Reviews and Testimonials on Your Website: the Rules

Which rules apply

In the United States, two FTC texts matter:

• The Endorsement Guides, 16 CFR Part 255. An endorsement is any promotional message "that consumers are likely to believe reflects the opinions, beliefs, findings, or experiences of a party other than the sponsoring advertiser".
• The Rule on the Use of Consumer Reviews and Testimonials, 16 CFR Part 465, in force since 21 October 2024. It lists practices that are "an unfair or deceptive act or practice and a violation of this part".

In the UK, the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 added a banned practice on reviews. The CMA's fake reviews guidance (April 2025) says it "sets out behaviour that is automatically unfair and illegal".

Fake and bought reviews

The CMA defines a fake review as one "that purports to be, but is not, based on a person's genuine experience". A review "is not fake just because the trader who it is about does not like or agree with it".

The FTC rule says a business must not:

• write, create or sell a review or testimonial that misrepresents that the reviewer "exists", that they had experience with the product, or what that experience was;
• buy such a review, or publish such a testimonial, when it "knew or should have known" it was false.

"Purchase" is broad: "money, gift certificates, products, services, discounts, coupons, contest entries, or another review". The CMA likewise says commissioning a review "is not limited to making monetary payments" and can include "a trader requesting a member of staff to write a review".

Asking customers for reviews

Asking real customers is allowed; the FTC rule exempts "generalized solicitations to purchasers to post reviews". The limits are about incentives and who you ask.

• No rewards for a particular opinion. The FTC rule bans incentives "conditioned expressly or by implication" on reviews "expressing a particular sentiment, whether positive or negative". Its Endorsement Guides give the example of paying customers to write positive reviews: they are deceptive "even if the payment is disclosed".
• Any incentive must be disclosed. Where an incentive does not depend on the review being positive, the Guides say a clear disclosure of the connection is needed. The CMA bans "concealed incentivised reviews", for example a review "written in exchange for money or other benefits, like a free stay at a hotel".
• On Google, no incentives at all. Google's Maps content policy does not allow merchants to "offer incentives – such as payment, discounts, free goods and/or services - in exchange for posting any review", disclosed or not.
• Ask everyone, not just happy customers. Google does not allow merchants to "selectively solicit positive reviews from customers", and the CMA counts "encouraging just those who are satisfied to leave reviews" as cherry-picking.

In practice: send the same request to every customer, with no reward and no hint about the rating you hope for.

Staff, family and other insiders

Reviews from people close to the business mislead unless the connection is clear. Under the FTC rule:

• an officer or manager must not post a review or testimonial about the business without "a clear and conspicuous disclosure" of their relationship;
• managers must not ask staff or relatives to post reviews without telling them to disclose the relationship.

Google's Maps policy removes reviews "based on a conflict of interest", which "may include current or former employment, a contractual or consultory relationship" and "familial relationships". So staff and family should not review the business on Google at all.

Showing reviews fairly

The Endorsement Guides say businesses should not "suppress", "boost", "organize" or "edit" reviews in ways that distort "what consumers think of their products". The FTC rule bans suggesting that the reviews shown "represent most or all the reviews submitted" when reviews are held back "based upon their ratings or their negative sentiment".

You may still withhold reviews on neutral grounds applied to all reviews alike. The FTC rule lists, among others, abusive content, reviews the seller "reasonably believes" are fake, and reviews "wholly unrelated" to what you sell.

The CMA guidance gives UK examples of misleading display:

• "editing, withholding or removing" negative reviews;
• "selecting only favourable reviews to be presented", or highlighting positive ones that "do not reflect the experience being reported by reviewers overall";
• leaving old reviews up when a product change has resulted in "a materially different experience for the consumer".

Testimonials: permission and exact words

A testimonial is a customer's words used in your marketing. The Endorsement Guides set the rules for using them:

• Honest views. Endorsements "must reflect the honest opinions, findings, beliefs, or experience of the endorser".
• No distortion. You may shorten a quote, but it "may not be presented out of context or reworded so as to distort" the endorser's opinion. Quotation marks claim the exact words.
• A real customer. If the ad says the endorser uses the product, they "must have been a bona fide user of it at the time".
• Typical results. A testimonial about a key result is read as what customers "will generally achieve". Without evidence for that, the ad must clearly disclose the "generally expected performance".

Get written permission before you publish someone's name, photo, company or logo. A named testimonial is also personal data, and our guide to website privacy basics covers the wider rules. Keep the permission on file. For how to present proof on a page, see our guides to landing pages and B2B lead generation.

Negative reviews

The FTC rule bans using "an unfounded or groundless legal threat, a physical threat, intimidation, or a public false accusation" to stop a review or have it removed.

The CMA says traders should not discourage negative reviews, for example by "making an offer of dispute resolution contingent on a consumer not leaving a negative review". Google does not allow merchants to "discourage or prohibit negative reviews".

The better response is a calm public reply and an offer to sort the problem out. Our Google Business Profile guide covers replying to reviews. For reviews of an app in the App Store and Google Play, see our guide to app ratings and reviews.

If your site collects reviews

A business that publishes reviews on its own site, including reviews shown through a widget, has extra duties in the UK. The CMA's short guide for businesses publishing reviews says you must take "reasonable and proportionate steps" to prevent and remove banned reviews. That means:

• a published policy that "clearly prohibits fake reviews" and states your approach to incentivised reviews;
• a risk assessment, repeated regularly;
• processes to detect, investigate and act on banned reviews.

Using a third party to monitor reviews does not remove your own duty.

Star ratings in Google

Google's review snippet guidelines add rules for review markup:

• marked-up reviews must be visible on the page, and you should not "aggregate reviews or ratings from other websites";
• "fake or undisclosed incentivized reviews" must not appear on the page or in the markup;
• if a business controls the reviews about itself, its LocalBusiness or Organization markup is "ineligible for star review feature", even when the reviews come "through an embedded third-party widget".

So a service business cannot get stars in search results from its own testimonials page. Our guide to structured data basics covers the markup that does apply.

A checklist

• Every review and testimonial comes from a real customer with real experience.
• Review requests go to all customers, with no reward tied to a rating.
• Any incentive is disclosed, and none is offered for Google reviews.
• Staff and relatives do not post reviews, or clearly disclose the connection where allowed.
• Negative reviews are not hidden, edited or discouraged; the moderation rules are neutral and written down.
• Testimonials have written permission, keep their meaning and are not presented as typical without evidence.
• If your site collects reviews, a fake reviews policy is published.
• No review markup on your own business's pages.

Frequently asked questions

Can I offer a discount to customers who leave a review?

On Google, no: its Maps policy does not allow incentives for any review. Elsewhere, the FTC rule bans incentives tied to a positive or negative opinion, and both the FTC and the UK CMA require any other incentive to be clearly disclosed with the review.

Can I choose which reviews to show on my website?

You can show a selection of quotes, but the overall picture must match what customers really say. Hiding or editing negative reviews is misleading under FTC and CMA rules. Neutral moderation rules applied to all reviews are fine.

Can my staff review the business?

Not on Google, which removes reviews based on a conflict of interest, including employment. Under the FTC rule, an officer, manager or employee testimonial needs a clear disclosure of the relationship.

Do I need permission to use a customer's review as a testimonial?

Get written permission before you publish a customer's name, photo, company or logo in your marketing, keep their words accurate,. A named testimonial is also personal data.

Can I add review stars to my own business in Google search results?

No. Google's review snippet guidelines make LocalBusiness and Organization markup ineligible for stars when the business controls the reviews about itself, even through a third-party widget.

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