Trport a Business Ness for Hising Google Review

Have you received a swell review, only to find it has disappeared a few weeks later on?  Information technology's a major bummer when you visit your Google Business Profile (formerly Google My Business – and I'll use both throughout this article) folio to find that a big, beautiful five-star review has gone missing – merely where did it become?!

( You tin can skip this long article and have us acquit an in-depth evaluation to discover out why your Google Business Contour reviews are missing. Only $150.)

As a minor business owner, like you, I become excited when I receive that email notification exclaiming that our dandy new customer has given us a five-star review on our Google Business Contour page! It's a great feeling to know that we've done a great job, and our clients loved the service we provided them – and they want to tell everyone how great our business is. If you're not getting whatsoever online reviews for your business organization, don't exist afraid to inquire customers to leave an honest review on your Google Business Profile page

Example of a business organisation listing with star reviews as displayed in a Google search

This post was inspired by an electronic mail from a customer. I had helped him create a direct link to the Google review box. He had been sharing the link with his clients and the Google Reviews were rolling in on a regular basis – because he provides great service. Simply this day, he awoke to find 6 Google Concern Profile reviews missing from his page. Oh no!

He wanted to know why the Google reviews were missing, how he could go the missing Google reviews dorsum on his page, and what he could practise to prevent more than Google reviews from existence deleted.

Googling Missing Google Reviews

At Search Centered nosotros regularly monitor Google business reviews for clients, and then this is a normal process for united states.

But there's a skillful chance you found this post via Google search – Obviously, the first stop in hunting down the reason for missing Google reviews was to visit Google and do a quick search for "missing Google reviews." From this simple search, it is quickly obvious that this is a common problem experienced by many, many business organization owners. The Google search results are full of stories from business owners who accept found that their Google Business Profile reviews accept disappeared.

If y'all're asking "Why did my Google My Business reviews disappear?" The nigh common (and wide) answer – Google's spam detection algorithm has flagged some of your reviews, and they accept been removed by Google.

Nosotros're happy to give your online business reviews an in-depth evaluation to discover why your reviews are disappearing.

Reasons a Google Business concern Profile Review may have Disappeared

While Google doesn't outline every attribute of their spam detection algorithm, they do provide specific Google review content guidelines. If a Google review has been deleted from your business page, inquire yourself the following questions to help narrow down the reason your Google Business Profile review went missing. Google will remove reviews that violate their review content guidelines.

i. Was at that place a URL in the review?

If there is a URL in the review, information technology'due south likely spam and will trigger the review for removal. We're a web design company, and so some clients desire to testify off the crawly site nosotros've built – nosotros make a point to ask them non to include the URL, so it doesn't accidentally go flagged for removal. Instead, we enquire for an additional review write-up that nosotros can add to our website.

ii. Was there a phone number in the review?

A phone number in the review is a big trigger for possible spam. At that place's no need to have a phone number in a review.

iii. Do you have reviews in other places online?

If you lot have tons of reviews on Google My Business, but none on Yelp, Facebook, etc., this could be a cause for the deleted reviews. But, it's not natural and spontaneous if every single customer who reviews yous leaves the review on Google My Business. This is a good indicator of spam – or maybe your over-coach your customers virtually how to leave a review for your business organization. Instead, mix it up – ask for a review of your concern on Facebook half of the fourth dimension.

4 . Did the review appear elsewhere on the net?

If the same review appears on Facebook, Yelp, or on a "testimonials" folio on your website, the duplicate review on your Google My Concern page could be removed. Isn't it great when your customers love you SO much that they want to tell everyone how cracking you are?!?! This is the downside – unless the customer writes unique reviews on each review website, you lot may risk multiple reviews being removed, not but on Google Business Contour.

5 . Is the reviewer a managing director of your Google My Business organization account or Google+ page?

If a review is written past a director of the business'due south Google accounts, this could exist seen equally a conflict of interest by Google. Generally, the person managing your Google My Business concern account is not a customer. They are likely an employee or a service provider. Reviews should exist left by customers.

