FTC Review Rules for Roofing Companies

Raftervio sells website design to roofing contractors. This guide explains the topic first and mentions our service only where it fits.

Why reviews matter so much for roofers

Roofing is an expensive purchase from someone a homeowner has usually never met, so reviews carry a lot of weight. That same weight creates temptation: a few invented five-star reviews on the website, a gift card for every positive review, or quietly hiding the one-star complaint. Federal rules now address each of those directly.

The FTC's rule on reviews and testimonials

The Federal Trade Commission announced its final rule banning fake reviews and testimonials in August 2024.¹ The rule is codified at 16 CFR Part 465, titled "Use of Consumer Reviews and Testimonials."² Its main sections:

Section 465.2 targets reviews that materially misrepresent, "expressly or by implication," that the reviewer exists or had actual experience with the business.² Section 465.4 covers incentives conditioned on reviews "expressing a particular sentiment, whether positive or negative."²

The Endorsement Guides

The FTC's Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising, at 16 CFR Part 255, sit alongside the rule. They say advertisers should not take actions, including procuring, suppressing, boosting or editing reviews, that distort what consumers think.³ Examples in the Guides include:³

• Paying for reviews that must be positive is deceptive, even with a disclosure
• Inviting only happy customers to post reviews can be deceptive
• Suppressing negative reviews, or forwarding only favorable ones to a review platform, is misleading
• Flagging negative reviews as fake without a reasonable basis is deceptive

On disclosures, the Guides say a material connection that the audience would not expect "must be disclosed clearly and conspicuously," and that this applies to payments and free or discounted products.³

What this means on your website

Testimonials

Use only genuine testimonials from real customers, with their permission. Keep the wording faithful to what they said. If a testimonial comes from an employee, a relative or someone who received a discount for it, disclose that clearly next to it.

Review widgets

If your site displays reviews pulled from Google or another platform, avoid filtering out low ratings while presenting the feed as representative. The rule says a business cannot claim displayed reviews represent most or all reviews when it suppresses reviews based on their ratings or negative sentiment.² Filtering applied to all reviews on neutral grounds, such as removing reviews you reasonably believe are fake or that contain unrelated content, is allowed.²

Star ratings in structured data

Do not add star ratings or review counts to your site's structured data unless they reflect genuine reviews shown on the page. Invented ratings are both misleading and against search engine guidelines.

Asking for reviews the right way

• Ask every customer after a completed job, not only the ones you expect to be happy
• Make it easy with a short link to your Google review page
• Do not offer anything in return for a positive review
• If you offer an incentive for any review at all, regardless of rating, disclose it and check the platform's own policy, which may be stricter
• Respond to negative reviews politely and factually
• Never threaten legal action to get an honest review removed

Platform rules can be stricter

Federal rules set a floor. Review platforms often have their own policies, and some prohibit incentives entirely, even neutral ones. Breaking a platform's policy can lead to removed reviews or penalties on that platform, separate from any FTC action.

How the FTC enforces

The rule allows the FTC to seek civil penalties for knowing violations. Penalty amounts are adjusted for inflation each year, so we do not quote a figure here. Beyond penalties, fake reviews can damage trust quickly once discovered by customers or competitors.

A simple review policy for your company

Writing down how your company handles reviews makes it easier to stay consistent, especially when office staff change. A one-page policy might say:

• Every completed job receives the same review request, sent the same way
• Nobody offers gifts, discounts or entries into prize draws in exchange for a positive review
• Staff and family do not post reviews of the company unless the relationship is clearly disclosed
• Negative reviews receive a polite, factual reply within a set time, and the customer is offered a way to resolve the issue offline
• The website shows reviews from a named platform without filtering out low ratings, or clearly explains any neutral filtering applied
• Testimonials on the website are used only with written permission and are not edited in ways that change their meaning

Sharing the policy with your team and any marketing provider makes it clear what you expect.

Working with marketing agencies

If an agency manages your reviews, website or social media, its actions can still affect you. Ask how it requests reviews, whether it uses any review-generation tools that filter customers by expected rating, and whether it has ever bought followers or engagement for clients. Put your review policy in writing in the contract.

Handling a fake or unfair review of your company

Sometimes a roofer receives a review that looks fake, comes from a competitor or describes a job they never did. The rule does not stop you from dealing with that. Report it through the platform's own process with your evidence, reply calmly and factually where the platform allows, and keep records. What you must not do is threaten the reviewer with unfounded legal action or make knowingly false public accusations to get an honest review removed, which section 465.7 prohibits.