How to Create & Share a Google Review Link

As apartment marketers, we understand the benefits of utilizing Google My Business; one of the biggest perks being reviews. Receiving reviews and star ratings from past and current residents help to build what’s called your online reputation which directly impacts your leases. 

To build and improve your reputation, Google allows you to create a direct review link to share with others. A direct link gives reviewers a one-step process to leave a review of your apartment community. 

A common way to share a review link is to manually search for the link by searching for your community on Google. Once you find the listing, you click “write a review”. The review window will pop up with an unattractive and quite lengthy shareable URL.

However, this method is not the most effective way to create and share a review link.  

Repli Quick tip: Manually searching for your community on Google can skew your organic analytics data. In addition, it creates multiple steps your reviewer has to take to leave a review. The more steps, the less likely they will follow through. 

There’s a better way to create and share a review link for your residents to painlessly write a review for your community. Google created a helpful tool called PlaceID allowing you to create a unique Google URL that is a direct link to leave a review. 

Here we will show you a step by step blueprint to creating a unique Google review link for your apartment community to easily share it with your residents. Let’s get right to it!

The first step you’ll want to take is making sure you’re logged into your Google My Business account.

Next, you will find your PlaceID code which identifies the location of your community on a map To access the code, go to the PlaceID Finder. It will look similar to this.

Once you access the PlaceID Finder, the next step is to enter your community into the “Enter a Location” bar. Assuming that you already have a GMB listing, your community should automatically pop up as you type it in.

Click on your community name and the map will bring up the exact location. Your PlaceID will be just under the name of your business. It should appear with a long list of arbitrary letters.

The final step is to copy and paste the ID to the Google review URL below. Copy the random letters that represent your specific PlaceID. Next, paste that code onto the URL where it says <place-id> .

Google Review URL: https://search.google.com/local/writereview?placeid= <place_id>

The final product should match this URL but with your specific PlaceID. https://search.google.com/local/writereview?placeid= ChIJSTzX81wE9YgROjXNgo9VbIY

Voila! You’ve just created your own unique Google review link to share with you residents and prospects. When users click on the URL they will be immediately directed to leave and post a review.

Now that you know how to create a direct review link, you may be asking yourself how to use this link strategically to receive more positive reviews for your community.  If your apartment community is suffering from bad reviews take a look at our 6 reputation management tips on how to get the praise your community deserves. 

By using your community’s PlaceID, you’ve eliminated countless steps for your reviewer which makes them more likely to write a review. You’re now a pro at creating a direct review link. Go and implement this practice and watch your reviews grow and start ratings boost!

Need assistance with your reputation management? We partner with reputation.com to offer review and local listing management to multifamily communities across the US. Contact the REPLI team today to learn more!