I can feel your pain. I have dealt with many clients who call up in a panic because a competitor has left a bad review on their Google+ page. Unfortunately, there is no way to stop someone from leaving a bad review, but does this mean you should grit your teeth and get on with it?
Reviews are incredibly important in local SEO and fake reviews can have a hugely negative impact on your business. However, they can be removed from a Google+ page, but only if it is completely irrelevant or if it does not comply with Google’s review guidelines. A client once had a bad review on their Google+ page from one of its competitors that simply said ‘Dog’. As it was a pawly written review (I had to, I’m sorry) it was fairly easy to convince Google to remove it.
So there are two simple ways to remove a negative, irrelevant review:
Solution #1: Flag It
When you hover over a review, a little grey flag icon will appear which you click to report it to Google. Someone from Google will then review it and contact you back regarding the final outcome. Even if the fake review is worded as a genuine customer, I have seen reviews removed by Google once flagged so it is always worth trying.
Solution #2: Contact Google My Business Support
The other solution is to get directly in touch with the GMB Support team. There are several ways to get in touch, but a direct message on Twitter appears to be the most effective. You can find the GMB Twitter account here. You can usually find other ways to get in touch with them at the bottom of this link. This is pretty much the same as solution 1 but I have found that direct contact can sometimes work quicker.
It’s Not Over Yet
If you have received a negative review by a competitor who is pretending to be a customer, you may not be able to get it removed, but you can still do something about it. Google allows you to respond to reviews, so this is your chance to make it obvious to viewers that the review is fake.
I tend to tell my clients to respond with something along the lines of this:
“Dear Customer, I am sorry to hear that you are not satisfied with our service. I have checked our accounts and it appears that we don’t have your name listed as a previous customer, but I would be more than happy to deal with your problem if you could call us on …”
This is not a great example but you get the idea. It allows you to remain professional and apologise for the non-existent bad service but to also state that you can’t recall them being a customer, implying that it could be fake.
Reviews Increase Click-Through Rates by 28%
Getting a fake review as your first ever review on Google+ can be very frustrating. But it’s not as bad if the fake review has been added to a page that already has a handful of good reviews. It will still bring the average review score down, but at least it won’t show as a 1 star. We recommend our clients to get at least 3 positive reviews a month on the Google+ page. This will help them gradually build a nice portfolio of reviews that will eventually range back several months/years. If you are needing help with getting more reviews, have a think about implementing a review strategy or check out this guide on how to get more reviews on Google.
I check reviews of products and services more and more now, and out of the huge mass of great reviews a single product can receive, there will always be that one fussy person who is never satisfied with anything. How I see it is if you have 20 great reviews from that last 2 months and just one bad review somewhere in the middle, it makes the bad review look a little less believable.
I honestly hope this guide helps you recover from the dark side of fake negative reviews. If you can’t get the review removed, check out our post on how to overcome negative reviews on Google for more information. If you have a problem that is not answered in this blog post, feel free to get in touch and I will do everything I can to help you out.
Now you’ve mastered how to generate a remove fake reviews on Google, check out our blog and find out how you can gain some valuable SEO tips to improve your SEO in just 30 days!
40 Responses
Hi, thanks for a great article. How could I contact you about SEO pricing?
Hey Riaan, you can fill out the contact form or give us a shout at [email protected].
Hi Ryan,
Thank you for your help and advice the google review policy is very damaging to business and we have been subjected to reviews left for an opposition company who are desperate to put us out of business . They have been at us for 3 years and now with google opening another way for them to leave fake reviews the issue is at boiling point . I think you should get a job at google as there own people do not care !
Hi we have a false and untrue review on Google which i have flagged but need removed quickly. Please contact me ASAP if you can help
Thanks
Mark
You people talk of negative reviews. I have the opposite problem. My name was used to give a terrible company a glowing report and I just found out two years later.. How do I remove it?
Hey,
I’ll send you an email now.
Hi there
Please could you help me move a review and star rating from an ex member of staff who has tried everything to ruin my business and got her friends to put 1 star rating on my page I don’t know how to go about this this is why I’m asking you for help!
The police was also involved in this matter last year and she had a warning to back off otherwise she would be in trouble from the police for harassment please help me remove these reviews ASAP
Hey Anisa,
I’m sure we can help. I’ll send you an email now.
Hi, my business was attacked by two negative reviews – neither of which are factual. One is of an ex-colleague that was disgruntled that I left his company, the other was a friend that I fell out with after finding out he had slept with my partner. it all turned sour and he outed it all on a Google review. I can understand doing it to companies with hundred or thousand of reviews, but it has really had a knock-on-effect on my business.
I need help fast because the company down the road is stealing all of my custom and running me dry because of it.
Hey Ryan,
I’ll ping you an email now and see if we can help.
Hi
Can you please send me your email address I am having similar issues we have clients that owe us money when I stopped serving their account they are now leaving g bad reviews we work very hard and these reviews can really damage our reputation
Sure, I’ll send you guys an email now.
i am having a really bad problem and it is affecting my business please could you help Ryan i will be waiting for your email i hope you can help
Thankyou
Hey Mohammed,
No problem. I’ll be in touch shortly.
