Google Review Policies
The Google review policies set out what is permitted in reviews on a Google Business Profile – fake or incentivised reviews, conflicts of interest, spam and offensive content are prohibited – and breaches can lead to a review being removed or the profile being suspended.
In practice
Offering discounts or other benefits in exchange for reviews, or deliberately asking only satisfied customers for reviews while suppressing the negative ones, breaches the policies. What is legitimate is making it easy for all customers to leave a review. Beyond Google's policies, the subject is also covered by Austrian unfair-competition law: since the EU Omnibus Directive was transposed, the UWG contains its own provisions on faked and unverified consumer reviews, and anyone advertising with reviews must state whether and how they ensure the reviews are genuine. Assessing an individual case belongs with a qualified lawyer.