Negative Reviews on Google Maps

Negative Reviews on Google Maps

Good reviews are an important part of Google's search algorithm helping your Google Map listing to rank higher in local search results pages.

We all love good reviews but if you do get a negative review on your Google Maps Page remember it’s not the end of the world and there are steps you can take to reduce the impact on your business. In fact, this can be a great opportunity to show how well you deal with customer dissatisfaction by providing help and assistance.

There are a few steps we recommend you take if you do receive a negative review on your Google Maps page:

1. Check if the negative review is real by reviewing your records to see if the person is a real customer.

If they are a customer make sure to check their purchase history so you have all the facts to handle the situation and prevent it from happening again.

If they are not one of your customers this may be a fraudulent review added by a competitor. This often proves your business is having a big impact on your competition.

2. Respond to a negative review as quickly as possible even if you know it is a fake because prompt action shows customers your commitment to customer service.

People that read your reviews are often interested in your products or services so by keeping a complaining customer happy you’ll be assuring future customers that the same issue won’t happen to them and if it does, it will be dealt with swiftly.

3. If you’ve received an inappropriate or a fake review on your Google Maps page, Google allows you to flag it or dispute it to possibly have it removed.

There are a few options when reporting a review, they must fall into one of Google's violation types which are:

  1. The review contains hateful, violent or inappropriate content. 
  2. The review contains advertising or spam. 
  3. The review is off topic. 
  4. The review contains conflicts of interest.

How to Flag a Review:

  1. To flag a review as inappropriate open Google Maps and search for your business name. 
  2. Click on reviews to find the one you want to flag. 
  3. Click on the three vertical dots in the upper right-hand corner of the review, then select “Flag as inappropriate”.

You can contact Google regarding the status of a flagged review via the “Support” link on the bottom left corner of your Google My Business page. For more information on the removal of fake reviews, inappropriate, prohibited or restricted content go to… https://support.google.com/contributionpolicy/answer/7400114?hl=en

If a negative review has violated Google’s reviews policy ie. is spam and fake, offensive, impersonation, conflict of interest, off-topic or explicit, you do have the option of filling out a legal removal request form https://support.google.com/business/gethelp?hl=en&ec=exp_manage_customer_reviews&cfsi=exp_manage_customer_reviews&cfnti=6058724&cft=3&visit_id=637937842690484669-1120422967&rd=1

Staying on top of your reviews and replying to a negative customer review in a timely manner with good customer service, diplomacy and a little finesse can often change their attitude from a negative to a positive one. If you can show that you’re always willing to work with people when there’s an issue and it’s handled the right way, you may see people change a 1-star review to a 5-star review!

So, keep up that great customer service and remember the more positive reviews you can get the better your Google search engine results will be.

For more information on how to deal with negative reviews or get the most from your online marketing send us email with your enquiry or call us on 02 4975 3954.