Reviews are important! They bring in new customers, and most studies reveal that 78% of people trust online reviews as much as a recommendation from a friend or family member. Given this, you want to be sure that your reviews stay up and are read as much as possible. Some businesses have had problems with Google deleting their reviews. If you’re having this problem, here are a few steps you can take to help resolve it.
Why Is It Happening?
It can be very frustrating to find that Google is deleting reviews without explanation, and Google has refused to be very clear about why this occurs. Usually their response is that the review violated their policies in some way.
(You can look at Google’s prohibited and restricted content here.) If you think that Google is deleting your reviews, you can also let your customers be aware of the following concerns:
- Reviewers must use a valid email address that has not been restricted by Google.
- Reviewers must use their own network connection, not your business’s Wi-Fi. (This can make it appear that reviews are coming from your business, not from independent customers.)
- If too many reviews come from the same IP address, that can be another red flag that the reviews aren’t genuine, and they’re likely to be removed.
- While we all hope it won’t be an issue, the use of offensive language can cause reviews to be deleted. If you think this has happened, remind customers that you are unable to respond to reviews that get deleted before you see them, and any concerns they’re raising won’t get resolved.
- A review containing a commercial bias or posted multiple times may be flagged as spam and removed.
- Reviews that don’t seem relevant to your business may be deleted.
- If a review promotes illegal products – another form spam can take – it will likely be removed.
What Else Can You Do?
The review link you’re sharing with your customers may be broken. Double-check the link on your Google Business Profiles/Google My Business page to make sure it’s working properly.
Google occasionally deletes reviews by accident. Deleted reviews can be very difficult – sometimes impossible – to retrieve. If you think legitimate reviews have been deleted, you can contact Google’s support team to see if they’re able to help. This may take awhile, so if you’re aware of a review’s removal, you can ask the reviewer to repost it.
It can be hard to avoid the occasional deleted review. The best way to manage the problem is to collect more! Frequent new reviews help outweigh losses. Additionally, most people feel that reviews older than three months aren’t really relevant, so it’s always a good idea to keep them coming in.
If you have negative reviews, don’t ignore them. Responding to them shows potential customers that you care about their experience and will try to make them happy because they’re valuable. Learn more about responding to negative reviews here.
At Pegasus Online, our system for requesting reviews helps you encourage your customers to write more. We’re also happy to help you resolve issues you may be having with Google’s deletion of legitimate reviews. Get in touch with us to schedule a free online reviews demo!
