Removing a bad Google review

[wiz]

I've got 13 x 5 star Google reviews and I've just received my first 1 star review from someone I've never dealt with.

I've replied in a professional manner and flagged it as inappropriate.

I'm going to try and get it removed but what's the actual chance of this happening?

Any feedback would be helpful.

Cheers

 

[Paul Murray]

Best thing to do is ride it out and highlight in your reply that the review is fake. I tend to take 1 star reviews with a pinch of salt, and typically I'm suspicious of negative reviews amongst overwhelmingly popular ones. I think most genuine buyers will check that review out of curiosity and see that you've pointed out it's fake.

You could also try tweeting/messaging the GoogleMyBiz account, apparently they're pretty good at chasing up flagged reviews.

 

[Simon-M]

Removing fake reviews from GMB is a complete and utter nightmare. I found a really detailed case study of a business jumping through the hoops and got success but there are no guarantees.

Have a read of this.

https://whitespark.ca/blog/remove-fake-google-reviews/

Good luck getting Google to play ball.

 

[JEREMY HAWKE]

Don't worry about it We all get bad press but any press is good press

I one saw a good review where a customer said that the owner had chased him with a gun and shot at him and he had to hide behind a wall until the police arrived .
Of course this never happened but it stay on the google machine for a while
He had a lot of traffic on his site . Any press is good press .

Offer the little t@at a £100 if he can prove he is a customer

 

[Chris Ashdown]

We used Feefo rather expensive but well worth the money, only genuine customers could post and you had the right to reply

 

[CarlosTorres]

Bad google review can be removed by flagging it incorrect from different accounts. Not just from your account and give the valid reasons.

 

[Ashley_Price]

Google will rarely remove reviews, even if they are fake (because Google's response usually is "How can you prove it is fake?").

I had this in my call answering days, and I put it down to a competitor setting up a fake account and putting a negative review. So, I contacted the clients that hadn't left reviews, explained the situation and they put reviews up for me, effectively "burying" the bad review on page 2 or 3.

 

[estwig]

I had this recently, jumped through all the legal hoops with G, they refused to remove it, it wasn't a fake review, it was very nasty, libelous, the client simply lied about me.

I've since started burying it under good reviews, made it a priority to get reviews from clients and it's working. I feel much better about the whole thing, the more good reviews I get, the harder it is for the t*ssers to knock me!

 

[Ashley_Price]

As an aside... how many people believe a perfect 5-star rating if the business has had a lot of reviews?

So, the occasional 1-star really isn't going to make that difference to someone's decision.

I would be almost as suspicious of a business with perfect 5-star rating, with a significant number of reviews, as with a business with lots of 1-star ratings.

 

[wiz]

I found the person on Facebook and messaged them. Turns out that a child had been playing with a tablet and accidentally gave me a 1 star review. The guy apologized and changed it to a 5 star even though I've never met the guy. A good result in the end.

Positively, I'm not really scared anymore of receiving a bad review. It didn't bother me as much as I thought it would. It just got buried under my good ones as others said.

 

[iDigLocal]

It can be very difficult to remove google reviews. The best thing is to ensure you have lots of positive reviews. Mainly though don't ignore bad reviews, always respond, but in such away to not encourage escalation (this can be easier said than done sometimes).

 

[Blood Lust]

I've got 13 x 5 star Google reviews and I've just received my first 1 star review from someone I've never dealt with.

I've replied in a professional manner and flagged it as inappropriate.

I'm going to try and get it removed but what's the actual chance of this happening?

Any feedback would be helpful.

Cheers

1 out of 13 isn't going to impact your sales so ignore it.

Dont as someone suggested reply saying it is a fake review. Be seen to behave professionally instead to give out the impression who want to fix the issue raised.

 

[Andrew Watton]

Lots of 5 star reviews and nothing else always looks very suspicious. A few lower reviews certainly makes your review profile look much more realistic and genuine. That in the end is really what people look for. Reassurance doesn't come from reading 50 5 star reviews. The odd bad review - responded to well - can actually be more reassuring. I wouldn't overly worry about it.

 

[Vishal Morjaria]

A negative google review always effect your business. for this you can flag this review or write in reply about the fake review

 

[fisicx]

A negative google review always effect your business.

No it doesn't

 

[Ian J]

Lots of 5 star reviews and nothing else always looks very suspicious.

A competitor of mine had a whole load of five star reviews. They were all dated within a couple of weeks of each other and were all posted at about 3:00am

 

[kkfcXHzmCc]

I found the person on Facebook and messaged them. Turns out that a child had been playing with a tablet and accidentally gave me a 1 star review. The guy apologized and changed it to a 5 star even though I've never met the guy. A good result in the end.

Positively, I'm not really scared anymore of receiving a bad review. It didn't bother me as much as I thought it would. It just got buried under my good ones as others said.

Glad this turned out well for you! Well done.