Your Google listing, managed from the dashboard
For a local pool company, Google reviews are the front door — most new customers read them before they ever call. Pool Founder connects to your Google Business Profile so reviews flow into the dashboard automatically, you can reply right where you work, and a weekly AI analysis scores your listing and hands you concrete tasks to improve it. Two pages, both in the sidebar under Customers: Google Reviews (the review feed) and Google Profile (the score and coaching tasks).
Nothing is ever published to Google automatically. Review replies, Google posts, and description updates all go out only when a person clicks "Publish to Google". The AI drafts; you approve.
Connect your Google Business Profile
- 1In the sidebar, go to Customers → Google Reviews.
- 2Click Connect Google Business Profile.
- 3Sign in with the Google account that owns or manages your business listing and approve the Business Profile permission.
- 4You land back on the Google Reviews page and your reviews start syncing in — they appear as they arrive.
- Connecting requires the "Connect Google Business Profile & reply to reviews" permission — owners and administrators have it by default. Anyone else sees a note to ask an owner or administrator.
- If Google reports the account manages no Business Profile locations, the connection fails with a message to sign in with the account that owns or manages the listing.
- If your Google account manages several locations, Pool Founder connects the first one and the page header shows "first of N locations". Choosing which location to connect isn't supported yet.
- Disconnect lives in the page header — click it, then click again to confirm ("Confirm disconnect?"). Disconnecting removes Pool Founder's access; your Google listing itself is untouched.
The Google Reviews page
Once connected, the page shows a summary strip — your average rating with stars, total review count, and a 30-day performance snapshot (profile views, and calls + clicks from your listing) — above the full review feed. Filter the feed by star rating with the All / 5★–1★ chips.
- Reviews refresh automatically every hour. The Sync now button pulls them immediately.
- A green Live sync dot in the header means real-time updates are on — new reviews can appear within moments instead of waiting for the hourly refresh. If it isn't shown, the hourly sync still keeps everything current.
- Copy review link copies your direct Google review URL — it opens the Google review box for your business. Text or email it to customers after a great visit.
- The small external-link icon next to it opens your listing on Google Maps.
- If a sync problem appears ("Last sync had a problem") saying Google access was revoked, disconnect and reconnect to restore syncing.
Reply to a review
- 1On any review, click Reply (or Edit reply to change an existing one).
- 2Write your public reply — it goes out under your business's name.
- 3Click Publish to Google. The reply is live on your Google listing immediately.
Replying (like connecting and disconnecting) requires the "Connect Google Business Profile & reply to reviews" permission — owners and administrators by default. Replies publish publicly under your business's name, which is why the permission is kept tight. Team members with only "View Google reviews" (office managers and viewers by default) can read everything but not reply.
New-review notifications
When the sync finds a review it hasn't seen before, admins get a New Google Review notification. A review of 3 stars or fewer escalates to a high-priority Negative Google Review notification — a fast owner reply is the one lever that reliably softens a bad review. The very first sync after connecting doesn't notify (so a backlog of old reviews doesn't flood you). Manage these under the Google Reviews category in Notification Settings.
The Google Profile page: score + weekly coaching
The Google Profile page (sidebar → Customers → Google Profile, or the "Google Profile" button on the Reviews page) scores your listing 0–100 and breaks the score into factors: business description, business hours, categories, photos, Google posts, review count, review replies, recent reviews, and whether your review link is on service reports. Under the score sits a task list.
- Fresh tasks arrive every Monday from an automatic analysis of your profile, reviews, and activity. Refresh analysis runs one on demand — fresh score and tasks appear in about half a minute.
- Each task explains why it matters using your actual numbers (e.g. how many reviews have no reply). At most five at a time, ordered by impact.
- Check the circle to mark a task done, or dismiss it with the ✕. Handled tasks move to a collapsible Completed history where they can be reopened.
What the tasks can do
- Publish a Google post or update your business description: the AI writes a draft; "Publish to Google…" opens it in an editable window (posts up to 1,500 characters, descriptions up to 750). Read it over, edit anything, and only then publish. It goes live on your Google listing.
- Add link to service reports: one click adds your Google review link to every service report email you already send — the single easiest way to grow reviews steadily.
- Reply to reviews: links you to the Google Reviews page to write the replies.
- Ask for reviews by email: when review momentum has stalled, the AI drafts a short review-request email and links you to Email Blasts to send it to your customer list.
- Any task with a draft has a Copy draft button, so you can also take the text anywhere yourself.
What this feature does not do
- No automatic publishing of any kind — the AI never replies to a review, posts to Google, or edits your listing on its own. Every publish is a human clicking a button after reading the text.
- No automatic review-request texts after each visit — the review link rides on service report emails (once you add it), and you can copy the link to share it yourself or send a review-request email blast, but there is no per-visit "please review us" text automation.
- No review gating — there is no mechanism that screens customers by satisfaction before showing them the review link (Google prohibits it).
- One location per company — multi-location Google accounts connect their first location only, for now.
- Reviews can't be deleted or hidden from Pool Founder — only Google can remove a review. Your lever here is the public reply.
Frequently asked questions
Do review replies written in Pool Founder really show up on Google?
Yes. "Publish to Google" publishes the reply on your actual Google listing immediately, under your business's name — the same as replying from the Google Business Profile dashboard.
Who can connect the profile and reply to reviews?
The "Connect Google Business Profile & reply to reviews" permission is required — owners and administrators have it by default, because replies publish publicly under the business's name. Office managers and viewers can see the reviews and the profile score by default but can't connect, disconnect, reply, or publish.
Will Pool Founder automatically ask my customers for reviews?
Not automatically per visit. The two built-in paths are: adding your Google review link to service report emails (a one-click task on the Google Profile page — the link then rides on every report you send), and sending a review-request email blast with an AI-drafted message. You can also copy your review link and text it to a happy customer yourself.
What counts as a "negative" review for notifications?
Three stars or fewer. Those arrive as a high-priority "Negative Google Review" notification; four- and five-star reviews arrive as a normal "New Google Review" notification. Both live under the Google Reviews category in Notification Settings.
How fresh are the reviews I see?
Reviews sync automatically every hour, and "Sync now" pulls them on demand. When the green "Live sync" indicator is shown, new reviews can arrive in near real time.
I manage multiple Google locations — can I pick which one connects?
Not yet. Pool Founder connects the first location on the Google account and the page header notes "first of N locations". Support for choosing among multiple locations isn't available today.
Can the AI reply to reviews for me automatically?
No. Nothing publishes to Google without a person clicking "Publish to Google" after reading the text. The AI's role is analysis and drafting — the weekly tasks, the profile score, post and description drafts, and the review-request email draft.