Thank you to Michel van Luijtelaar for messaging me on LinkedIn with a link to his study titled “How and why Google is deleting Reviews.” Google has attempted to police online reviews over the years. Google says it took down 45% more fake reviews in 2023 thanks to new algorithm. Last year, a few lawyers lost the ability to receive new reviews for several months.
Michel’s case study is based on nearly five million reviews across 19,000 Google Business Profiles (GBP). According to his data, Google got aggressive and removed over 8,000 reviews in September 2024. In December, Google removed over 12,000 reviews. Wednesdays and Fridays saw the most reviews being removed. 69.5% of the removed reviews were 5-star ratings. 73.7% of the removed reviews didn’t have a reply from the business. Reviews mentioning staff and services were the most removed reviews. The food and beverage industry saw the most reviews removed.
This is some great data. I have always stressed the importance of replying to reviews. Businesses like to be reviewed and reviewers like to be thanked. If replying to reviews can help keep reviews from being removed, then this is a no-brainer. Reviews are when your customers give you crucial feedback. They tell you the areas in which you excel and need to improve.
Please take some time to read the full study. I only highlighted some of it.
