Reviews can have a huge impact on a local businesses and many business owners put in a lot of time and effort to generate new ones, especially on Google. If you’re a business owner, you might have noticed that some reviews on your Google Business Profile disappear or don't show up, even when you know a customer left a review. This can be incredibly frustrating, but it's important to understand that it's not uncommon and is something that all business owners face.
To help make sure review content about a business is relevant, helpful, and trusted by searchers, Google uses automated tools to look at review content for policy violations. It’s not a perfect system, and it will sometimes make mistakes and remove reviews that don’t seem to clearly violate a policy.
In speaking with Google Support directly about reviews that have been removed (also reference this Google support article) Google reported that because it is an automated system reviewing the content, they are not able to step in and correct any errors or recover a review that’s been removed. So unfortunately, if a review is removed by Google’s content review system, it’s gone for good.
Occasionally, there are true technical glitches or delays with Google reviews showing on a Google Business Profile. For instance, a review may not show up immediately due to a delay in Google's system as the content is reviewed on their end. These are typically widespread across Google and resolved over time.
One situation where Google does say they could step in to recover reviews is if the reviews disappeared after a listing was suspended and then reinstated. Google says those reviews can sometimes be recovered if you reach out to Google Support. Note that Google specifically says “sometimes”, not “always”.
It can be tough not to fixate on losing reviews that you worked hard to get, but the best mindset to have with your review marketing strategy is that some of the reviews you get just aren’t going to stick.
Although Google reviews can be removed for a variety of reasons, when a review is lost, it isn’t likely to recovered. Your time is better spent focusing on getting your next new review.
Brush off the loss, keep providing excellent customer service, and have a strategy in place to ask for new reviews from your customers. By doing so, you can continue to build a strong reputation for your business, attract new customers who trust your brand, and encourage them to leave a review of their own.
Final thoughts
Google reviews can go missing at any time for a variety of reasons and it’s almost always not something that can be undone or even avoided.
It can be tough to move on, but with a solid review marketing strategy, it’s possible to generate such a consistent stream of new reviews that you won’t even notice if a few go missing every once in a while.
If your current review marketing strategy isn’t giving you the results you need, or you’re not sure how to start putting a strategy in place, click here to request a demo with one of our digital marketing experts!
Zac Herr, Senior Product Manager
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