Negative reviews have an impact on your Business, even if they are years old and blatantly unjust. Even if one bad review doesn’t completely destroy your company, it may undoubtedly drive customers to your rivals. A string of negative reviews might make almost everyone distrust your business if you don’t have a system in place to manage them.
What can you, therefore, do about it? Is it possible to have negative Google reviews removed?
“Yes, you may erase certain Google reviews,” is the short response.
Naturally, the longer response is a little more subtle and complex than that. The only four methods to erase unfavourable reviews from Google search results are described here.
According to studies, 82% of consumers will wait to use a company until they’ve read the reviews. And given that 64% of consumers choose Google over other review sites, it follows that just one negative review might influence your decision to eat at a certain restaurant.
Every business wants to hear good things from its consumers, but the reality is that unhappy clients are more likely to leave an online review. Your customer support personnel has the responsibility of monitoring Google reviews and deleting any critical remarks that are detrimental to your company.
What Google looks for in Negative Reviews?
Some folks prefer to merely see the planet burn. The same people are typically behind unfavourable, improper, or even false Google evaluations of companies of all sizes.
Fortunately, Google has measures in place to permanently delete this type of information (or, at least until the next time it happens). The following content types are prohibited on Google Policy from being uploaded on Google Reviews, Google Photos, or Google Videos by Google:
- Civil discourse
- Harassment
- Hate speech
- Offensive content
- Personal information
- Deceptive content
- Fake engagement
- Impersonation
- Misinformation
- Misrepresentation
- Mature content
- Obscenity & profanity
- Sexually explicit content
- Adult-themed content
- Violence & gore
- Regulated, dangerous, & Illegal
- Restricted content
- Dangerous content
- Illegal content
- Child safety
- Terrorist content
- Information quality
- Off-topic
- Advertising & solicitation
- Gibberish & repetitive content
You can ask to have a review of your company that contains any of the above offensive language taken down from Google search results.
How to Remove Reviews from Google Business Page?
Sadly, Google doesn’t provide a straightforward “remove” option for its reviews. Instead, there are just two methods for getting rid of a review. The reviewer may remove it, or your company may “flag the review as improper.” By flagging the review, you may inform Google that it is a phoney or that it doesn’t follow Google’s review guidelines.
You will then be sent to the landing page below, where you must fill out a brief report of the problem and provide your email for further communication.
Using a Computer, mark the review as Inappropriate which will be flagged in Red.
- Access Google Business Profile Manager by logging in.
- Click Reviews after opening the listing you wish to manage.
- In the upper right corner of the review, if you wish to flag, click the three little dots, then choose “Flag as inappropriate.”
- Decide why the content should be flagged.
Be patient for a potential resolution for up to 3 business days.
As you may expect, this procedure takes time and doesn’t ensure that your review will be deleted. It’s also impossible to predict when it will be taken down, even if Google decides to do so. If you wait for Google to fix the problem, your company can lose thousands of clients during that period.
The fact that Google won’t just delete a bad rating is another huge drawback. The purpose of Google reviews is to offer people objective feedback based on the experiences of other customers. Google encourages its users to be informed of any bad user experiences. Therefore, the chances of getting a removal aren’t in your favour if you’re dissatisfied with a customer’s view.
Using a phone or tablet to flag inappropriate review content
- Open Google Map, and your Business Location
- Tap Reviews after selecting Customers.
- Tap on 3 dots and then choose Flag review under More.
- Inappropriate Review Content on Google Maps may be reported
- On your PC, launch Google Maps.
- Navigate to the listing for your company.
- Find the review that you wish to delete.
- Then select Flag as inappropriate from the More menu option.
As Google suggests, the final step in each of these is to exercise patience. Each item that is flagged may need to be evaluated by a member of Google’s content review team for a number of days.
It’s crucial to remember that Google has integrated spam filters that automatically scan reviews for offensive, pointless, or deceptive information. Even while this function is generally trustworthy, erroneous evaluations may occasionally go unnoticed and harm the public’s opinion of your company.
Requesting the removal or editing of a bad Google review from a user
While responding to negative reviews requires a little more time and effort, the long-term benefits of using this strategy to get rid of them are significant.
If you are successful, you will have removed a bad review and perhaps turned a bad consumer into a loyal supporter of your business. Here’s how to make the best of a poor circumstance in step-by-step order:
- Consider your customer’s perspective first when you come across a negative review of your company on Google Reviews.
- What specifically are they complaining about, and is it something you can fix now that you’re aware of the issue, ask yourself.
File a Legal Removal Request for the Bad Review of Your Business
One more way is available to get rid of bad Google reviews of your business, but it only works in some circumstances. If a piece of material is unlawful, Google enables users to formally request that it be taken down.
This typically applies to defamation against you or your brand, which is prohibited in the United States, when it comes to your company.
Go to the Content Removal Tool and choose Google Business Profile Manager to submit an unlawful review. Google will quiz you about the review and your grievance with its particular content on the pages that follow.
Respond to Customer’s Review
The best way to deal with a bad customer review is to reply to it. A sincere apology can go a long way toward changing a potential customer’s opinion of your brand if your team’s error led to a bad review. A thank-you response also has an effect if the review is positive. Customers don’t want to appear to be the bad guy when your team replies beneath with a courteous message because, as you may be aware, these reviews are public for both the customer and your company.
Solve the Customer’s Review
It’s critical to acknowledge the issues consumers are bringing up in your bad reviews and take steps to address them. Once you’ve done that, get in touch with the consumers who gave you bad feedback to see if they’d be prepared to try your goods or services once more. Make it known that you have taken action to make up for previous errors and that you still appreciate your customers’ connection with your company. This encourages a customer-centric culture for your brand’s reputation, even if you might not win over every consumer.
Ask the Customer
Customer service gurus frequently mention that 85% of consumers who think reviews older than three months are meaningless. This statistic, however, fails to include the fact that these previous reviews continue to affect your company’s total Google ranking. This rating is crucial since 52% of customers would not make a purchase from a company with a rating of less than 4.
Additionally, when your firm expands and changes over time, a lot might happen. Two years ago, a Google review might not have been as accurate as it is now.
Ask the individual to update their post if they are still active by contacting them through the review. Alternatively, give them a reason to try your product or service once more in return for a fresh evaluation.
Summary
The only four techniques to remove Google evaluations of your company are as follows:
- Mark content as offensive or inflammatory if necessary.
- The consumer may modify or remove the review if you can resolve their problem.
- You can always tweet Google’s small business team if they don’t work.
- Last but not least, you can file a formal legal request with Google to have the post removed if it contains unlawful or defamatory material.
In the end, a bad review only warrants concern if there aren’t enough positive ones to balance it out. Your business should have enough good evaluations to easily outweigh the rare unfavourable review if your customer review management system is operating well.
Utilizing an automated review management solution is the greatest approach to increasing the number of reviews. These web-based tools streamline the request for reviews by establishing a direct connection with your customer management programme. These programmes can also automatically respond to favourable reviews and alert you to unfavourable ones so you can respond.
0 Comments