With one location, the owner reads every review. With five or fifty, reviews fall through the cracks. One branch replies within the hour, another hasn't answered since spring, and head office only hears about the bad ones when a customer complains twice. This guide sets out a system that works across locations: who owns what, how a review gets from arrival to reply, how to ask for reviews the same way everywhere, and how to compare locations fairly.
Decide who owns every location's reviews
Start with access. In Google Business Profile, a business group holds several locations, so you can manage them together and share access. Owners and managers can both reply to reviews, but only owners can add or remove people. Keep at least two owners at head office, and give regional and location managers manager access to the profiles they look after.
Then decide who does what. An example split, to adjust to how your business runs:
| Task | Head office | Regional manager | Location manager |
|---|---|---|---|
| Access to each profile | Owns it | Requests changes | Uses it |
| Replies to 4–5★ reviews | Sets the tone | Spot-checks | Replies |
| Replies to 1–2★ reviews | Approves sensitive ones | Approves | Drafts |
| Safety, legal or staff complaints | Decides | Escalates | Flags |
| Review requests | Writes the template | Checks volume | Sends |
| Monthly report | Reviews | Presents | Acts on it |
Whatever the split, write down who replies to each kind of review and how fast. Reviews go unanswered when nobody is sure whose job it is.
Create one review workflow
Every review, at every location, goes through the same six steps:
- Arrives. Someone sees it the same day, through alerts or a shared inbox.
- Triage. Sort it as routine (4–5★ and simple 3★), needs care (1–2★ and complaints), or escalate (safety, legal, a named member of staff, or a possible fake).
- Draft. The location manager writes or edits a reply.
- Approve. Routine replies go straight out, "needs care" goes to the regional manager, and escalations go to head office.
- Post. From an account with owner or manager access to that location's profile.
- Log. Note anything escalated and what happened, so patterns across locations show up.
Example response targets, not an industry benchmark: routine reviews within two working days, low ratings within one, and escalations acknowledged the same day.
Approving a reply isn't the same as posting it. If one person approves drafts and another posts them in Google, make it clear who presses the button.
Ask for reviews the same way at every location
- Ask after a real interaction: at checkout, after an appointment, on a receipt or in a follow-up email.
- Give each location its own review link and QR code, so customers land on the right branch's profile and you can see which locations are asking.
- Use one email template everywhere, with the location's name filled in.
- Send one reminder at most.
- Ask everyone. Every customer gets the same public link, whatever you think they'll say.
Asking only the customers you expect to be happy, or sending unhappy ones somewhere private instead, breaks Google's review policies. More in why review gating breaks Google's rules.
Use reply templates without sounding robotic
Templates keep the tone consistent when many people reply. They go wrong when the same sentence appears under fifty reviews. Three made-up starting points:
Positive: "Thanks, [name]. We're glad [what they mentioned] went well at [location]. We'll pass this on to the team."
Mixed: "Thanks for the honest feedback, [name]. Glad you liked [good thing]. [Issue] isn't the standard we aim for at [location], and we've passed it to the manager there."
Negative: "Sorry, [name]. [Issue] isn't the experience we want anyone to have at [location]. Please contact [manager or email] so we can look into it and put it right."
Always change at least one line to reflect what the reviewer actually said, never post the same reply twice on one profile, and have a person read every complaint reply before it goes out.
Compare locations fairly
Each month, put every location in one table. Illustrative data:
| Location | New reviews | Average this month | Google rating | Unanswered | Response rate | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Northside | 24 | 4.6 | 4.7 | 1 | 96% | Steady |
| Harbour St | 9 | 3.9 | 4.4 | 5 | 44% | New manager, behind on replies |
| Westfield | 15 | 4.8 | 4.6 | 0 | 100% | Strong month |
Reading it fairly:
- Compare the same period for every location, and use a month or more. A week is too noisy for a branch that gets five reviews a month.
- Look at the month's average next to the overall Google rating. The overall rating moves slowly and hides recent changes.
- Don't rank locations by review count alone. Busier branches should get more.
- Response rate is the fairest comparison, because it's fully in each location's control.
A 30-day rollout checklist
- Week 1: access and ownership. List every location and its Business Profile. Check who has owner and manager access, remove people who've left, and put the locations into a business group. Write down who replies to what.
- Week 2: templates and rules. Write the review-request email and the three reply templates. Agree response targets and what gets escalated.
- Week 3: pilot two locations. Run the whole workflow at one strong and one struggling location, and note where it slows down.
- Week 4: roll out and report. Fix what the pilot showed, extend to every location, and produce the first monthly comparison.
Do you need software for this?
For two or three locations, the Google app, a shared spreadsheet and calendar reminders can work. It gets harder when reviews arrive on several sites, several people reply, and head office wants a monthly comparison.
Multi-location review management software brings review monitoring and replies for a business with several locations into one place, while keeping review requests and reporting at location level.
Localblend's multi-location review management software puts every location's Google, TripAdvisor and Yelp reviews in one inbox, gives each location its own review page and QR code, and compares locations side by side, across the whole business or one region.
FAQ
Can one Google account manage several locations?
Yes. Put the locations in a business group and give people owner or manager access to the group or to individual profiles. Businesses with 10 or more locations can manage them in bulk.
Who should have access to each Business Profile?
At least two owners at head office, so access never depends on one person, and manager access for the people who reply. Check the list whenever someone leaves.
Can head office reply for every branch?
Yes, if head office has access to each profile. Replies appear as a response from the business, so customers see one voice whoever wrote them.
Is it OK to ask every customer for a review?
Yes, and you should. What isn't allowed is asking only the customers you expect to be happy, or offering anything in return for a review.
Which numbers are fair to compare across locations?
Response rate and unanswered reviews are fully in each location's control. Average rating and review count depend on how busy and how established a location is, so compare them over the same, longer periods.
How is this different from an agency managing reviews?
A multi-location business manages its own locations under one brand. An agency manages separate client businesses, usually under the agency's own brand. The workflow above works for both, but agencies also need client permissions, contracts and white-label reporting. See how to sell Google review management as a service.