Handle Your Reviews Legally (Or Risk a £300,000 Fine)

You know that email you send after a job — the one that says "leave us a Google review and get 10% off"? In this country, that might now be illegal. Not "Google's a bit annoyed with you" illegal. Actually illegal, with a fine on the end of it.Hi, I'm Nikki Pilkington. My site is https://nikki-pilkington.com/ and in this episode of "SEO F**king What", I'm talking about the thing the SEO industry has completely missed. Everyone spent July losing their minds over one line Google added to its review snippet documentation. It's a documentation update. It isn't the story. The story is a British law that came in over a year ago and that almost nobody in this industry has mentioned, because most of what you read about SEO is written by Americans about America.Here's what I'm covering:— What Google actually added on the 24th of July, and why where they put that line matters more than what it says— Why fake reviews have been illegal in the UK since April 2025 — not against the rules, not frowned upon, illegal— Why the CMA no longer needs to take you to court, and can investigate, decide and fine you all by itself— The numbers: up to £300,000 for the business, and up to £150,000 for the actual human who set it up— Why "leave a review, get 10% off" is perfectly legal right up until the moment nobody reading it can see the discount existed— Review gating, which loads of review software does by default and sells to you as a feature— Your staff, your mates, your mum, and that untraceable "JS, Manchester" testimonial sat on your homepage— Eight ways to get reviews properly, including the one that changes everything and almost nobody bothers withI also give you a proper piece of homework. Not the "might do that one day" kind. The do-it-before-your-coffee-goes-cold kind.If you know someone still running "review for a discount" campaigns, or using software that quietly filters out the unhappy customers before they ever reach Google, send them this. It might save them a very expensive letter.Get found. Make money. Stop stressing. And go and ask a customer for a review — properly.Links mentioned:Non-Wanky SEO Courses — the On-Page SEO toolkit is completely free right now: https://nonwankyseo.comThe CMA's own fake reviews guidance (free, and worth twenty minutes of your life): https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/67eeb64fe9c76fa33048c790/CMA208_-_Fake_reviews_guidance.pdfGoogle's review snippet documentation: https://developers.google.com/search/docs/appearance/structured-data/review-snippetHow to get your short Google review link: https://support.google.com/business/answer/16816815The Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2024/13Follow Nikki:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nikkipilkington/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nikkipilkington/Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/nikkipilkington.bsky.socialMentioned in this episode:ICN Network