The better approach is Churn Shield — intercepting unhappy customers in real-time so you can resolve their issue before they leave a review, without ever filtering who can post publicly.
See Churn Shield — the ethical alternative to review gating
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