Are Negative, False, or Defamatory Reviews on Google My Business Hurting Your Reputation?
Long gone are the days when brands enjoyed a high degree of direct control over their reputations. Today, a company’s reputation is squarely in the hands of its customers, with around 90% of consumers now trusting online reviews to help them shape their purchase decisions. Unsurprisingly, a single bad review can cost a business enormously, especially if it’s a startup or other small company that hasn’t managed to already build a strong reputation.
Today, anyone can leave feedback online on a multitude of different platforms ranging from social networks to business directories to dedicated rating and review websites. In fact, because there are so many ways people can leave feedback online, it’s not practical to manually keep track of what people are saying about your company online. Nonetheless, you need to stay informed so that you can quickly take steps to mitigate any damage before it gets out of control.
Removing Negative Google My Business Reviews
If you come across a negative review of your company on Google My Business that violates any of Google’s policies, there is a possibility you can remove it by “flagging” the review.
You can flag a review on Google My Business by taking the following steps:
- Locate and click on your Google My Business profile.
- Click the link by the star rating that shows the total number of reviews:
- Identify the negative, false, or defamatory review you want to remove.
- Click ‘Flag as inappropriate’ (screenshot below).
- Enter your e-mail address, select the violation type, and click submit.
When you flag a review as inappropriate, Google My Business will usually assess it within a week. If they find that the review does indeed violate their policy, they will take the necessary action, such as asking the reviewer to edit their review or, in some cases, removing it entirely.
How to Identify and Remove Fake Reviews from Google My Business
Unfortunately, Google My Business is rife with fake reviews and, as you might expect, they’re usually left behind by unscrupulous competitors. While obvious spam rarely gets through the filters, a lot of fake reviews are clever and not so easy to identify. Fortunately, there are some common signs that a review might be fake. If you ever see a suspicious review, whether it applies to your own business or any other, you should always flag it for assessment. Here are some of the most common signs to look out for:
- Any review that contains contact details and web addresses are not allowed since they’re usually used by advertisers.
- Any review that presents an obvious conflict of interest, such as one that openly suggests an alternative product or service.
- Many fake reviews are based on generic templates, making little or no reference to the actual product or service being reviewed.
- Avatars that use non-personalized imagery or what looks like a stock image tend to belong to accounts created solely for posting fake reviews.
- Poor spelling and grammar often indicate a competitor outsourcing fake review writing through one of the freelance bidding websites.
Remember, it will normally take a few days for Google to manually assess the review and take any further action.
How to Deal with Defamatory Google My Business Reviews
If your company has fallen victim to Google reviews that could legally be defined as defamatory, and Google refuses to remove the review, you either have the option of seeking to resolve the issue directly with the reviewer or take legal action.
Generally, the best approach is to first attempt to contact the reviewer and attempt to negotiate with them directly before taking legal action. In many cases, the reviewer might not have thought about the consequences of their actions and would willingly remove or, if applicable, edit, the review, rather than end up being dragged into a legal battle.
In other cases, the reviewer may completely refuse to cooperate or even respond at all. If the reviewer won’t respond, this might be due to their account being fake and created solely for leaving the review. In this case, you may need to subpoena Google to compel them to provide you with the reviewer’s contact details. In the vast majority of situations, the legal costs and time involved do not justify taking legal action.
Removing defamatory content sometimes requires a court order, especially in cases where it has proven impossible to identify the author or the review and Google itself doesn’t consider the content to be in violation of its policies. You can also report content that you would like to have removed through Google’s Legal Help page.
Final Words
You generally can’t remove reviews on Google My Business unless they contain content that’s either illegal, defamatory or against Google’s policies. However, when it comes to other bad reviews, you should be thinking less about how to remove them and more about how to manage them. Sustainable branding and reputation management requires a proactive, rather than a reactive, approach.
On a final note, remember that consumers are invariably most interested in how companies respond to negative feedback. By staying professional, asking reviewers questions and addressing their concerns, you may even be able to transform an angry customer into a loyal brand ambassador.
HOW WE CAN HELP:
Reputation Resolutions is one of the few online reputation management firm in the industry offering a pay for performance solution to remove Google My Business reviews. What does this mean? If you decide to work with our company, you will only be charged for our services if we are successful in completely removing the negative Google My Business review(s) from your Google My Business page and search results. Reputation Resolutions’ approach to removing, negative, false and defamatory reviews from Google involves in-depth knowledge of Google’s terms and conditions, legalities surrounding the review in question, as well as how to deal directly with reviewers.
WHY YOU SHOULD WORK WITH US:
Reputation Resolutions is one of the few Reputation Management firms that have an “A+” rating with the Better Business Bureau. In addition, Reputation Resolutions has been selected as one of the top 5 providers of online reputation management services in the industry by three independent rating agencies. To see reviews from past clients who have used our services, click here.
Benefits of working with the Reputation Resolutions Team:
- Work with a trusted and award-winning online reputation management company
- This is strictly a pay for performance service – if the review is not removed, you DON’T pay
- Expedited link removal from search engine results after the review is removed
- Secure payment through Bank of America Merchant Services Account
GET STARTED
To learn more about how Reputation Resolutions can help you remove negative, false, or defamatory Google My Business reviews, fill out the form below or call us today at (855)-239-5322 for a FREE consultation.
*All Form Data Is SSL Encrypted and 100% confidential.
