You check your Google profile while the kettle boils, again at lunch, and once more in bed. Most days, nothing has changed. Then a bad review sits unanswered for nine days, because it arrived the week you were flat out.
Monitoring matters as much as the effort you put in get 5 Star Google Reviews, and it doesn’t need constant checking. Turn on Google’s review notifications, then do one fixed 15-minute check each week. The alerts catch anything urgent. The weekly check catches the rest.
At BuyReviews we set this up for clients on day one. Here’s how to do it yourself.
How do you monitor Google reviews without wasting time?
You let Google tell you when something happens, and you stop looking in between.
Most owners monitor by habit, opening the profile whenever they think of it. That costs time on quiet days and still misses reviews on busy ones. A system with alerts and one set time each week does better with less effort.
How do you turn on review notifications?
Google can alert you when customers leave new reviews or add photos. It calls this customer activity.
- Sign in to the Google account that manages your Business Profile.
- Search your business name on Google to open your profile.
- Select More, then Notifications.
- Find the customer activity notification.
- Turn it on.
Google says you may get these notifications by email, on Search, or in Maps. To see them on your phone, open the Google Maps app, tap Business at the bottom right, then tap the notifications icon at the top right.
How do you stop alerts getting lost?
An alert buried under 200 emails is no alert at all. Two small steps fix that.
First, make review emails stand out. In your email app, create a filter that labels messages from Google about new reviews and marks them as important. It takes two minutes.
Second, don’t be the only person who sees them. Add a trusted staff member as a manager on your profile, under Business Profile settings and People and access. Notification settings belong to each Google account, so they’ll need to switch the alerts on for themselves.
What should you check each week?
Pick one time, such as Friday at 9am, and put it in your calendar. Then run this checklist.
- Open your profile and select Read reviews.
- Reply to every new review, negative ones first.
- Look for any older review that still has no reply.
- Report any review that breaks Google’s policies.
- Check the status of earlier reports in the Reviews Management Tool.
- Write down your review count and star rating.
- Send one reminder to last week’s customers who haven’t left a review.
Fifteen minutes covers it for most small businesses. In our experience, owners who do this weekly spend less time on reviews overall than owners who check daily.
What should you check each month?
Once a month, widen the view for ten minutes.
Search your business name in a private browser window and see what a stranger sees. Check your Facebook page and any industry sites where customers review you. BrightLocal’s 2026 survey found the average consumer uses six review sites, so Google isn’t the only place that counts.
Skim your older Google reviews as well. A customer can edit a review at any time, and Google says the date changes when they do.
What should you track over time?
Keep a simple log. A spreadsheet with five columns is enough: date, review count, star rating, new reviews this week, and reviews awaiting a reply.
The log does something the alerts can’t. Google doesn’t always tell you when a review disappears. If your count drops from 48 to 45 between two Fridays, the log shows it, and you can work out why.
It also shows your pace. If you’re adding two reviews a month and want eight, you’ll see that the asking needs work.
Who should be responsible?
One named person. When reviews are everyone’s job, they end up being nobody’s.
In a small business, that’s usually the owner or the office manager. Give them the weekly slot, the checklist and the authority to reply. Agree on one rule for negative reviews: they get a reply within a day, and the owner sees it before it’s posted.
What should you do when an alert arrives?
Sort it in ten seconds, then act according to the type.
A positive review can wait for Friday, or get a quick thank-you now. A negative one from a real customer needs a calm reply within a day. That’s how to respond to negative Google reviews without letting them sit.
A review from someone who was never a customer needs two things: a short reply saying you can’t find a record of them, and a report. Select the three dots next to the review, then Report review. That’s the right way to remove fake Google reviews.
Do you need monitoring software?
Not for a single location. Google’s notifications, the Reviews Management Tool and a spreadsheet do the job for free.
A paid tool starts to make sense when you have several locations, or customers reviewing you across many sites. We’d start with the free setup and move up only if the routine stops coping.
Isn’t getting reviews part of monitoring?
It should be. A monitoring routine with no new reviews coming in is a lot of watching and little to watch.
- On a computer, open your Business Profile, select Read reviews, then Get more reviews, then Copy. Google provides the link, so you don’t need a Google review link generator.
- Ask every customer in person on the day you finish their job.
- Text the link within the hour, or send a short review request email template.
BuyReviews can take that part on. You share your customer list, we send the requests and reminders, and your customers write their own words. It’s how we help clients get Google reviews every week and improve Google reviews through the year. Watching, replying and asking, done on a schedule, is the day-to-day of online reputation management in Australia, and it’s how to get more Google reviews without losing your evenings to your phone.
Frequently asked questions
How do I get notified of new Google reviews?
Go to your Business Profile on Google Search, select More, then Notifications, and turn on the customer activity alerts, which cover new reviews and photos. Google can notify you by email, on Search or in the Maps app. In the Maps app, tap Business, then the notifications icon at the top right.
How often should I check my Google reviews?
Once a week is enough for most small businesses, as long as notifications are on. The alerts tell you when something needs a quick reply, and the weekly check catches anything you missed. Checking several times a day doesn’t get reviews answered faster. It just takes time away from your customers.
Will Google tell me if a review is removed or edited?
Don’t rely on it. Google’s alerts cover new reviews, but a review that’s removed simply disappears, and a customer can edit theirs at any time. The easy fix is to write down your review count and rating each week. If the count drops or the rating shifts unexpectedly, you’ll know to look closer.
Can more than one person get review alerts?
Yes. Add a trusted staff member as a manager on your Business Profile, and they’ll be able to get notifications and reply from their own Google account. Notification settings belong to each account, so they’ll need to switch alerts on themselves. Agree who replies, so a review isn’t answered twice or missed.
Do I need a paid tool to monitor reviews?
Not for one location. Google’s own notifications, the Reviews Management Tool and a simple spreadsheet cover everything a single business needs. A paid tool starts to earn its cost when you manage several locations or track reviews across many sites. Start free, and upgrade only when the manual routine stops working.
What should you do next?
Turn on your notifications now. It takes two minutes. Then put a 15-minute slot in your calendar for this Friday and run the weekly checklist once.
If you’d like new reviews arriving for that Friday check, send BuyReviews your customer list and we’ll help you get Google reviews from real customers every week.