6. Is the reviewer your employee?

When an employee reviews their employer on Google Business Profile, this can be seen every bit a disharmonize of involvement – even if the employee has purchased your products or services. This exercise is frowned upon because many employers will crave that employees leave positive reviews or offer incentives for employees to leave reviews.

seven. Was the review written from your physical business location?

What'south of import here is the IP address (used to identify the physical location of your computer). If the review was written from an IP accost used to manage your Google My Business account, the spam filter could have been triggered.

8. Was the review written from the aforementioned IP address as other reviews?

Similar to the previous point, if many reviews are coming from the same IP address exterior of your business, the spam filers might be triggered. If this is happening, the reviews are most likely spam or fake. There's no chance your business received 19 legitimate reviews from the same concrete location.

9. Is there a "review station" gear up up at your business?

Remember what we talked about above – if all the reviews are coming from the IP address, they'll trigger the spam detector. Information technology'south a amend plan to give your customers a brusk review URL that'south easy to remember and allow them leave a review from their own cell phone.

x. Was your review written from a location that is As well far away from your business location?

If your business organization sells products locally, but you lot also ship products beyond the land or across the world, y'all demand to set up upward your Google Business concern Contour account to recognize this fact. From within your Google My Business business relationship, you need to tell Google where you transport products. Go into the "I deliver goods and services to my customers at their location" department and brand sure to setup the states and/or countries where yous volition ships products.. This will end reviews from across the country (or earth) from existence flagged past Google.

xi. Were in that location multiple attempts to post the same review?

If a review was flagged and deleted by Google, and so the client adds the same review again – it will be removed again.

12. Did your business recently receive a large number of reviews?

If your Google Business Contour page receives a rapid influx of a large number of reviews in a short time span, the spam detectors may exist triggered. If you've read our web log mail most getting more Google reviews, make sure to only ask a fraction of your customers at a time for a review. If y'all accept a back-log of 500 customers to reach out to, and your Google My Business folio gets hammered with 50 new reviews overnight, you'll sound some alarms.

thirteen. Do many of your reviews originate from the same online location?

If y'all have a "Exit usa a Review" page on your website, and you send all your customers to that page before they go out a review on your Google My Business page, your reviews may non exist spontaneous enough. Google likes reviews that announced naturally "in the wild." It'south likely that Google records the referring URL and sees that all of your reviews are coming from a central hub. A better strategy is to transport your clients an email with your Google review link. This way, their email volition be the referrer.

14. Exercise you lot take multiple business locations?

Practice you have multiple locations and multiple Google My Business pages? Customers are great! They honey your service and products and they want to tell the world nigh you. They dearest you lot so much that they visit the Google Business Profile folio for every location your business has in the metro area, eager to leave their review. Unfortunately, if the reviewer left the same review on multiple business locations, the duplicates (or all) will likely be removed.

15. Do you have an abnormally large amount of reviews on your Google Business organisation Contour folio?

If your business concern has way more than reviews than other businesses in your industry and city/area, this could be crusade for concern. If your business is in rural a town of 1000 people (just a simple example), but you take 4000 business reviews, don't exist shocked when many of them get removed. I'm sure you lot brand amazing sandwiches, but why does the pizza joint only have viii Google Business organization Contour reviews?

16. Did the reviewer simply remove their review from your Google Business Profile page?

A reviewer has the ability to remove their reviews at a later date. This i is pretty directly forrard, and is ane of the most common determinations I come to when monitoring Google My Business reviews for clients (sign up for our newsletter to get more tips about getting great online customer reviews and receive a copy of our Google Review Backup template)

17. Does the reviewer have a completely bare Google business relationship?

False profiles commonly practise non contain a name, photo, or other information. Existent accounts are never completely bare. When a concern gets tons of reviews from empty accounts, this is a trigger that the reviews were created past bots and are fake or paid.

xviii. Did the reviewer delete their Google account?

