How a business in Chiang Mai gets Google reviews

The slowest lever in local search, and the one that decides whether a stranger picks you or the shop next door.

Reviews · 2026-10-21

Reviews carry about 20 percent of what decides local ranking in Google Maps, and the star rating and the number of reviews are among the ten strongest single factors, with recency right behind them. You may ask every customer for a review. You may not offer anything in return, and you may not ask only the happy ones. The method Google itself suggests is a short link or QR code, handed over when the customer is most pleased, which is often when they pay.

Where you stand against the shop next door

20 % of local map ranking comes from reviews alone
73 % of consumers in a 29-country survey want product reviews in their own language (CSA Research, 2020)
74 % of US consumers only care about reviews from the last three months (BrightLocal, 2026)

Ask in Thai, and ask Thai customers to answer in Thai

In 2020 CSA Research asked 8,709 consumers in 29 countries, and 73 percent wanted product reviews in their own language. Getting reviews in Thai costs nothing. When a Thai customer agrees to leave a review, ask them in Thai and they will answer in Thai. For an agency in Chiang Mai serving both markets, a review wall in one language is half a wall.

The rules, because a suspended profile costs everything

Google forbids incentives of any kind, including a discount, a free drink or a raffle entry. It forbids review gating, meaning you may not filter for satisfied customers before asking. It forbids buying reviews, and Google wrote in April 2026 that in 2025 alone it blocked or removed more than 292 million reviews that broke its rules. Asking everyone, plainly, with a link, is allowed and is what works.

When to ask, and where Google draws the line

Google's own help page suggests the receipt, the thank-you email or a QR code printed in your shop, and the same short link fits in the LINE message that confirms a booking. In my experience a customer still standing at the counter answers more often than one who gets an email a week later. Ask once and leave it there: Google's policy does not allow pressuring anyone into a review while they are on your premises, or setting your staff a target number of reviews. Give the link to the person who serves the customer, not to the person who does the marketing.

Nine finished projects, six reviews

I am not writing this from a position of strength. miraTEQ has six Google reviews and the agencies ranking above me in Chiang Mai have 23, 36 and 42. I know exactly what it costs to leave this until later, because I did. If you have finished work with ten happy customers, ask all ten this week, and ask the Thai ones in Thai.

Sources

Reviews send people to your website

Most people read the reviews first and then open the website. Every site I build is made for that moment: fast on a phone, with a button to call or book.

See web design in Chiang Mai