Social Media – Google Business Profiles
Google Business Profiles,
Bad, false, and negative reviews
Bad, false, and fake reviews are a fact of life on the internet. All businesses on the internet will get false reviews or negative reviews. We are going to be responsible for dealing with the person submitting the review and having them change it. From what I have read this is what Google wants us to do first. If we can’t get someone to change the review, then we can contact Google. The thing to keep in mind is that we have to prove that the reviewer has violated Google’s guidelines. If all else false, we will have to submit a legal letter to Google to try and get the review removed.
Resolving bad or negative reviews
It is possible to contact Google and Bing for support help, but Bing is easier to get a hold of for assistance, we can actually get a hold of someone via online chat for Bing Places. Google My Business allows us to get a hold of someone, but Google will decide how we can get a hold of them.
Google Search Console is a useful tool, but it has problems with providing False Positive issues, it is difficult for us to resolve problems. In some cases, pages on the website that were fine for years, can all of a sudden be flagged for problems. The issue will continue to remain, even after we fix the problem. False positives will remain often remain after the problem has been fixed. Even other testing tools will conflict with Google Search Console.
Fake and Negative Reviews
We will get fake and bad reviews from time to time, Google has no easy way to remove the reviews. The two links below provide us with suggestions on what to do, the writers suggest that we contact the reviewer to either change their review. We can always flag the review as inappropriate, but we will have to contact Google Business support to get the review removed.
If it is at all possible, we will need to reply to the review or get in touch with the reviewer, we need to be brief and to the point. If this is a fraudulent review, then we need to explain that we can’t seem to find them on our records. We need to make the effort to contact the reviewer and then flag the review as fraudulent.
The important thing to keep in mind is that we need to prove that the review goes against Google’s guidelines. Below is a list of a few things that go against Google’s Guidelines. It is not enough to just point out that the review is bad, or false. But we need to explain that the review does not comply with Google’s Guidelines.
Review Guidelines
- Spam content: The same review that appears multiple times or the same review text posted from different profiles, could be classed as spam.
- Off-topic: Review content should be specific to your location and the experience. If it’s a general tirade or contains personal, social, or political content, it falls foul of Google’s off-topic guidelines.
- Offensive content: Obscene language or offensive gestures aren’t permitted in any reviews.
- Dangerous and derogatory content: Content that contains threats, harassment, or is discriminatory is also cause to delete a Google review.
- Impersonation: One person is not allowed to write a review to attribute to another person.
- Conflict of interest: Google does not allow you to review your own business. Offer incentives for reviews or post negative reviews about competitors to mislead search users or manipulate rankings.
- Restricted content: Review content shouldn’t contain links, offers, or calls to action to restricted or prohibited items such as firearms, tobacco, pharmaceutical items, medical devices, or alcohol. Coupon codes, discount offers, or contact information to purchase restricted items.
- Illegal content: Content that infringes copyright, and depicts sexual abuse. Banned products such as illegal drugs or trafficked animal products. Products that depict violence, or are related to terrorist groups are prohibited.
Even after we have contacted Google, we need to stay on top of the negative review.
Helpful Links
Take action to remove a bad review
If we can’t convince the reviewer to change their review. We will need to take action to have the review removed. Please remember that Google will not automatically remove the review. We will first need to flag a fake review as inappropriate. Then we would have to convince Google that the review has violated Google’s guidelines. If it is a fake review we would have to give google a reason why it is a fake review.
- Spam or fake content: the review is not genuine.
- Off-topic: Content must reflect a person’s actual experience at the location.
- Prohibited content: Google will need to delete illegal, restricted, or explicit content that is dangerous or derogatory.
- Conflict of interest: The reviewer is a competitor, current or former employee, or has ties to a competing business.
Another option available is to have a lawyer write a legal letter to Google. Google will only remove a review with a valid legal reason. This is all related to proving that the review does not meet Google’s community and content guidelines. If needed, we have to contact Google to have them remove the review, but this is not automatic. If needed, we can have an attorney file a legal request to have the information taken down.
Helpful Links
