MapLift guides
Guides for Google reviews and Google Maps
Every guide in one place, grouped by topic. For shorter articles and comparisons, see the blog.
Getting and answering Google reviews
Asking for reviews, helping customers write them, replying, and staying inside Google’s rules.
The complete Google reviews guide
Everything about earning, managing and answering Google reviews, in one place.
Read the guideHow to get Google reviews
The request methods that actually produce reviews, and when to use each.
Read the guideHow to write a Google review
What a useful review contains — the page to send a customer who asks.
Read the guideAI review templates
Keyword-rich review prompts a customer can start from, generated per business.
Read the guideGoogle’s review policy
What you may and may not do when asking for reviews, and what gets a review removed.
Read the guideWhen a Google review is not showing
The filters that hide a review, and what actually brings it back.
Read the guideSpotting fake Google reviews
How to recognise a fabricated review and how to report it.
Read the guideRemoving fake Google reviews
Which reviews Google takes down, how to report them, and the one appeal you get.
Read the guideReview sentiment analysis
Turning a pile of review text into the two or three things to fix.
Read the guide
Review QR codes, links and widgets
Free tools and guides for sending customers straight to your review form, and showing reviews on your site.
Free review QR code generator
Make a print-ready QR code that opens your Google review form.
Read the guideGoogle review link generator
Build the short link that drops a customer straight into the review box.
Read the guideGoogle review QR codes
How the QR route to your review form works, and where to put it.
Read the guideReview QR codes for restaurants
Table, bill and counter placements that get scanned rather than ignored.
Read the guideGoogle reviews widgets
Show your live Google reviews on your own site.
Read the guideEmbedding Google reviews on your website
Five ways to put your reviews on your own pages, with the trade-offs.
Read the guide
Google Maps and your Business Profile
How local ranking works, and how to set up, run and fix a Google Business Profile.
Google Maps SEO
How local ranking works and what moves it, start to finish.
Read the guideWhat Google Maps ranks on
The ranking signals, in the order they matter.
Read the guideSetting up a Google Business Profile
Claiming and verifying a profile from scratch.
Read the guideThe Google Business Profile guide
Every part of the profile, what it does, and how to use it.
Read the guideOptimising your business listing
The fields that change what you rank for, and how to fill them.
Read the guideManaging your Google Maps listing
The day-to-day of keeping a listing accurate and live.
Read the guideWhy a business does not show on Google Maps
The six causes, how to tell which one you have, and the fix for each.
Read the guideFixing a suspended Business Profile
What causes a suspension, the documents Google accepts, and how to appeal.
Read the guideThe local SEO checklist
Fifty-two items to work through, in order.
Read the guideLocal SEO in India
What is different about ranking a business in an Indian city.
Read the guide
By industry
Review collection around the way each kind of business works.
Google reviews for dental practices
Review requests that fit a clinic’s appointment flow and its privacy limits.
Read the guideGoogle reviews for hotels
Where a hotel’s review requests belong in the guest journey.
Read the guideGoogle reviews for law firms
Asking for reviews inside the constraints a legal practice works under.
Read the guideReviews across multiple locations
Keeping review quality even when every branch has its own listing.
Read the guide
Tools and services compared
What review software, local SEO tools and agencies do, and what they cost.
Review management software
What these tools do, what they cost, and which parts matter for one location.
Read the guideThe best local SEO tools
Seventeen tools by category, with what each is for.
Read the guideThe local search tools directory
Twenty-one tools with current pricing.
Read the guideWhat GMB management services do
What an agency actually does for the fee, and what you can do yourself.
Read the guideAI for Google Maps
Where AI genuinely shortens local SEO work, and where it does not.
Read the guide
More from the blog
Templates, comparisons and India-specific articles on reviews and local search.