If you run a business, your reviews matter. Believe it or not, 84 percent of people trust online reviews as much as they trust their friends.
This means that just one bad review could have painful effects on your business. And several bad reviews can do some serious damage. If you're a customer who wants to retract a bad review, or a business owner who has been plagued with fake negative reviews, you might feel helpless and frustrated.
Luckily for you, we're here to help.
In this article, we'll show you how to remove bad Google reviews and how to delete reviews GMB (Google My Business) that you no longer want to have out there on the internet.
Of course, the best way to fight bad reviews is with more good reviews. But this isn't always possible. Especially when those bad reviews are actually coming from bots and spam.
So keep on reading and we'll walk you through everything that you'll want to know!
If you're running a business today, then you need to make use of Google Reviews. When you garner positive reviews on Google, you are able to increase brand trust. Consumers are always looking for transparency and, as we stated earlier, they put a lot of trust in online reviews.
Google reviews will also boost local SEO and expand online exposure. Google's algorithm is driven by successful marketing tactics, so the more positive reviews you have, the higher you'll rank.
Good Google reviews also improve click-through rates. This is going to lead to more conversions, more sales, and hopefully, more positive Google reviews.
They will also help you gain pertinent customer intelligence and a successful feedback loop. Every Google review is going to tell you what you're doing right and what you're doing wrong. This is a great way to learn how to improve your business and give your customers what they expect.
To put it simply, it is possible for a business to delete a Google Review from their Google Business Profile. There may be instances when reviews are considered to be libelous or false. When this is the case, you need to know how to remove bad reviews from Google local.
While the process for disputing a Google review isn't always easy, it's certainly possible. Unfortunately, it isn't as simple as going to your business account and deleting the review from Google yourself.
You can reach out to Google to report the review, but there's no guarantee that they'll delete the Google review or even respond to your complaint. With that said, it's still worth a try.
There are ten kinds of reviews that are not allowed and restricted by Google's review policy. Google will either automatically delete these reviews or get rid of them when they get flagged.
The restrictions are:
When posts like these occur, you want them to be taken down immediately. So let's go over how to remove bad reviews from Google local.
94% of consumers will avoid a particular business due to negative reviews, so you definitely can't let your bad reviews just sit there. Sadly, there isn't just a big "remove" button where you can simply get rid of a review.
If you're a business owner who's gotten a negative review, there are different methods that you can utilize to get that review deleted.
If the review is from a legitimate customer who is upset, then you should consider responding to the reviewer. This is because Google users can remove their own reviews.
If you say the right thing, this person may decide to simply take down the review on their own. At the very least, other customers will be able to see your response and get more context for the negative review.
When you're responding to a negative review, you always want to respond professionally and kindly. Don't get defensive and don't get personal.
Remember, you're not sending a private message. You're responding to the reviewer but also sending a message to anyone else who comes across the review too.
If necessary, apologize and offer to make things right. Keep your response succinct and to the point. Don't be afraid to take the conversation to a private channel, like email or text.
When you make things right, you may be able to convince the reviewer to take down their negative comments. If you're able to make things right and provide the reviewer with a positive experience, you should be able to improve your rating.
If you think that a review that you received promotes a competitor, is an inappropriate review, or is fake, you can flag it so that it will be reviewed by Google for deletion. Only reviews that violate the policies listed above are going to be removed.
In order to flag a review, you first need to log into Google My Business. Then, select a location if you have more than one. In the menu, choose "Reviews."
Finally, find the fake review and click the three-dot menu. You can then choose “Flag as inappropriate.”
It might take a few days for a representative from Google to review the request and decide if they'll remove the review. If possible, you should ask other people to also flag the review. This can help bring more attention to the review and encourage Google to make a faster decision.
If responding to a negative review or flagging a spam review didn't work, then your next course of action should be to contact Google Small Business Support.
In order to contact this service, you first need to go to support.google.com/business. Scroll down and choose “contact us.”
Select “customer reviews and photos,” and then select “manage customer reviews.” You can then opt to receive help via email, web chat, or phone.
When you go this route, you can expect to receive support within one day. If you choose to contact Google via chat or email, it's helpful to have a screenshot of the review to streamline the process.
Twitter is another effective way to contact Google. If you send a tweet to the Google My Business team (@GoogleMyBiz) from your business's Twitter account, there's a good chance that someone from Google will reply to you.
You can also check out the Google community support forum to find answers to any questions that you might have.
After someone from the Google support team reaches out to you, it's up to you to explain to them why you believe the review should be deleted. Get ready to talk to them about why you think the review is false or violates their policy.
In some instances, the support team member might tell you that they'll send the review to a specialist who will make a decision about what to do. You'll then have to wait again for a phone call or email confirmation from a support team member. Hopefully, you'll be contacted with good news.
In order to delete a bad review from Google Local, you first need to sign in to your Google account. Open Google Maps and search for your company. Choose to view your company reviews and select All Reviews.
When you see the review that you want to delete, click the reviewer name, then click the three dots in the top right corner. Choose “Flag as inappropriate" and then fill out the form “Report a Policy Violation.”
Finally, click submit. Google will then help you through the process of deleting the review.
In order to downplay a negative review, there are a few different strategies that you can utilize.
First, try to calmly clarify the situation in your response to the bad review. Do your best to correct the situation and then politely ask the reviewer (offline) if they're willing to update their review so that it reflects the new positive outcome.
You should also promote and request more positive customer reviews. This can have the effect of pushing your negative reviews down to the bottom of the search results.
With any business, you can't expect to get only five-star reviews. There are always going to be customers who aren't completely satisfied or who found something to gripe about.
These kinds of reviews don't necessarily need to be deleted but that doesn't mean you need to give them a lot of weight when people are considering patronizing your business.
There's a good chance that you might have left a bad review for a business that you now regret. Perhaps you're realizing that you were being too harsh on the company, maybe it was due to a misunderstanding, or maybe they corrected the situation and made amends.
No matter what, it's useful to know how to delete your Google review that you no longer want on the web. You can start the process by going to the webpage where you wrote the review.
In the top left corner, you'll notice the menu icon that is represented by three lines. Click that icon.
Click on “Your Contributions” and then choose "Reviews." Click on the “More” icon (the three dots that are stacked over each other).
You can then pick to either delete or edit the review.
As we can see, it is much easier for a customer to delete their own review than for a business to try to do it. This is why it's so important to respond to negative reviews and try to convince the customer to alter or remove the review.
Hopefully, after reading the above article, you now understand how to remove fake Google reviews, as well as how to delete Google reviews in general. As we can see, Google reviews play an important role in the success of a company.
By knowing how to garner positive reviews while getting rid of negative ones, you'll be able to establish higher levels of trust and transparency with your customers. This should lead to higher sales and better customer experiences overall.
You shouldn't simply write off negative reviews as irrelevant, either. It's important to learn from negative reviews and try to see things from the customer's perspective. While many negative reviews might be more personal than related to your actual business, you should still give them the consideration they warrant.
Are you interested in providing a better experience to your customers and receiving substantial customer feedback? Contact us today and see how we can help you!
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