How to make a Google review QR code (free)

The short answer

A Google review QR code is your review link printed as squares. It costs nothing and takes about ten minutes.

Get your review link. Search your own business name while signed into the account that manages it, and click "Ask for reviews". Google hands you the link.
Test it on a phone signed into a personal Google account. The write-a-review box should open straight away.
Make a static QR code from that link. Free, never expires, no subscription.
Print it big enough: roughly 1 cm of code per 10 cm of scanning distance, matte, with a clear margin.
Show it to every customer, not just the happy ones. Filtering is the one thing here that can cost you your listing.

This is the easy half of the job, so let's do it properly and quickly. Then I want to talk about the part that the QR generator blogs skip, which is what a review code will never get you, and the rule that quietly gets businesses penalised.

Step 1: Get your Google review link

You need a verified Google Business Profile. Without one there is no review page to point at, and no QR code will conjure one.

Three ways to get the link, easiest first.

The "Ask for reviews" button

Sign in with the Google account that manages the business, then search your own business name on Google. The management panel appears above the normal results, with an Ask for reviews option. Click it and Google generates your link, ready to copy.

It is the same link every time, so you only need to do this once. Paste it somewhere you will find it again.

From your Place ID

If you would rather build it yourself, or the button is not showing, every business has a Place ID and a review URL in this shape:

https://search.google.com/local/writereview?placeid=YOUR_PLACE_ID

Swap in your own ID and that link opens the review box directly. Useful when you manage several locations and want the links to be predictable rather than hunting for each one.

The short link

You may also see a short form like g.page/r/…/review or a Maps share link. These work the same way. Any of the three is fine, because the QR code does not care how long the URL is, within reason.

Then test it, on a phone that is not yours

Open the link on a phone signed into a personal Google account, not the business one. You should land on the write-a-review box for your business, with the stars ready.

Two things to look for: it opens the right business (embarrassingly easy to grab the wrong listing if you have moved or have a duplicate profile), and it does not stall on a sign-in wall. Customers must be signed into Google to leave a review, which is Google's requirement and not something you can remove. It is also the single biggest reason review codes get fewer scans than owners expect.

Step 2: Turn the link into a QR code

Paste the link into any free QR generator. Three things matter.

Static, not dynamic. A static code holds the URL itself, so it never expires, needs no account, and cannot be switched off by a company you forgot you were paying. Dynamic codes route every scan through a third party's server, which is how they count scans and also how they die when a subscription lapses. Your review link is not going to change; you do not need dynamic.
Download vector. SVG, PDF or EPS stays sharp at any print size. If only PNG is offered, take the largest. A small PNG blown up to a table tent turns to mush and phones give up on it.
If you put a logo in the middle, use the highest error correction level, keep the logo under about a fifth of the code's width, and rescan before you print a hundred of them.

The mechanics are identical to any other feedback code, and I went through the sizing, quiet zone and contrast rules in detail in the feedback QR code guide. The short version: about 1 cm of code for every 10 cm of scanning distance, never below 2 x 2 cm, dark on light, matte not glossy, and leave white space around it.

Step 3: Put it where somebody is happy

A review is an act of goodwill, so ask when the goodwill exists.

Good: the table after the plates are cleared. The mirror right after the cut. The counter while the coffee is being made. Handed over with the receipt by a person who says one sentence about it.
Bad: the exit door, where everyone has already left mentally. The card machine, where the subject is money. The waiting area, where they have not received anything yet.

And say something human next to it. "Scan to leave a review" is fine. "If we got it right today, thirty seconds here helps a lot" is better, because it names the trade honestly.

The rule that gets businesses in trouble

Do not filter who sees the review link

The tempting design is a sign that asks "how did we do?", sends the five-star answers to Google, and quietly routes everyone else to a private form. It is called review gating, it breaks Google's policy on selective solicitation, and the reviews it produces can be removed with the listing penalised alongside them.

The full explanation, including what is and is not allowed, is in the review gating post.

Two more, from the same policy family:

No incentives. A sign offering a discount, a free drink, or an entry into a draw for a review is an incentivised review, in writing, on your wall. Asking is fine. Paying is not.
No review stations you hover over. Handing a customer a tablet and watching them type is not against the letter of the policy, but it produces reviews written under supervision, which is neither honest nor useful to you.

The safe version is simple: the same ask for everyone. Every customer sees the review code, and every customer sees the private box. Nobody is screened, nobody is bought.

What a review QR code will never get you

Here is the part I care about most, and I am going to be straight even though it argues against the thing you came here to build.

A review code collects public feedback from people willing to sign into Google and put their name on it. That is a specific and quite narrow slice of what your customers think.

The complaint does not travel down that road. The person who found the bathroom filthy, who thought your prices went up quietly, who did not like how one of your staff spoke to them, is not going to sign into Google and say so under their own name at your counter. They will either say nothing and leave, or they will say it later, from home, when they are angry enough for the review to be a one-star.

So a review QR code is a good tool aimed at the customers you already pleased. It amplifies your happy customers, which is genuinely worth doing.

	Review QR code	Private feedback QR sign
Who answers	Happy customers, signed into Google	Anyone, including the annoyed one
Named or anonymous	Public, under their name	Anonymous by default
What it does for you	Raises your rating and visibility	Tells you what to fix, before it is public
Friction	Google sign-in required	None if the page needs no login
When it arrives	After a good experience	During or right after a bad one

They are two different jobs, and the honest setup runs both, shown to everybody. Ask for reviews out loud. Give people a private way to tell you the truth. The second one is what stops the first one from filling up with surprises.

Do both, without gating

Print the review code where the goodwill is, and put a private feedback sign where the friction is: the bathroom, the locker room, the waiting area, the till queue. No screening question, no filtering, no rating gate deciding who sees what. Just two ways to talk to you, both open to everyone.

That second sign is what Knoted makes: a printed QR sign that opens a page with no app and no account, anonymous by default, an email the moment a note lands, and a separate code per sign so you know which room it came from. See how it works, or read the full setup guide if you want to build one yourself first.

The complaint you hear privately today is the one-star review you do not read on Sunday. Hear it before Google does.

Common questions

Is a Google review QR code free?

Yes. Your review link comes free with a verified Google Business Profile, and a static QR code is just that link drawn as squares, which any generator will produce at no cost. You only pay if you choose a dynamic code, which routes scans through a QR company's server and stops working if you stop paying. For a review sign there is no reason to.

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

No. Google's policies prohibit incentivised reviews, and a sign offering 10% off for a review is exactly that, in writing, on your wall. Reviews obtained that way can be removed and the listing can be penalised. Ask for the review by all means, just do not pay for it.

Can I send happy customers to Google and unhappy ones to a private form?

Not through a filter. Screening customers by how they rate you and only showing the review link to the happy ones is review gating, which breaks Google's policy on selective solicitation and risks your listing. Showing every customer the same private feedback box, and separately showing every customer the same review link, is fine.

Will my Google review QR code stop working?

Not if it is static. A static code encodes your review URL directly in the pattern, so it works as long as the link does, with no account or subscription behind it. Your review link stays the same unless the business profile itself changes, so one code can outlive several batches of printed signs.

Where should a review QR code go?

Somewhere the customer is happy and not busy: the table after the meal, the mirror after the cut, the counter while they wait for a bag. Not the door on the way out, where everyone is already leaving, and not the payment terminal, where the money is the thing on their mind.