Getting more Google reviews in the UAE without breaking the rules

The best moment to ask for a review is the moment the customer says thank you, and the best channel in the UAE is the one they already used to deal with you, which is usually WhatsApp. In GWI's Q2 2026 survey, published by DataReportal, 84.1% of UAE internet users aged 16 and over said they'd used WhatsApp in the past month, ahead of YouTube, Instagram, TikTok and Facebook. A link sent in the same chat, in the same language, puts the review box a tap or two away.

How do you ask for a review, step by step?

Seven steps, in order, each with what to do if it doesn't work.

1. 01Get your review link from the Business Profile. The profile has an option to ask for reviews that gives you a short link opening the review box. If you can't see it, the profile probably isn't verified yet, and the Google Business Profile guide covers that.
2. 02Test the link on an iPhone and on an Android phone, signed in and signed out. A customer has to be signed in to a Google account to post, so a link that stalls at a sign-in screen is a leak. If it stalls, add a line telling customers to open it in Google Maps or their browser, or ask in person instead.
3. 03Pick the moment: when the job is done and the customer says thanks, not three days later in an invoice email. The person who delivered the service should ask, because the request carries their goodwill. If nobody asks at handover, schedule one message for the same day.
4. 04Ask everyone you serve, not a selection. Choosing whom to ask by how happy you expect them to be is called review gating, and Google's policies prohibit it. Policies change, so read the current wording on Google's help pages before you design a process. If your system can't ask everyone, simplify it until it can.
5. 05Send the link on WhatsApp from the number the customer already chatted with, in the language they used: one line of thanks, one line asking for an honest review, and the link. A request written by a native Arabic speaker beats a translation of the English one. If you automate through the WhatsApp Business API, Meta charges per delivered message at rates that differ by market and category, so check the current rate card before sending at volume.
6. 06Send one reminder, a few days later, and then stop. If a customer ignores two messages, leave it.
7. 07Put a QR code on the receipt or counter for walk-ins, pointing to the same link, and test it on two phones before printing. If scans aren't turning into reviews, cut everything that sits between the scan and the star rating.

How should you reply to reviews, especially bad ones?

Reply to every review, in the reviewer's language, within about two working days. A reply is a public statement published under your company's name, and the person it is really written for is the next customer deciding whether to call you.

• Thank them, name the specific problem in a few words, say what you're doing about it, and offer a way to continue privately, such as a phone or WhatsApp number.
• Reply in Arabic to Arabic reviews, written by a native speaker. A machine-translated reply is worse than none.
• Keep personal details out. A reply that says someone missed a Tuesday appointment or ordered a particular item confirms a relationship and discloses their data to everyone. The UAE's Personal Data Protection Law, Federal Decree-Law No. 45 of 2021, is the law to ask a lawyer about, and Morgan Lewis reported in June 2026 that its implementing regulations had not yet been issued.
• Don't accuse a reviewer of lying, name your own staff, or threaten legal action in public. UAE defamation law is outside what we can summarise safely, and we won't guess at the details. If a review is false or abusive, flag it to Google through the profile, keep screenshots, post one calm reply saying you can't find a record and inviting contact, and take legal advice before saying anything stronger.

Nothing here is legal advice. For anything touching defamation or personal data, ask a UAE lawyer and check the current position with the authority concerned, as of November 2026.

What should you never do to get reviews?

• Buy reviews. You're paying for fiction in the one place where you can't control who reads it. The UAE government portal says suppliers who advertise misleading prices and false data on goods and services face up to two years' imprisonment and a fine of up to AED 2 million under Federal Law No. 15 of 2020, as amended. Whether a purchased review counts as false data is a question for a lawyer, and the portal gives no minimum penalty, but no star rating is worth the risk.
• Gate, as step 4 explains: asking only the customers you expect to be happy.
• Have staff, family or friends write them. It turns the best evidence on your profile into advertising.
• Reward them. A discount, a free coffee or a prize draw linked to a review is an incentive, and Google's policies on incentivised reviews are strict, so read the current wording first. If you want to thank customers, do it without tying it to a review.
• Send review requests by SMS without consent. The TDRA FAQ says a business needs the recipient's prior explicit consent before sending marketing texts, and that they may go out only between 7 am and 9 pm UAE time. Whether a review request counts as marketing is a question for TDRA, so ask in person or on the chat the customer started.
• Ask for five stars. Ask for an honest review, because a profile of identical ratings reads as manufactured.

What is a realistic target?

Reviews a month equals the customers you ask times the share who respond, so track both for four weeks before you set a target. Say you serve 200 customers a month, ask every one, and 1 in 10 leaves a review (all made-up numbers). On those numbers that's 20 new reviews a month, and watching the 1 in 10 is the quickest way to learn whether your request or your link is the problem.

Then compare yourself with the top three profiles for your main search: their review counts, their ratings and how many of their reviews are recent. Google's help page ties prominence to links and reviews, but it doesn't promise a position for any number of reviews, so use the comparison to set a pace rather than a promise. Local SEO in Dubai shows where reviews fit among the other levers, and our SEO service covers local work alongside technical and content SEO.

Today, copy your review link, test it on two phones, and send it to the last five customers who thanked you.