A user must have a Google account to leave a Google Business organization Profile review. When a Google account is deleted, the associated reviews are deleted as well. As with a user deleting their review, a user deleting their Google account is 1 of the most common conclusions we come up to when monitoring Google reviews for clients.

19. Have you been active on Google My Concern lately?

If you take not been active on Google Business Contour in a 6-month span, it'southward possible that your business has been unverified. Make certain to pay attending to your Google My Business page on a regular ground. Information technology doesn't take a lot to stay agile on Google Business organisation Contour. If nil else, install the Google Business concern Profile app (Android, iPhone) and reply to reviews and thank people when they leave a review of your business.

20. Do all of your reviews await and sound the same?

If all of your reviews are written from accounts with profile images, and all reviews use perfect grammar, perfect capitalization, and all mention your business past name – there's a very skillful chance the spam alarms are going to go off. This is a problem I see often – and was the trouble for the client I mentioned at the beginning of this post. Some business owners are TOO good at coaching their customers on leaving a review for their business – This is what happened with my client. Ask for a Google review, just don't over-coach your customers how to leave a review and never offer a pre-made review or a pre-fabricated template for them to copy.

21. Was the review written in third person?

A reviewer is only immune to review their own experience with your business. Reviews are not allowed to retell the experience of a friend, family unit member, or a story they read elsewhere. Just first-person accounts are immune in reviews. The reviewer cannot leave a review on behalf of some other person.

22. Was the review "make clean?"

Profanity, hate speech, offensive language and personal attacks are non allowed in reviews. This type of content volition definitely trigger the filters and the review will be removed. If there are reviews on your Google My Business folio that contains any of this type of language, yous should request to accept the Google review removed ASAP.

23. Are you offering incentives for customers to leave reviews?

Do not offer discounts, coupons or gratis products to entice customers to get out you a review. If Google notices, you may lose all of your reviews. When you offer an incentive, you are more likely to receive a positive review, incorrectly skewing the results. Do not offer incentives for reviews.

24. Are in that location multiple businesses located at the same accost as your business?

Information technology'southward not uncommon that one person may operate multiple businesses from the same address, however, Google sees this as a red flag – especially if you own multiple businesses that are in closely related industries. If your businesses are both real registered businesses, you can try to go assist from Google past scrolling all the way to the bottom of your Google Business concern Profile dashboard and clicking the "Assistance" link. If goose egg else, y'all may want to use a suite number for each business, so they appear every bit divide businesses to Google. NOTE – This may not the best or the correct strategy for your specific business(es).

Is your Google Business concern Contour Review missing considering of a Google Error?

These are situations that can happen but are rare occurrences. If you're missing reviews on your Google My Business concern page, one of the reasons above is much more likely to exist the reason for your missing Google reviews.

UPDATE – July 21st – Google announced that a bug did occur with Google Business concern Profile reviews disappearing from the local business concern profiles due to algorithmic updates with Google Maps aimed at removing false reviews.

"In our ongoing efforts to remove imitation reviews from Maps, we've experienced an increase in reviews being removed from businesses. Nosotros are inspecting our tools and systems to ensure that any legitimate reviews are reinstated."

Now, this doesn't mean these reviews or any reviews deleted in the past will definitely come back, but

25. Your Google Business Profile account may be afflicted past a Google Maps bug

Your Google Business Contour reviews may not exist missing at all! You may simply exist experiencing a problems. Many small business owners have reported experiencing this bug off and on for nearly a decade. To bank check if your Google Business organisation Profile folio is experiencing this bug – Log into your Google Business Contour account at http://business organization.google.com. Select your business concern location that is having bug (if y'all take multiple locations). Click "Manage Location." Click "Edit" at the acme correct. Click "Google Maps" in the "Published On" department. This will open Google Maps. In the console on the left, click "Suggest an edit." Grab the map marker on the map at the right and jerk it around just a little bit. Click "Submit." If your Google Business Profile folio is experiencing the Google Maps bug, the jerk volition force Google to articulate the cache and "update" your location. Information technology sounds silly, but requite it a shot!

