Have you wondered how to remove a Google review? Online reviews are the best way to gauge your online presence, and as a business, you are bound to get both negative and positive reviews. Online reviews serve as an indicator of the state of your online presence and how customers view your business. Although you can do everything right, there will likely always be unhappy customers who will leave a bad review.
Negative reviews can ultimately damage your online reputation. Negative reviews influence the buying decision of 86% of consumers.
However, while it’s essential to respond to negative feedback, there are instances where they can be flagged and/or removed. Positive Google reviews are necessary for ranking and helping increase sales for businesses. Negative Google reviews can drastically damage a business’s reputation and overall growth. Therefore, Google has implemented a significant feature for leaving reviews.
What Types of Feedback Can Be Flagged?
Google has created policies regarding this rule to be clear about what falls under violation of regulations. You can find more about Google’s specific guidelines here. Here’s an overview of what content can be flagged as inappropriate:
- Spam: If the review is from a bot, a fake account, or contains promotional information. These are becoming increasingly common.
- Discrimination or hate speech: Any reviews that contain harmful language about an individual or group based on identity will be removed immediately.
- Conflict of interest: Sometimes, a review is from another business or competitor. These are also against Google’s policies
- Off-topic: Sometimes, the review is entirely irrelevant or has anything to do with the company.
- Profanity: No reviews are allowed to have inappropriate language, swears, discussing criminal or illegal activities, or violence in nature.
- Bullying or harassment: Like using harassing language or profanity, any reviews that personally attack other individuals will be removed.
- Personal information: Any personal information about the business owner or employees. For example, phone numbers, addresses, or personal information.
What Else Has Changed?
One other change to this setup is the confirmation after a business owner reports the negative review. That’s important because depending on the severity of the issue or if this involves defamation, it’s essential to keep a track record of information and complaints. Remember, your online reputation is imperative to business success, and therefore, it’s vital that you manage your online reputation.
How to Flag as Inappropriate
Online reviews not only help your businesses, but they also allow customers to filter out exactly what they need. If you notice inappropriate online reviews, flag them.
If you notice a negative review that goes against the list of Google policies regarding “flagged” content, report it.
- Click on the three vertical dots next to a review and select “Report Review.”
- Google will have the final say on your request.
- Google will look over and verify if that situation requires content removal. If not, the request is denied.
- You’ll have to wait until they have a response. They often are overwhelmed with notifications, so stay positive and patient.
How Will This Change Online Reviews?
As the use of online shopping continues to expand, we can expect the world of online reviews to grow as well. Just like most technology-based platforms, regulations are later implemented after seeing issues or errors arise. Google accounts for 57.5% of all reviews worldwide and has a massive impact on search engine ranking. Therefore, if a review is inappropriate according to Google’s review policy, it should not be counted in a business’s overall reputation.
Flagging an inappropriate review helps create an authentic representation of a company and affects how other customers view that business.
Importance of Automation Software
The high importance of online reviews makes it necessary to have an online reputation management strategy. It’s vital to respond to positive reviews and negative reviews quickly. With ReviewInc’s reputation management software, businesses can have a team overseeing their online reputation and all reviews left. This allows our team to respond quickly and appropriately.
To learn more about ReviewInc’s Review Flow, request a demo here.
