How does it know who left a review?

Your Google listing is checked every day, and again soon after someone taps through from a review text. Each new review is matched by first and last name to the customers your texts went to. A review left under a nickname or a partner's account will not match, and the screen says so.

Why did my tap numbers go down?

Phone networks and security services check the links in text messages for scams, and those checks used to count as taps. Now only people count, so the number can be smaller, and it is true.

Will a customer who opened the link get extra texts?

No. Opening the link never adds a text. They get the next text in your plan as normal, and a tap, a reply or STOP ends them. Someone who has already left you a Google review is never asked again.

Feature · Google reviews

See exactly who left you a Google review

22 October 2026 · 2 min read · Tim McCartney

I was looking at an electrician's review screen this week. Seven people had tapped through to Google, but only one new review had appeared on his listing. So who actually left it, and what happened to the other six?

The problem

The screen counted taps on the link in each review text, and the count looked great. But most of those taps were not people. Phone networks and security services open the links in text messages to check them for scams, and every check counted as a customer tapping through. Worse, a tap ends that customer's texts, so real customers stopped getting their follow up texts because of a link checker. And even with the real taps, nothing told you who had gone on to write the review.

The result

Who left a review, with their stars. Every customer you asked is in one list, and the ones who left you a Google review sit at the top with Google's logo, their stars and the day they wrote it. Each review is matched by name to the customer your text went to.
Four numbers that tell the story. Customers asked, opened the link, tapped through to Google, and left you a Google review, with your rating and review count on Google underneath.
Only people count. Link checkers no longer count as taps and never stop a customer's texts. Every customer gets the texts you chose.
Opened but did not tap? They get their next text as normal. Nothing extra, nothing pushy.
Nobody asked twice. A customer who has left you a Google review gets no more review texts, and someone already on your listing under their full name is never asked.
More room on a computer. Google reviews, Billing, Photos, Updates, your profile and the rest now open in the space beside your menu instead of over the chat. Back to chat takes you straight back.

The four numbers on the review screen: customers asked, opened the link, tapped through to Google, and left you a Google review, with the rating on Google underneath

Seven taps looked good. One real review was the truth. Now you see the truth, and the name beside it.

The screens in the pictures are the real ones, shown with a sample business and sample names. It is on for every business that runs the review system from today, nothing to set up.