Guide · the clicks
How to reply to Google reviews, step by step
The mechanics: where the reply box is, how to edit a reply, and what to check when it doesn't appear. For what to write, see the companion guide.
Before you start.
- You need to be an owner or manager of the Business Profile. If you can't see a Reply button, ask the owner to add you.
- Sign in with the Google account that manages the profile.
On a computer.
Google changes this layout from time to time, so the labels may differ slightly. The Reply button sits under each review.
- Search Google for your business name, or for "my business", while signed in.
- Your Business Profile controls appear. Open Reviews (or "Read reviews").
- Find the review and click Reply.
- Write the reply and click Reply or Post.
On a phone.
- Open the Google Maps app, signed in as the profile manager.
- Tap your profile picture, then Your Business Profile.
- Open Reviews, pick a review, tap Reply, write it and post.
Editing or deleting a reply.
Open the same review. Your reply shows underneath with Edit and Delete options. Editing replaces the old text.
If your reply doesn't show.
- Replies can take a little while to appear, and Google may review them first.
- Replies that break Google's content policies (personal info, offensive language, promotions) may not be published.
- Check that you posted from the account that manages the profile.
Doing it faster.
If you reply from Chrome on a computer, the ReplyPlate extension adds a Plate reply button next to each review. It drafts a reply in your voice; you read it, edit it and post it. It never posts for you.
Questions
Common questions.
Can customers see who wrote the reply?
Replies appear as a response from the owner, under your business name.
Will the reviewer be notified?
Google typically notifies the reviewer that the business replied.
Draft replies right on the review page.
The ReplyPlate Chrome extension writes a first draft; you read it and post it.