The four reasons it happens
Reviews go missing for a handful of reasons, and they need different responses. Work out which one you're dealing with before you do anything.
- The spam filter caught them. Google runs automated checks on every review. Reviews from new accounts, reviews posted in bursts, and reviews left from the same wifi as the business are the usual casualties. Genuine reviews get caught alongside fake ones.
- They broke the content policy. Reviews with links, phone numbers, off-topic rants or conflicts of interest get removed and don't come back.
- The reviewer deleted them. Or deleted their whole Google account, which takes every review they ever left with it.
- A display glitch. Every so often the review count and the visible reviews stop matching for a few days, then sort themselves out.
How to tell which one it is
- If a big batch vanished on the same day, across many businesses in your area, it's usually a filter sweep or a glitch.
- If one or two specific reviews went, check whether they had a link, a phone number or anything personal in them. That points to a policy removal.
- If the reviews all came from people you asked in person, at your premises, on your own wifi, that's a classic filter pattern.
- Ask a customer whose review vanished to check if they can still see it on their own account. If they can and nobody else can, it's been filtered.
What you can do about it
Not much directly, honestly. Google doesn't restore filtered reviews on request, and arguing with support rarely changes it. What you can do is stop feeding the filter.
- Stop asking customers to leave a review while they're standing in your shop or using your wifi. Send the link by text after they've gone.
- Spread requests out. Ask every customer as you finish each job, not twenty people on one afternoon.
- Never offer anything in exchange for a review. Incentivised reviews break Google's policy and Australian consumer law.
- Use your direct review link so people land straight on the star box from their own phone.
When to contact Google
If a large share of your reviews disappeared and they haven't come back after a week or two, it's worth raising with Business Profile support. Give them dates and the reviewer names you know of. Go in expecting an explanation, not a restore.
The fix that lasts
A steady stream of new reviews is the only real protection. A profile that gets two or three genuine reviews a week barely notices when a few get filtered. A profile with twelve reviews from 2023 feels every single one. Set up a system that asks every customer, at the right time, and the disappearing ones stop mattering.
Don't want to chase reviews yourself? Our review management asks every customer at the right moment, with your direct link, and replies to what comes in.