Grant Matthews, founder of marketing specialist Biz Support Digital, draws on research into thousands of UK trade businesses to determine how electrical contractors can use Google reviews to strengthen their online reputation
It is half past seven on a wet Tuesday. The trip switch keeps going and the kettle won’t boil. The homeowner picks up their phone and types “electrician near me”.
Google shows them a map and three local firms. Next to each name sits a star rating, the number of reviews and, a tap away, how long ago the last one was written. They ring the one that looks busiest and most trusted, and that is usually the one with plenty of recent reviews.
The firm that gets the call is not always the best electrician in town. Quite often it is simply the one whose customers wrote something down.
The numbers
We looked at the Google reviews of 3,576 UK electrical businesses as part of a wider study of 41,873 trade and service firms. The ones that do get reviewed average 4.8 stars out of 5, so customers are clearly happy with the work. Yet 49% had no Google reviews at all, and 84% had fewer than ten.
The study covered firms without a website, so it leans towards sole traders and small outfits that live on word of mouth and their Google listing. Those are exactly the firms that lose out most when a customer compares three names on a screen.
In most cases the electrician simply never asked.
Why reviews matter to Google as well as customers
Google says it ranks local businesses on three things: how well they match the search, how close they are, and how well known they are. It names the number of reviews and the star rating as part of that last one. You can’t move your van closer to every customer, but you can make sure the work you already do shows up.
Customers also read the dates. A firm with 40 reviews, the newest from 2023, looks quieter than a firm with 25 reviews where the last one came in last week. People want to know you are still trading and still turning up.
Step 1: get your review link
Sign in to Google with the account that manages your business listing. Then search Google for your business name, typed exactly as it appears on your listing. A panel called “Your business on Google” appears at the top of the results. It is only visible to you, and it has a row of buttons: Edit profile, Read reviews, Photos and so on.
Click “Ask for reviews”. Google shows you a short link that takes a customer straight to the box where they leave stars and a comment. Copy it and save it on your phone as a note or a text shortcut so it is always to hand.
If the panel doesn’t show up, the name you typed probably doesn’t match your listing exactly. Search “my business” instead, scroll down to “You manage these profiles” and click “View profile” next to your business.
If you have no Google Business Profile at all, set one up first. It is free, and it is the listing that appears on the map.
Step 2: ask on the day, by text
The best time to ask is when the job is signed off and the customer is pleased: the lights are back on, the new consumer unit is labelled up, the EICR is in their inbox. Wait a week and they have moved on.
A short text works better than a card left on the side. Something like:
Hi Sarah, thanks for having us in today. If you’re happy with the new consumer unit, a quick Google review would really help a small firm like ours. Here’s the link: [your link]. Thanks, Dave
Keep it personal and mention the actual job. Most people are glad to help when it takes thirty seconds and the link is right there.
Step 3: ask everyone, and keep it honest
Ask every customer, not only the ones you think will leave five stars. Google’s rules don’t allow you to pick and choose who gets asked, and a profile with nothing but perfect scores can look less believable than one with the odd four.
Never offer a discount, a free test or anything else in return for a review, and never buy reviews or write them for yourself. Fake reviews and hidden paid-for reviews have been illegal in the UK since April 2025 under the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act, and Google removes them when it finds them.
Step 4: reply to every review
Replying shows the next customer that a real person runs the business and cares how jobs go. A line or two is plenty:
Thanks, Mrs Davies. Glad the outside lights are working well, and thanks for the tea.
The occasional poor review will happen. Reply calmly, keep it short and don’t argue in public:
Sorry the job ran into a second day, Mr Hughes. We found a fault in the old wiring that needed putting right before we could finish safely. Please ring me if anything isn’t right.
Step 5: keep the profile up to date
Customers look at more than stars. Make sure your Google Business Profile says what you actually do, in the words customers use: EICRs, fuse box and consumer unit upgrades, EV charger installs, rewires, fault finding. Add the towns and villages you cover, your real opening hours and whether you take emergency call-outs.
Add a few photos every month: tidy consumer units, finished jobs, your van with the name on it. If you are registered with a scheme such as NICEIC or NAPIT, say so in the description. All of it helps a nervous homeowner decide you are a safe pair of hands.
Make it a habit
The firms at the top of the map rarely got there with one big push. They ask after every job, so one or two reviews come in most weeks and the newest one is never old.
Try it for three months. Save the link, send the text the day each job is signed off, and reply to whatever comes in. For most small electrical firms that is enough to move from “no reviews” to looking like the busy, trusted firm customers ring first.
Grant Matthews is the founder of Biz Support Digital
