Sometimes a review may be inappropriate, or you may disagree with it. You can ask Google to remove or delete an inappropriate review from your Business Profile and in certain circumstances, Google can remove reviews that violate Google’s policies. You can read Google’s content policies here.
Which reviews can be reported for removal?
- You can only report reviews that violate Google policies.
- You should not report a review just because you disagree with it or don’t like it.
- Google doesn’t get involved when businesses and customers disagree about facts.
- Google states that “There’s no reliable way to tell who’s right about a particular customer experience”.
- You can read Google’s content policies here, but in general, Google will remove reviews that include Deceptive content & behavior, such as:
- Fake engagement
- Impersonation
- Misinformation
- Misrepresentation
- Google will also remove reviews that contain Inappropriate content & behavior, such as:
- Harassment
- Hate speech
- Offensive content
- Personal information
- Obscenity & profanity
- Sexually explicit content
- Adult-themed content
- Violence & gore
- Restricted content
- Dangerous content
- Illegal content
- Child safety
- Terrorist content
- Off-topic
- Advertising & solicitation
- Gibberish & repetitive content
- Defacement & mischief
How to ask for review removal
To report an inappropriate review
- Go to the Reviews Management Tool.
- Check that the email address shown is the one you use to manage your Business Profile.
- Tip: If you use another email address, click Switch account.
- Click Confirm.
- Select your business
Report a new review for removal.
- For each review that you want to flag, click Report.
- In the new tab, select a category for the review.
- Click Submit.
How to Check the status of a flagged review
- Go to the Reviews Management Tool.
- Check that the email address shown is the one you use to manage your Business Profile.
- Tip: If you use another email address, click Switch account.
- Click Confirm.
- Select your business
- Possible statuses are:
- Decision pending: The review is flagged but it hasn’t been checked yet.
- Report reviewed – no policy violation: The review was checked and no policy violation was found.
- Tip: You can appeal this decision once. Learn how to submit a one-time appeal of a review below.
- Escalated – check your email for updates: An appeal has been escalated and the final decision will be sent to your email.
If you have further questions or need help, feel free to reach out to us at info@practicecompliancesolutions.com.
