How to reply to Google reviews with Claude

What you need

• A Claude plan that allows custom connectors.
• The Google account that owns or manages your Business Profile. Replies only work for verified locations; Google does not accept them for the others.
• A free Social for Shops account with Google connected. Social for Shops is the connector that lets Claude reach Google's Business Profile API, so you do not need a Google Cloud project or API approval of your own.

Step 1: connect Claude

Follow the three steps on the connect page: copy the connector address, add it in Claude as a custom connector, and choose Allow on the Social for Shops page that opens. It takes about a minute. Claude can then use the accounts you linked in Social for Shops, and nothing else.

Step 2: tell Claude how you sound

Replies read better when Claude knows the business. Ask: "What does my business profile say, and what is missing?" Claude reads the profile and lists the gaps: type of business, town, services, tone of voice. Answer in plain words, for example "We are a phone repair shop in Providence. Friendly and short, no emojis. Sign replies as Maria from EZ FIX. Never mention prices." Claude saves it, and every later reply follows it.

If you run several businesses, Claude keeps a profile for each. An agency can give each client its own tone, sign-off and words to avoid.

Step 3: see what is waiting

Ask: "Which of my locations have unanswered reviews?" Claude makes one call and answers with a row per location: unanswered reviews by star rating, the oldest one waiting, and any location it could not read (for example one that is not verified). Twenty locations take seconds. Locations with the same name are shown with their city, so "Tech Genius — Salem, NH" never gets confused with "Tech Genius — Nashua, NH".

Narrow it down when you need to: "Show me the unanswered one- and two-star reviews from the last month."

Step 4: draft, read, adjust

Ask: "Draft replies to the ten newest unanswered reviews at the Providence shop." Claude saves drafts and shows them to you. Nothing is published at this stage. Each draft can come with a warning, which is worth reading:

• Contains a phone number or email. Replies are public; a person's name and an invitation to call the shop is usually better.
• Offers something in return for a review. Google's policies do not allow this, and it can get reviews removed.
• Uses a phrase on your do-not-say list.

Change any draft in plain words: "Make the third one shorter and don't apologise twice."

Step 5: publish with your approval

Say "Publish them." Claude shows a preview of every reply and where it goes, and asks you to approve. Only after you say yes does anything reach Google, and only exactly the replies you saw. The answer comes back per reply: published, waiting for Google's moderation, skipped because it already had a reply, or failed with the reason. If anything was not sent, asking again sends the rest and never sends a reply twice.

Writing replies people actually read

• Five stars: thank them by name, echo one detail they mentioned, invite them back. Two or three sentences.
• Four stars: thank them, and ask what would have made it five.
• One to three stars: apologise for the experience without arguing the facts, give a person to contact, invite them back. The real audience is the next customer reading it.
• Star-only reviews: a short thank-you is enough. They count, and a reply shows the profile is looked after.

More on this in review replies.

Prompts worth saving

• "Go through my review inbox: summarize unanswered reviews across all locations and draft replies, but publish nothing."
• "Which of my accounts need reconnecting, and why?"
• "Draft calm replies to every unanswered review under three stars from this week."

Safety, in short

Claude cannot publish without your approval, replies are paced per location, and a review that tries to give Claude instructions is treated as a review, nothing more. The connector acts as you with your role: a viewer can read but not reply. Full details are on the Google Business Profile MCP page.