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 with

I 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.