Review gating: Google's policy and UK law for dental practices
Asking only your happy patients for a Google review looks like a shortcut to a better rating. Google's policy forbids it, UK consumer law very likely does too, and there is a compliant way to ask that works.
Practice Radar shows a dental practice where it ranks against every practice nearby, and does the work to move up.
Thirty days free. No card, and nothing starts automatically when it ends.
Review gating means screening customers before asking for a public review, so that only the satisfied ones are sent to Google and the unhappy ones are steered somewhere private. For a dental practice it usually looks like a text asking "How was your visit?", with a link to Google for four or five stars and a feedback form for anything lower. Google's policy prohibits it, and in the UK it very likely breaks consumer law as well.
This guide covers what Google says, what the law says, examples to watch for in your own processes, and how to ask for reviews in a way that is allowed and still works.
What does review gating mean?
Review gating is any process that decides who gets asked for a public review based on whether they are likely to leave a good one. It can be automated or manual:
- Automated: a survey or star picker first, then a Google link only for high scores.
- Manual: reception or clinicians choosing which patients to hand a review card to, based on how the appointment went.
- Selective timing: sending review requests only after appointments that went well, or pausing them after a complaint.
All three have the same effect: the public rating no longer reflects what patients as a whole think.
See this for your own town.
Every practice competing with yours on one map, sized by the share of local search each one holds, re-checked every week. The sample town shows the whole thing now, with no sign-up.
Run on our own practice first: ninth of the 14 practices measured in its town in May, first of 18 in September, on UK-wide search value. Page-one keywords: 6 in May, 194 in September.
Thirty days free. No card, and nothing starts automatically when it ends.
Does Google have a review gating policy?
Yes. Google's Maps user-generated content policy, under rating manipulation, says Google does not allow merchants to "discourage or prohibit negative reviews, or selectively solicit positive reviews from customers". The same section says businesses should not require or pressure people to leave reviews while on the premises, should not ask for specific content, and should not ask staff to collect a set number of reviews or reviews that name a particular staff member.
What Google does allow is soliciting reviews that represent a genuine experience, without incentives and without trying to influence the rating or content. Its tips for getting more reviews recommend reminding customers to leave reviews with a link or QR code, replying to reviews, and valuing all reviews, noting that a mix of positive and negative feedback often feels more trustworthy.
Is review gating illegal in the UK?
Very likely, yes. Since 6 April 2025, paragraph 13 of Schedule 20 to the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 has made publishing consumer reviews or review information in a misleading way a banned practice, which means it is unfair in all circumstances. The Act's examples of misleading publication include not publishing negative reviews while publishing positive ones, and giving positive reviews more prominence.
The Competition and Markets Authority's fake reviews guidance (CMA208) goes further. It says cherry-picking positive reviews "might be done either through suppressing negative reviews that have been submitted or by encouraging just those who are satisfied to leave reviews". It also says traders should not interfere with people's ability and willingness to leave negative reviews, for example by arbitrarily stopping and starting review invitations. That describes review gating closely.
Your overall star rating is "consumer review information" under the Act, so a rating built on gated requests is information presented in a misleading way. The CMA can now enforce consumer law directly, with fines of up to 10% of global turnover. On 27 March 2026 it opened investigations into five businesses, including over concerns that negative reviews were not published and did not count towards star ratings.
Review gating examples to check for
Few practices set out to gate reviews. It creeps in through software settings and habits. Check for these:
- A rating step before the link. Your reminder or survey tool asks for a score and only shows the Google link to high scorers. Some tools offer this as a setting. Turn it off.
- "If you were happy, please review us". Wording that invites only satisfied patients is a softer version of the same thing.
- Hand-picked review cards. Reception gives cards only to patients who seemed pleased.
- Pausing requests after a bad week. The CMA names arbitrarily stopping and starting invitations.
- Diverting complaints from reviews. Telling a dissatisfied patient they must use the complaints process instead of leaving a review.
- Showing only good reviews on your website. The Act's examples of misleading publication include giving positive reviews greater prominence than negative ones, and the CMA warns against highlighting positive reviews that do not reflect reviewers' experience overall. A widget presented as "our reviews" that filters out the low ones is a clear risk. If you show selected testimonials, label them as selected and link to your full Google reviews.
Can you still collect private feedback?
Yes. Asking for feedback is good practice, and a dental practice must have an effective complaints procedure anyway under the GDC's standards. The difference is whether the feedback step decides who is asked for a public review. A compliant approach gives every patient the same option to leave a Google review, whatever they say in any survey, and never makes resolving a complaint conditional on the patient not posting a review.
A compliant review request template
The same message, to every patient, after every completed appointment:
- Thank them for visiting.
- Ask, neutrally, if they would be willing to leave a Google review of their experience.
- Give the direct review link.
- Optionally, offer a separate way to contact the practice directly, shown to everyone alongside the review link, not instead of it.
No star picker, no "if you were happy", no incentive. Google does not allow incentives of any kind for reviews, and the CMA's guidance says any incentivised review must be disclosed.
Fixing a gated process you already have
If your current set-up gates reviews, fix it quietly and properly:
- Switch off any rating filter in your reminder, survey or review software, so every patient sees the Google link.
- Rewrite your templates so the wording is neutral and identical for everyone.
- Brief the team. Review cards and verbal requests go to every patient, not the ones who seemed happy.
- Set a fixed trigger, such as every completed appointment, so requests are never paused because of a difficult week.
- Do not touch the reviews you already have. Trying to remove genuine reviews, or asking patients to change them, creates a new problem.
- Keep a note of what you changed and when, in case anyone asks.
Your average rating may move a little once every patient is asked. Asking everyone should also mean more reviews, and Google says more reviews and positive ratings can help your local ranking.
Is gating worth the risk?
No. Beyond the law, the commercial risk is real. Under undertakings given to the CMA in January 2025, Google agreed to sanction UK businesses found to have boosted their ratings with fake reviews, with warnings on their profiles, switching off new reviews and, for repeat offenders, deleting all reviews for six months or more. Gating is a different practice from fake reviews, but it is the kind of rating manipulation Google's policy targets, and its policy says manipulated content is removed.
The rating benefit is also smaller than it looks. Across 1,489 UK places, the median practice in the local map pack had a 4.8 rating and 72% held 4.6 or better, so most competitors already have high ratings. Google says more reviews and positive ratings can help your local ranking, and the median pack holder had 113 reviews. Volume from asking every patient does more than a few extra stars from asking some. Our guide to working out your review target shows how to find the number for your own town.
How to report review gating
If you think a competitor is gating or buying reviews, you can report individual reviews that break Google's policies using Google's review reporting tools. Google says it removes reviews that violate its content policies, and that you should not report a review just because you disagree with it. Google also committed to the CMA to make it easier to report reviews suspected of being incentivised. The CMA is the body that enforces the consumer law side.
What to do with the negative reviews you get
Asking everyone means some reviews will be negative. That is normal. Google says replying to reviews shows that you value the feedback, and a calm, professional reply that never confirms someone is a patient often does more for a reader's trust than the review did harm. Our guide to replying to Google reviews covers what to say and what to avoid.
Track the reviews race honestly
Practice Radar tracks your Google reviews against the practices holding the map in your town, re-checked every week, so you know the real target.
Run on our own practice first: ninth of the 14 practices measured in its town in May, first of 18 in September, on UK-wide search value. Page-one keywords: 6 in May, 194 in September.
Thirty days free. No card, and nothing starts automatically when it ends.