We are desperate to have some fake negative reviews removed from Google it’s a competitor that has done this several times but Google have said that because the review is within Google’s review guidelines they will not remove it, they even said that the person leaving the review doesn’t have to leave their actual name so it doesn’t even matter if the name left on the review is fake! We’ve lost a lot of business because of this any ideas??
I have a fake negative review on my account which i have flagged numerous times and even spoke to GMB admin for help. thankfully one of the fake reviews was removed but one remains.
google state that they wont remove it as it doesn’t break any policy rules yet the first policy rule is “Don’t spam or post fake reviews intended to boost or lower ratings”
when you look at the profile of the person who has left the review there is no further activity i.e.likes, reviews posts etc.
Google have created an open platform that you can write anything you like about anyone you like on google without actively monitoring, this is wrong.even when you contact GMB they are reluctant to help. it is so frustrating. i am actively asking new customers to leave reviews on google rather than my Facebook page or yell page but it is slow going.
any further advice or assistance would be gratefully appreciated
Hey Steve,
Unfortunately, this is a common issue. There is no way for Google to verify that it is a fake account. I agree that Google should look into things such as account usage/activity and when the account was created to grade the trust of a review. I can also see that you have added a reply to the review which is great. The best thing you can do is get even more good reviews to push the bad one down. If there is anything you need help with, just give us a shout.
Best Regards
My company name is Monsieur l’électricien I have a fake review on my website Who is called Escabar I have never served this person you have already removed Roger Nelson who was a fake review I suspect this man is the same one he is called Escabar please help
Hey Johnny,
I’ll send you an email shortly.
We are a rehabilitation center for treating people living with the problem of drug/alcohol abuse. One of our customer who took away his patient at an early stage of the treatment is now posting scathing reviews on our business listing. We want to completely remove all our business listing on Google. Kindly help.
Hey Neelabh,
Unfortunately, there is no way to get your business listing removed from Google. The only thing I can suggest is that you reply to the review.
Sorry we could not be of any more help.
Hi Ryan,
I could do with your help, someone has left a review on a company I have fallen out with and they now think it is me, I need the comment removed.
Please can you help me.
Thank you
Hey Nicky,
I’m sure we can help. I’ll fire you an email now.
Hi, please help. I had a negative and false review made about myself and was it defamation to my character, this person has made multiple negative and false accusations about many other businesses and people, all of which are negative rude and accuses many of illegal activities such as theft, fraud, dangerous and unroad worthy vehicles, etc. Since being told I have visited many of the other people and businesses who have listed by him and made them aware, most have complained and got head offices involved & police have also been reported to about this by several.. How do i(we) get google to remove this man from the scheme which rewards him from this inappropriate behaviour & information removed if the flagged item is still there.
Hey Mandy,
I’ll send you an email shortly to see if we can help.
Hey Ryan, I am too having a problem with a fake negative review. I read that I could get a subpoena to find out who left the review. Do you have more info on pursuing this? Or is going to be costly and a waste of time? Thanks for your help on this.
I’ll send you an email now Mike.
hi Ryan. a friend of mine has had a bad review. but its not about the service. they have put the information of the direct supplier on that people could go to get it cheaper. how can she get this removed . regards andy
Hey Andy,
I’ll ping you an email now.
Hi, I left a review for a motor company who tried to sell me a very bad van which in no doubt would have broken down within weeks, they have found my business details and left me reviews which I haven’t provided a service to, they have gone to the extent of saying I smelt like alcohol and they wouldn’t have me around kids… (I am a party hire company for kids)
They all came in within the same day of me leaving this review and all within 30 minutes of one another. I have never dealt with men in my business, its always mums and I believe these men work for this car dealership.
Ive contacted google and I dont know if they will do anything but its so damaging having people do this sort of thing out of spite.
Hey Emma,
Thanks for getting in touch. I’m sorry to hear that you have been a victim of fake reviews. I’ll ping you an email now.
Hi Ryan,
I received a fake review from my old work which violates Google guidelines as it is a personal attack – the original review had very personal information which was then edited. These reviews are read by patients of mine and I fear that it will affect my reputation.. I have flagged this and contacted Google and still have not received a response (it’s been a month now). I would really like this review removed, if you could help that would be greatly appreciated,
Hey Tracey,
I’ll send you an email now to see if we can help.
Please send an email, as I have had several bad reviews & personal attacks regarding my work & whom I’m, we know it’s from the same person but she has created 5 Anonymous accounts to write it undrr
Hey,
I’ll send you an email now and see if we can help!
Hi Ryan
We need your help on similar problem we are currently facing.
Regards
Hey,
No problem at all. I’ll fire you an email now.
Ryan –
I need your help! Please let me know best way to contact you. Thank you!
Hey Emy,
I’ll fire you an email now.