A Google review can be removed from your Google My Business listing for a number of reasons, from automatic spam detection, account suspension to simply being deleted by the user.
The usual question we see is, “Why are my Google My Business reviews being removed / missing?” and the crucial misunderstanding in that question is the MY – They are not your reviews!
The review may have been about your business, but they are not the businesses!
A review is created by a users account, they reside in a users account and therefore removal of the review is reliant on the users review and account – something which is completely out of the businesses control.
Removal of Google My Business Reviews
Reviews get removed, or rather no longer appear on a Google My Business listing for three simple reasons (excluding bugs and cock ups).
- The review violates Google policies
- The user has deleted the review
- The users account has been blacklisted or deleted
So a review being removed is a user issue, not a businesses issue.
The Review Violates Google Policies
9 out of 10 times a review has been algorithmically removed due to “spam detection” and there are a whole load of possible reasons.
https://support.google.com/contributionpolicy/answer/7400114
If a user notices that their review is not being displayed on a business they reviewed, they can:
- Go to Google Maps
- Log into their Google Account
- Drop Down Menu >> Your Contributions
- Reviews
- Remove & Republish
User Has Deleted the Review
The review is the users and resides in the users account, they are free to delete their reviews.
Users Account
Users accounts regularly get suspended.
There are a few reason but one we see more and more regularly is when a user is trying to build up Local Guide Points quickly and inadvertently gets their entire account suspended for multiple edits, reviews which triggers the spam detection algo.
Other reason could be totally unrelated to Maps, but related to other Google products like Ads and YouTube.
Although frustrating, reviews being removed are beyond the businesses control and more a reflection of the user rather than the business. That is assuming you did not do something silly like buy or incentivise those reviews.
Online Ownership offers local SEO consulting to businesses that concentrates on building a businesses online profile without singularly relying on building reviews. Feel free to have a no obligation chat with us today.