Google reviews

Answer every Google review of the business: the AI drafts the reply in the reviewer’s language, your team checks it and publishes it.

Reviews on Google Maps shape whether people choose the business, and answering them helps. Connect the business’s Google profile to its assistant and every new review shows up in InstaForge with a reply already drafted. Someone on the team reads it, changes what they want and publishes it on Google as the owner’s reply.

Google reviews: publish the reply (1), ask the AI to rewrite it (2), or leave the review without a reply (3)

Connect Google

An admin or editor does this once per assistant.

1. Open Google reviews

   In the assistant’s menu, open Customers → Google reviews and click Connect Google.

2. Sign in with the business's Google account

   Use the Google account that owns or manages the business on Google Maps, and allow access. If the business is managed by someone else, ask them to add you as a manager of the profile first, or send them to do this step.

3. Choose the business

   Back in InstaForge, pick the business from the list and click Use this business. Reviews come in within the hour, or click Check now.

A client with two branches can connect each branch’s assistant to its own Google location.

Reply to reviews

New reviews wait under To reply, each with a draft written in the language of the review. The AI uses the assistant’s knowledge, so it can mention real things like opening hours, but it never mentions bookings, orders or anything personal, because replies are public.

• Publish on Google (1) posts the reply, exactly as it is in the box. Edit it first if you like.
• Rewrite (2) asks for a new draft. Type how in the box next to it, for example “shorter” or “mention we now open at 9”.
• Don’t reply (3) moves the review to Skipped. You can still answer it later.

A published reply can be edited or removed under Replied. Replies written directly on Google show up there too.

Old reviews from before you connected Google are brought in without drafts. Click Draft with AI on any you want to answer.

How replies are written

Settings: answering good reviews without approval (1) and notes for the AI (2)

Setting	What it does
Draft replies to new reviews	Every new review gets a draft. On by default
Reply to 4 and 5 star reviews without approval (1)	Good reviews are answered straight away. Reviews with 1 to 3 stars always wait for a person. Off by default
Notes for the AI (2)	The tone, what to mention, what to avoid. For example: invite unhappy customers to write to you on Instagram
Last line	Added to every reply, for example “The Demo Salon team”

For unhappy reviews the AI apologises without arguing and invites the person to get in touch. It never promises refunds or discounts unless the assistant’s knowledge offers them.

The business owner approves the replies

Many owners want the last word on what’s said publicly in their name. Switch on The business owner approves replies (1) in the settings.

Letting the business owner approve replies (1)

The owner then has Google reviews in their portal. They get an alert when new reviews come in, and their home page shows how many are waiting. They check each drafted reply, change it if they like and click Publish on Google (1). They can also rewrite a draft or leave a review without a reply. Your team can still publish too, so nothing waits if the owner is busy.

The business owner's view: check the draft and publish it (1)

The same switch is in Client portal settings, as Google reviews. Owners never see the connection or the settings.

Alerts

When new reviews are waiting for a reply, the team gets one alert with how many there are and the lowest rating, and so does the business owner when they approve replies. Each person can switch it off in their own alert settings.

Who can do what

	Admin, editor	Agent	Business owner
See reviews and drafts	Yes	Yes	When they approve replies
Publish, rewrite, skip	Yes	Yes	When they approve replies
Connect Google, change the settings	Yes	No	No

The page says Google isn't set up on this platform

The platform owner needs to set up a Google sign-in client that Google has approved for its Business Profile API. Until then the page can’t connect. The README has the steps.

Google refused because of its limits

Either Google’s hourly limit was reached (it clears by itself), or the platform’s Google project hasn’t been approved for the Business Profile API yet.

What happens if I disconnect?

The reviews and drafts are removed from InstaForge. Replies already published stay on Google.

Can an AI agent answer reviews?

Yes. A connected AI agent can list reviews, publish or rewrite replies, skip reviews and change the settings. Ask it to show you each reply before it publishes.