Knowledge
Review gating
Review gating means routing only satisfied customers to a public platform while sending the dissatisfied to an internal form.
Where it comes from
The pattern ships with dozens of review collection tools: a message asks about satisfaction, and the answer decides whether the customer sees a Google Maps link or a complaints form. It looks sensible — the problem stays in-house and the praise goes out into the world.
What it means in practice
Google Maps policy prohibits discouraging negative reviews and selectively soliciting positive ones; the consequence can be removal of EVERY review on the profile and loss of ranking. In the EU, the rules implementing the Omnibus Directive treat it as manipulation of consumer reviews. Beyond that, the practice invalidates any later analysis: the complaint share stops describing the scale of a problem and starts describing who was asked.