One of the questions I get asked the most is how to remove bad reviews from Google. Google has quietly updated the process for flagging reviews. The new process entails logging into your GMB dashboard.
Step 1. Log into you GMB dashboard.
Step 2. Click on the blue building icon for the location with the negative review.
Step 3. Click on reviews
Step 4. Click on the three dots
STep 5. Click on flag as inappropriate.
Step 6. Wait 3 days for Google to decide if they will remove the review.
This is what a user will see when they flag a review:
Due to high demand, expect delays in our processing of your flag/request. Please don’t flag the same review twice. Only reviews that violate Google’s content policy can be reported.
Reviews that are negative or that you disagree with, but adhere to the content policy, won’t be removed.
Sadly not all flag reviews will be removed. Google is still focusing on the review as a whole and looking to see if any part of it violates the TOS. There are plenty of reviews that Google does not catch and remove. For that, you need to pursue other options. In order to get help from GMB support, you need to be a manager or owner of the GMB listing. Please do not delete the listing thinking that the review will be removed because the listing no longer exists. The listing will still remain live in Google but will show that it is unclaimed. Google will not assist with unclaimed listings.
Users can go to the Google My business forum and ask for help. Each user needs to create their own thread to ask for help. The Top Contributors can only escalate one issue per thread and can not escalate 2 different businesses even if they have similar issues. In order to request help you need to supply the following:
Business name
Address
Phone
Website URL
Map Link
In order to get the map link, you need to click on the map image in the KP or Knowledge Panel. The Google Maps listing will open up and then click on the share icon. You can then copy the Google Maps shortcode: https://goo.gl/maps/7188ghay.
You will need to provide as much details as possible and links to the reviews or photos in question. The GMB forum gets easily overloaded with users requesting help and a limited number of users to help out. Please remain patient and somebody will assist you. If you have not heard anything in a few days, you may contact support on Twitter: https://twitter.com/googleMyBiz or Facebook https://www.facebook.com/GoogleMyBusiness/.
Not every flagged or reported review can be removed. If you feel that you have a real case to get your Google reviews removed, please contact me for assistance.
Comments
I have tremendous success contacted Google My Business on Twitter via DM. I make my case and about 75% of the time they remove the fake reviews and pictures. It’s ironic that it takes Twitter to have a conversation with them.