26. Google had a glitch when updating or backing up software

Yes, information technology is possible that even a visitor every bit big as Google can have a glitch. Glitches are possible with every size system, no matter how big or how small.

27. A Google employee accidentally deleted your Google Business Profile review

This one is super-unlikely, but aye, humans still need to be able to manually access systems that are designed to run autonomously. Why would an employee access your Google Business Profile page manually? I don't know. It's probably unlikely a Google employee would ever need to access your specific Google Business Profile folio. Tin you think of any reason? No? That'south why this scenario is very unlikely.

The "Google Deleted My Reviews" Conspiracy Theories

I want to say upfront – I do not subscribe to a unmarried one of these conspiracy theories. Simply, I get a ton of emails from people claiming to take "proof" Google intentionally targets specific pocket-sized businesses and deletes their 5-star reviews. Of course, non a single one of these conspiracy theorists have really shared the proof with me, nor provided a pace-past-footstep tutorial most how they collected their "proof."

Conspiracy Theories:

• Google deletes reviews of businesses who do not use Google Ads to promote their business organization in Google search. The theory is that Google hopes these businesses will showtime paying to use Google Ads
• Google deletes reviews of the contest of businesses who practice employ Google Ads to promote their concern. Equally to a higher place, the theory is that Google wants to strength a small business to use Google Ads
• Google deletes reviews of businesses who are in direct competition with an surface area of their business
• Google deletes reviews of businesses who are in contest with their own business partners

Once more, I do non believe any of these theories, and not a unmarried person has provided "proof" to support a fraction of these theories.

If you've come to one of these conclusions, it may be time to accept a step back and rent someone to run the digital marketing aspects of your concern. Trust me, you lot'll be much happier running the day-to-day operations of your business and letting someone else take care of your brand's online reputation – and your business will be better for it.

Helpful and Trustworthy Reviews

Google aims to provide "recommendations that are helpful and trustworthy." Google'south spam algorithm helps to ensure they can provide the all-time information possible. Unfortunately, sometimes real and honest reviews get swept up and disappear – and other times, it seems similar it's nearly impossible to get Google to remove a imitation or spam review.

Tin can I become the Missing Google My Concern Reviews Back?

Unfortunately, once Google has removed a review from your Google Business organization Profile folio, information technology is gone for good. There is no getting it dorsum. Instead of worrying about getting missing reviews back, focus on getting new 5 star reviews! That'south fourth dimension ameliorate spent.

Before you surrender, notwithstanding, check out tip #25 above to bank check if your Google My Business page is experiencing a problems.

Make a Fill-in of Your Google Business Contour Reviews

Brand it part of your regular business process and start bankroll up your reviews, then you can clarify the reviews and to find the reason a review is removed in the future. When you become that notification email of a new Google Business Contour review, copy the review and the details. When you notice a drop in your number of reviews, take a look through your reviews to figure out which one(s) was deleted.

Sign up for our electronic mail series most online business reviews, and we'll give you a re-create of our Google My Business organisation review backup template – along with many more than great tips for getting great online reviews from your customers.

The Takeaway

You shouldn't worry too much if few of your Google Business Profile reviews disappear. Focus on running your concern and providing great service and products, then ask happy customers to leave a review of your business organisation. It's skilful practise to backup and monitor your reviews, and so perform an audit when reviews go missing, just don't lose whatever slumber over information technology. Just go out there and get some other keen review to replace the ane that disappeared. It should be pretty unproblematic – you're great at what you do! Proceed doing it. Let the trivial stuff take care of itself.

If y'all really tin can't let it go – or it'southward actually bad – we can audit your business profiles to observe why your reviews are disappearing .

Accept you lost reviews on your Google Business concern Profile page?

Tell the states about your feel in the comments section beneath.

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Source: https://www.searchcentered.com/missing-google-reviews/

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