Do your Google reviews suck? Did you wake up to unwanted reviews on your Google account? We know that feels terrible!
It doesn’t feel right to hear negatively about your business or get negative reviews that spoil your business name! After all, you’ve been putting much effort into strengthening your Google my business listing. In such a case, processing negative google reviews for your business on your Google My Business account may also affect your digital marketing activities.
But do you think letting negative comments stop your growth and hold your potential customers is ideal? Nope! When it’s about customer reviews, you’ve got to deal with them smartly and step-by-step action for your GMB account.
The significance of buying Google reviews is exceptionally agile in growing the market of local businesses. After all, 98% of consumers like visiting Google reviews to find out about the services of local businesses, and 28% more consumers are dependent on online Google reviews in comparison to the crowd before COVID-19. Apart from consumers, Google reviews help in building brand's online reputation too.
Perhaps, it doesn’t end here. 82% of consumers will indeed:
- Check out more online reviews for your business on the Google My Business Profile before they call on your phone number,
- Check you on social media platforms
- And finally, knock on the doors of your local shop, cafe, restaurant, club, or service centre in the market.
So, you need to pack and fill the reviews for your business nicely to experience the rush in your orders that you aspire to see.
These reviews will also help boost your local SEO rankings in search results and help people reach out to your business location after looking at positive reviews. You may need to learn ways to strengthen your business on several review sites and search engine listings.
In this write-up, let us guide you toward the suitable methods of fixing your negative or poor Google reviews! Also, we will list ways through which you can gain more google reviews and encourage your potential audience to check out your menu icon.
Let’s dive in!
Woke Up To Some Bad Google Reviews: Five Things You Need to Do:
While no one wants a negative review, almost every business will get one at some point. Here are some suggestions for responding to negative reviews:
1. Take A Deep Breath: Keep Calm
Sometimes, you might find a Google negative review that results from fraud. That is not the real customer experience shown on Google, and you know it but just a fake google review.
A negative review on Google or Yelp can disgust minds. During such situations, you might feel like picking up the mobile device and doing something unbelievable and unwanted. But you need to keep calm and handle the situation smartly.
A negative or bad Google review is not where the world ends. And every business gets a few here and there. A few studies have shown that bad Google reviews can increase sales.
So, take a breath and read on!
2. Put Your Brain Into The Situation: Evaluate
The first thing to figure out is the review’s authenticity, finding if the Google review and star rating are real. Fraud reviews might be a result of brand competition or personal grudges.
The right way to do this is to check the record and find if such a customer visited the shop or shopped from the business page.
If the person is one of the previous customers, find the product they’ve purchased. This is a brilliant way to be more informed about the situation. This will help prevent such circumstances in the future.
3. Your Response Is Important To A Negative Review: Respond Quickly
Your genuine response to all the online comments is mandatory. Even if you know that some given responses to your business stand fake, you need to put out your response. Here’s why you need to do it:
It’s not only a reviewer that you are putting specifications to; they are also customers who are dissatisfied with your service. This is the motive that you need to keep in mind.
Whatever the review is, ensure that your response to it is quick. This is a very effective way of showing your commitment to customer service. Besides resolving queries from complaining customers, you must ensure that you have happy customers in the future too!
In case you find a yelp review of a customer who likely never visited your local shop or business profile, here’s how you’re going to address the situation:
- Respond to the complaint and ask for an apology
- Then mention that you can’t find their name in the records
- Offer them solutions with your contact details
- Finally, Flag the review as a fraud.
Note:
You respond to a review before flagging because there are chances that the review might not get removed, and prospects might see it even after flagging it.
But what if someone’s dissatisfied with your product and service?
If you find a negative review from a genuine customer, here’s how you should handle it:
- Own up, even if you think it’s partially correct, and be quick and vigilant in addressing the complaint.
- Never make any excuses; it shows that you’re trying to run away or hide things.
- If their reasons sound legitimate, be honest about the situation and assure them that it won’t repeat.
- Offer solutions to fix the issue (Like Domino offers free product delivery when they find that the customers did not get what they ordered).
4. Don’t Step Back from Hard Work: Rectify the Situation
Not all negative reviews are untrue. Some reviews help your business grow. This feedback can help you look through pointers that need improvement. Changing anything about a business can be hectic, but when it’s important, the efforts are worth it.
When you get negative reviews that are common and in bulk, the problem is not in them; it’s in your business. And that needs to change. Take all the required steps to improve your business’s functioning. At the same time, do not forget to ask for apologies where it stands genuine.
