How-to · Updated October 11, 2026
Reply to Google reviews from your Business Profile
Updated October 11, 2026
5 minutes per review
Open your Business Profile, select Read reviews, then Reply next to the review, write it and select Reply. The profile must be verified. Google checks each reply, usually within 10 minutes. Write as the business: the reply shows under its name, stays after staff leave, and must not reveal the reviewer's private information.
Before you start
- A verified Business Profile. Google lets a business reply to reviews only after it is verified.
- Owner or manager access for whoever replies. Managers can respond to reviews, so give staff their own access instead of sharing the owner's password.
Post the reply
This part writes a reply on the review and sends it to Google for its check.
- Go to your Business Profile and select Read reviews.
- Next to the review, select Reply.
- In the dialog box, enter your reply and select Reply.
- If Google does not approve it, you are asked to edit it. Change what breaks the policy and send it again.
Write it so it can stay up
This part keeps the reply inside Google's content policies and useful to the next customer who reads it.
- Address the reviewer by the name their review shows, and add no personal details about them they did not post. Google's policy bars posting a person's personal information without consent, such as a full or last name or medical or financial details, and its reply tips say never to share a reviewer's private information.
- Do not confirm details the reviewer left out, such as what they bought or why they came. Confirming a visit can itself reveal private information. That is a judgment that follows from Google's privacy rule, not a line Google draws.
- If a complaint is complex, ask the reviewer to contact the business by phone or email to resolve it privately, as Google's reply tips suggest. Google's content policy allows a business to post its own phone number, email and social media handles.
- Leave out offers and discounts. Google's tips say to be "conversational, not promotional", and offering an incentive, such as payment or free or discounted goods or services, in exchange for changing or removing a review is prohibited.
If the review itself breaks Google's policy, you can report it. Google sets no order between reporting and replying. Keep any reply short and factual.
Edit or delete a reply
This part changes or removes a reply that is already posted.
- Go to your Business Profile and select Read reviews.
- Under the reply, select Edit.
- Change the text in the dialog box and select Update. To remove the reply instead, select Delete, then Delete again.
Check it worked
Google says replies usually take up to 10 minutes to review and sometimes up to 30 days. Once approved, the reply shows under the customer's review as the business's reply, without your personal name.
Google notifies the reviewer when you reply. They can still change their review, and if they do, the date on the review changes to the latest update.
If there is no Reply button
Verify the profile first; Google allows replies only after verification. Google also says reviews are available only in certain countries or regions and for certain business categories, and that this may change over time.
Replies after someone leaves the business
When an owner or manager is removed, or stops managing the profile, their replies to reviews stay on it. Write every reply as the business would stand behind it, not as one person.