Review gating is the "how was your experience?" funnel that routes 5-star answers to Google and quietly swallows the rest into a private feedback form. It feels clever, and plenty of reputation tools still sell it, but Google’s review policies ban it outright: you must not "discourage or prohibit negative reviews, or selectively solicit positive reviews."
Manipulated reviews can be removed and a Business Profile may face restrictions. Review gating also produces a distorted public record that gives prospective customers less useful information.
The policy-compliant version is simple: invite customers without incentives, do not ask for a particular rating or wording, and respond to critical reviews professionally.
A survey that says "5 stars? Post on Google. Less? Tell us privately" is review gating. Giving customers the same neutral invitation regardless of sentiment is the policy-compliant approach.
Go deeper: Why Your Milwaukee Business Isn’t Showing Up in Google Maps.
This is part of the AI visibility work.