A similar situation can be finding an angry review in the review section. That can be just a bad day for the customer. Be gentle with your response, and do not forget to assure them.
5. Negative Reviews? Stay on the Top
After all that you have done to fix the bad review problem, the following are the questions you need to question:
Are all yelp messages flagged? Are all of them removed? Is the customer service redone and revised? Has the refund been done?
Yes or No!
When you attempt to stay on top of all the reviews, you can turn bad reviews into good ones. When you genuinely try and solve the negative reviews, the customer might come and fix the bad reviews into good ones. It has happened many times. Changing the one-star rating to a 4-star rating isn’t impossible.
Can You Remove Google Reviews? Should You Do That?
Can you guess the leading mapping app? A hint is that it has over 150 million monthly visitors.
Well, the answer is Google Maps app.
But why is it important? Your Google Business Profile must be found on Google maps. Business owners can use the Google Business profile system to remove or delete google reviews.
One cannot delete a google review in just one click. Google has not given complete authority over your business profile to you on Google’s platform. But cleaning the platform is also something Google supports.
It is the Google Policies that matter. But what are the policies? Let’s review!
Google Review Policy
Google aims to provide helpful, punctual, and complete information to its visitors. Thus, it has set up a google policy. It includes the essential criteria and knowledge that allow the proper engagement of the users with the platform. The breaching of policies isn’t possible for any platform owned by Google: Play store, YouTube, Google Maps, and others.
From videos, photos, and messages to reviews, Google policies apply everywhere!
Follow the table below to get more clarity on Google's review policy:
- Google’s Policy on Content Violation
- Google’s Critical Assessments
- Google will remove offensive content, harassing, hateful, violation of privacy, and off-topic.
- Google is quick-enough to analyse the content posted on the platform while ensuring the elimination of inappropriate ones.
- Google will remove misrepresented, deceptive, misinformed, fake, and gibberish content.
- Since Google's analysis relies on AI, it can sometimes be less-than-perfect, so that some content may be missed.
- Google will remove sensational content, advertising obscene, sexually explicit, and violent content.
- Fake google reviews use AI filters for sophisticated work.
- Google will remove content that is dangerous, restricted, terrorist, and illegal.
For all the reasons stated above, Google welcomes business owners to put false content for flagging.
Removing a Bad Review From Google
It’s not very difficult to remove a bad review from Google. Flagging a review on Google My Business is smooth.
Here is a step by step process to remove negative reviews from Google Local (Searches + Maps)
- Log in to the Google Business account/ Google Business Profile Manager
- Allocate the business on Google Maps
- Go to the Reviews Section
- Go to the review that is to be removed
- Find the three dots and click on them. You will find the option of ‘Flag as Inappropriate.’ Just click on that.
- You’ll get a form, fill, and submit it.
Google will then check the review and take the necessary steps for removing negative reviews.
Note: The review doesn’t always get flagged by Google!
Conclusion
At some point in time, every business owner experiences such downfalls. It is a part of growing and evolving. While it is essential to keep calm and act smartly, do take the initiative to reply to all the reviews promptly, irrespective of whether it is positive or negative.
When the reviews are genuine, give the customer a chance to explore your service again, serve them better, and then ask them to talk about your business. Remember, flagging is a second option, and the first is to deal with it rightly! Afterall reviews on google help in reputation management.
FAQs
Q1. How do I fix a Negative Google Review?
Reviews are useful since they provide essential information about businesses. They also have an impact on consumer purchasing decisions. Customers are occasionally dissatisfied and will leave negative reviews.
To remove bad Google reviews or fake reviews, you can use Google search and Google maps. In your Android mobile, open the business profile, go to the specific review, click on the three dots, select ‘report the review,’ and it’s done!
Q2. Why do my Google reviews keep going down?
Reviews go missing in case of policy violations like inappropriate content and spam. Such reviews that went missing because of policy violations cannot be reinstated. Through this, Google ensures that its platform is helpful, relevant, and trustworthy.
Q3. How long will Google take to remove the reviews?
The process of flagging bad reviews from Google can be time-taking. So flagging fraudulent reviews can take anywhere from 5 to 20 days for it to happen.
Q4. Will deleting a Google business account delete reviews?
Deleting the Google business profiles wouldn’t remove reviews. After creating the business profile, it will appear in searches. The only thing that will happen upon deleting the account is losing control. The only option left would be to change or delete the bad online reviews.