That review isn't from a customer. Let's get it off.
Ex-employee having a crack. A competitor on a burner account. Someone who's never set foot in your place. Google does take those down, but only if you file it under the rule it breaks and put the proof in front of them.
Don't hit report on it before you talk to me. You get one appeal per review and most people burn it in the first ten seconds.
Some come down. Some don't. You'll know which in a day.
Google pulls reviews that break a policy. It doesn't pull reviews for being harsh. So before anyone takes your money, the review gets read against the actual rules.
Comes down
- Someone who was never a customer
- A current or former employee
- A competitor, or a mate of one
- Abuse, threats, slurs
- Your staff named with their phone number or address
- Nothing to do with your business at all
- A pile of 1-stars that all landed the same afternoon
- Left on the wrong business
Stays up
- A customer who had a bad run with you
- A 1-star with no words from someone on your invoice list
- A job that went sideways and you both remember it differently
- Anything where your side is "they're exaggerating"
Anyone telling you they'll get that one off is having you on. There's a better move for it, and it's further down this page.
Nothing extra. It's in the main package.
Removal shops charge you per review. Fine if you've got one bad one and you never want to speak to them again. Most businesses don't have that problem once, they have it every few months.
So the check costs nothing, and the filing sits inside the monthly, next to the review requests, the replies and the profile. One review or five, same deal.
Eight ways at it, not one click of the report button.
Hitting report and picking "inappropriate" is why most of these get knocked back. The policy you name and the proof you attach is the whole thing.
- Work out which rule it breaks. Not "it's unfair". The named one.
- Build the proof. Your booking system showing they were never a customer. Their own Google profile showing they've 1-starred every sparkie in the suburb. Payslips, if it's an ex-employee.
- File it under that rule, with the evidence attached.
- The appeal. One per review, ever. Written properly, case number kept.
- Business Profile support, with the case number and the whole pack, so a human reads it.
- The Product Expert forum, where people inside Google's program can push it up the line.
- Report the account, not just the review. On a burner this kills every review they've ever left, in one go. Almost nobody does this.
- Defamation, if it's gone that far. That one's a solicitor's job and we'll say so, and point you at one.
You can't delete a real customer. You can bury the review.
Here's the bit the removal shops skip, because they only get paid when something disappears.
Say you're on 4.2 from 31 reviews with one bad one. Get it pulled and you're on 4.31. Nobody notices. Get 19 new ones in and you're on 4.5, the bad one is buried under nineteen newer ones where nobody scrolls, and your profile looks like a business that's busy instead of one that's been sitting there since 2019.
Sometimes the removal does move the number more, when there's barely any reviews to start with. We'll run both and tell you which one it is for your profile. Then we do both anyway, because the second one works every time and the first one doesn't.
66 to 80 reviews in under a week.
"If your Google reviews aren't moving, I'd be definitely giving Ben a call. Getting in contact with him has made a big difference to our company."Andrew CappelloFins Up Electrical
Questions people send before they book.
How long does it take?
Google looks at a report in a few days. If it gets knocked back, the appeal and the support push add another two or three weeks. Some go in 48 hours. Some take a month.
Can I report it myself?
Yep, and it's free. The problem is the one appeal. Hit report, pick the wrong reason, attach nothing, and you've spent it. If it's still sitting there unreported, leave it alone until someone's read it properly.
What if it's defamatory?
Different track, and it's a solicitor's job. We'll tell you when a review looks like it belongs there and point you at someone. We don't write legal letters.
What if nothing comes down?
Then you've paid nothing for the check, and the review requests are already running, which is the thing that was going to fix the rating anyway.
Can you get rid of a review from someone who really was a customer?
No. Nor can anyone else, and it's against the law for us to try to hide genuine feedback. Bury it instead.
Send me the link to the review.
I'll tell you which rule it breaks, or that it doesn't break one, and what I'd do about it either way. Costs nothing.