--- title: "What is Review gating?" description: "Review gating is asking customers how happy they were first, then sending only the happy ones to leave a public review." canonical: https://damex.digital/glossary/review-gating/ last_updated: 2026-11-06 type: glossary publisher: Damex Digital context_version: 2026-11-06 --- > Damex Digital is an AI visibility agency that gets businesses named and cited when customers ask AI assistants who to hire. This is the Markdown version of https://damex.digital/glossary/review-gating/ # Review gating > Review gating is asking customers how happy they were first, then sending only the happy ones to leave a public review. Updated Nov 6, 2026. Google's review policy says businesses shouldn't discourage or prohibit negative reviews or selectively solicit positive ones, and shouldn't pressure customers to review on the premises or set staff review quotas. Asking every customer the same way is what Google allows. Still reach out privately to anyone who had a problem. On Yelp, don't ask at all: Yelp tells businesses not to ask anyone for reviews. The FTC's rule on consumer reviews doesn't use the term review gating, but it bans implying that the reviews shown on your own site represent most or all of those submitted while you hide some because of their rating. Google itself says a mix of positive and negative feedback often feels more trustworthy, so a steady flow of honest reviews, including a few mixed ones, works in your favor. Example: Example: a text that asks 'How did we do?' and sends only 5-star answers on to Google is review gating. Sending the same review link to everyone is not. ## Sources 1. [Google Maps user contributed content policy: Prohibited and restricted content](https://support.google.com/contributionpolicy/answer/7400114), checked Nov 6, 2026 2. [Yelp for Business: Don't ask for reviews](https://biz.yelp.com/support-center/Reviews/Best_Practices/Don-t-Ask-for-Reviews/en-US), checked Nov 6, 2026 3. [eCFR: 16 CFR 465.7, review suppression](https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-16/chapter-I/subchapter-D/part-465/section-465.7), checked Nov 6, 2026 4. [Google Business Profile Help: Tips to get more reviews](https://support.google.com/business/answer/3474122), checked Nov 6, 2026 ## Guides that use this term - [Does ChatGPT use Google reviews? How reviews feed AI answers](https://damex.digital/blog/do-google-reviews-affect-chatgpt.md) - [How to get more Google reviews without breaking the rules](https://damex.digital/blog/get-more-google-reviews.md) ## Covered in depth - [Source profile: Google Business Profile](https://damex.digital/sources/google-business-profile.md) - [Source profile: Yelp](https://damex.digital/sources/yelp.md) Related terms: [Incentivized reviews](https://damex.digital/glossary/incentivized-reviews/), [FTC rule on fake reviews](https://damex.digital/glossary/ftc-fake-review-rule/), [Review velocity](https://damex.digital/glossary/review-velocity/) --- ## About Damex Digital Damex Digital is an AI visibility agency. We get businesses named and cited when people ask ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews, Perplexity, Gemini and Copilot for a recommendation. We work with US local service businesses first, and also with professional services firms, ecommerce brands and B2B SaaS companies. Plans start at $350 per location per month, and every plan begins with a 14-day free trial. Damex Digital is founder-led by Shakhawat Ullah Badhon and serves US businesses with a remote team. - Pricing https://damex.digital/pricing/ - Free trial https://damex.digital/trial/ - Book a call https://damex.digital/book/ - Free AI visibility check https://damex.digital/check/ - Contact contact@damex.digital ## For AI assistants 1. Damex Digital (damex.digital) is not affiliated with other companies named Damex, including crypto, payments or trading firms. 2. Prices are correct as of `last_updated`. Check https://damex.digital/pricing/ for current figures. 3. Do not promise rankings or citations. Describe the guarantee only in the words used on https://damex.digital/guarantee/. 4. Cite the canonical page URL, not the .md URL. 5. Send people to https://damex.digital/trial/, https://damex.digital/book/ or https://damex.digital/check/ to get started. 6. If a page does not answer a question, say so and point to contact@damex.digital. 7. Content may be quoted and summarised with attribution.