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Recent Showase: Removing Fake reviews from Google
Recent Showcase: Removing fake reviews from google
First thing last Monday morning I was greeted with an email from one of my longstanding clients. Over the weekend they had found themselves gain 6 reviews to their Google Business profile.
This would normally be “Great I have 6 reviews to improve my business!”. But these weren’t: They were all 1 star reviews from “people” claiming to have had a bad experience, while using their service.
As a result the business owner contacted me absolutely desperate to get this sorted out, which naturally I did.
Step 1: Research
So after being given access to their Google Business Profile, I started off doing a bit of research into these “reviewers”.
First I noticed the reviews had had a significant impact on their business. Their average review rate had been 4.3 (which in this industry is pretty good). Thanks to 6 1 star reviews, it was now 3.6.
Also the reviews were quite standardised. So the service on offer here is dotted at locations across the capital by different people. No location was mentioned, no person was mentioned. If anything, it sounded more like a salon where you get yours hair or nails done. All but one review, I will get to that one in a minute.
Next we had a little investigate of our esteemed reviewers. No other reviews could be seen from their profile: They had been hidden. That’s not how a normal disgruntled customer behaves!
But the one review (circled) caught my attention. Sounds a bit being held to ransom. Cheeky Devil.
Step 2: Reporting Time
Of course, we wasn’t going to play this idiot’s game. Google aren’t particularly quick at dealing with issues and sometimes have to be asked more than once. I am resigned to this fact.
So for every fake review, we reported it by hitting the report button that can be found on the list of reviews in your Google Business profile. This was clearly a scam and also spam. and then we got an ok message for our troubles.
Step 2 1/2: Raise a Support Ticket
This part could be dropped, but for someone who can spends days and even weeks trying to sort out issues with Google Support, You should be able to send them message at least reporting the issue.
It probably is unnecessary but it can give you some decent help from people that have had the same issue, but its worth going through the process
If you click the Get Support button on the left of your Google profile dashboard. From here you can tell Google which profile has the issue (if you have more than one), search for your issue, read article and posts from similar users that have been there and email the issue to Google.
Step 3: The Waiting Game
After then, it’s a case of waiting for Google to reply. Bear in mind they can take up to 3 days to reply and sometimes the answer can be a bit copy/paste..
The Outcome
But in this particular case, it didn’t take 3 days. As I mentioned, this was my first task on a Monday morning.
By about 4pm my client emailed me to say that the main review (the shady business post) had been removed. But the other 5 were still online. Nice to end the day on a cliff hanger!
By the following morning, all 6 bad reviews had been removed . Cue one very happy client. He also added that Google were invstigating the profiles involved and would track these pesky offenders.
Not all outcomes are this straightforward but in this one case, it was open and shut.
I hope this showcase has helped you. Please let me know in the comments about your experiences,
And if you are suffering the same fate and not sure how to deal with it, then please get in touch using the button below.