The FTC's fake review rule: what local businesses need to stop doing
Since October 2024, fake and incentivized reviews can cost a business civil penalties per violation. Here's what the rule covers and how to grow reviews without breaking it.
Google says local results are based on three factors: relevance (how well your profile matches the search), distance (how far you are from the searcher) and prominence (how well known and well reviewed you are). You can't change distance. Almost everything else is inside your profile.
Categories
Your primary category carries the most weight of any field. Choose the most specific one that describes your core business: "Personal injury attorney" rather than "Lawyer", "Commercial cleaning service" rather than "Cleaning service". Then add secondary categories for the other services you genuinely offer. Check which categories your top-ranking competitors use; it's often the fastest win available.
Services and products
List every service by the name customers use, with a short description. These entries give Google more text to match against searches, and they show up for buyers comparing options. Businesses that sell products can add them with photos and prices.
Business description
You get 750 characters. Use the first two sentences to say what you do, for whom and where. Avoid links, promotions and keyword stuffing, which break the guidelines and read badly.
Hours, special hours and attributes
- Regular hours must match reality. Wrong hours lead to bad reviews fast.
- Special hours for holidays tell Google your profile is maintained.
- Attributes such as accessibility, online appointments or women-owned help you appear in filtered searches.
Photos and posts
Add real photos of your premises, team and work, and keep adding them. Google Posts let you publish updates and offers directly on your profile. Neither is a direct ranking lever on its own, but an active, complete profile gets more clicks, and engagement feeds prominence.
Reviews
Review count, recency and your replies all shape prominence and trust. Ask every customer, make it easy, and reply to every review. Never buy, filter or fake them; since October 2024 that also breaks the FTC's rule on consumer reviews.
The address rules that get profiles suspended
Google doesn't allow profiles at virtual offices, mailbox services or addresses where you don't meet customers or have staff during business hours. If you travel to customers, set up as a service-area business, hide your address and list the areas you serve. It's the single most common reason we see for suspensions.
Quick self-check: open your profile and count the empty fields. Every one of them is a search you're not eligible to match.