The same page also hands you a plain link, which works in places a code never will.
Somebody nearby will sell a printed review code for a few dollars, shipped in a week. Skip that. Google generates the same code, and the plain link under it, at no cost, inside the Business Profile you already manage.
The steps are below, including the one place half of everyone gets stuck, because they try it from a phone. After that comes the link on its own, which belongs in places a code cannot go, and how to print the code so it actually scans. The page ends with what a code, printed and left alone, will never tell you.
Google states the steps plainly:
Google Business Profile Help, read September 14, 2026
That is the whole process. No third-party account, no payment, no approval wait. Step three offers the code as a downloadable image and the link as a one-click copy.
Half the people who try this stop at step three because only the link shows up, and they assume something broke. Nothing broke. Google says so directly:
"Currently, review QR codes can only be generated using a browser on a computer, not on mobile devices."
Google Business Profile Help, read September 14, 2026
From a phone you will see a share button for the link, with no QR option among the choices. A tablet falls in the same category as a phone, so do not expect the code to appear there either. Sign in on a laptop or desktop, repeat the same three steps, and the code appears where it did not before.
Each location has its own Business Profile, so each one needs its own trip through the three steps above, which produces its own code and its own link. One code taped onto counters at two different addresses is still one code, and nothing about it tells you which counter it was scanned at.
Run the steps separately for every location you manage. You will end up with as many codes as you have locations, each pointed at the right one. Label the back of every printed piece with the location it belongs to before it leaves your hands, since a stack of identical-looking codes is easy to mix up once they are cut apart.
The same screen that builds the code also hands you the plain link underneath it. That link belongs exactly where a code does not:
For a lot of businesses, the link outperforms the code. A code needs a phone camera pointed at it right now, in person. A link reaches somebody after they have already left, sitting at home with the kind of patience a checkout counter never gives them.
Most mistakes here are avoidable if you know what to check first.
Print one, put it exactly where it will live, and scan it with three phones, one of them older. That is all the testing this needs.
Google bans two things that tend to attach themselves to a review code or link. The first is paying for a review:
"Offering incentives, like payment, a discount, or free goods or services, in exchange for a review, or in exchange for the removal or alteration of an existing review."
Maps User-Generated Content Policy, read September 14, 2026
That runs both directions: no payment for a review appearing, and none for a bad one disappearing. A discount, a free item, or a drawing for anyone who leaves a review breaks the rule even if it is scribbled in pen next to the register.
The second is dictating what the review says:
"When soliciting reviews, businesses should not require or encourage customers to post reviews or ratings directly at the place of business, or ask people to post specific content."
Maps User-Generated Content Policy, read September 14, 2026
So no "please leave us five stars" and no naming a specific employee to praise. Asking is fine, and it only takes one sentence: that you value the feedback and it takes a minute.
For one location just getting started, a free code from Google is the right answer, and there is nothing to buy instead. It carries three gaps worth knowing before you print two hundred of them.
You will not know if anybody scanned it. The code counts nothing. There is no way to tell whether people walk past it or scan it and abandon the review halfway through.
You will not catch an unhappy guest before they post publicly. The code only leads one way. Somebody unhappy can post it on Google or say nothing, and most people choose neither.
You will not notice a change to your own listing. Your hours, phone number, category, or rating only show up if you go check yourself.
Valtela answers those three specifically: taps on the card are counted, every guest gets an equal option to send a private message alongside the public review, and your listing is compared every night to how it looked the day before, so a change reaches your inbox the same day it happens. A licence year runs $599 a year, and a second card for a second counter is $79 a year, on the pricing page.
If a free code is all you need today, use it, the steps above are the whole process. What you may write beside a code or a link has its own page, quoted line by line: Google's review policy. Comparing a card against a plain code is covered on NFC or QR code, and the finished object on the counter is described on the review card.
Every citation on this page comes from one of these pages. The link goes to the original source, not to our summary of it.
$599a year, plus $79 for each extra card. See the full price.