Reviews vanish when Google's filters see bursts, new or empty profiles, or posts from the business's own connection, or when reviewers close profiles. Ask customers one at a time, after the visit, to review from home.

Eleven reviews one week, eight the next

The owner checks the business's Google listing on a Monday and counts eleven reviews. The next Monday there are eight, and the three that went were recent and kind.

Nobody at the business deleted anything, and no message came from Google. One customer insists her review is still there, because she can see it when she signs in.

The listing never explains why reviews come and go, but the reasons are mostly predictable, and most of them come down to how the reviews were requested.

Why reviews disappear

Google runs automated filters over reviews, looking for the patterns that fake ones leave. An honest review that fits one of those patterns can go with them:

The last has nothing to do with the business. The other four usually trace back to one well-meant push for reviews.

A filter sees patterns, not people

The filter cannot ask a reviewer whether the visit happened. It sees when a review arrived, from what kind of account and from where, and judges it by the company it keeps.

Eight reviews written in the waiting area on one afternoon look, from outside, just like eight reviews written by the owner. The filter exists to remove the second kind and cannot tell them apart.

So kind words from real customers are no protection on their own. What protects a review is arriving the way genuine reviews usually arrive.

Checking a missing review

Look at the listing while signed out of Google, or in a private browser window. A reviewer who is signed in may still see a review that nobody else can.

If a regular's review has gone, it is fair to ask, kindly, whether they changed or closed their Google+ profile. That explains some losses at once.

Then note when each missing review appeared and how it was requested. A cluster around one email, one event or one afternoon usually tells the story.

What an owner cannot do

No setting restores a filtered review, and the filter does not explain itself. An owner can flag a review that breaks Google's rules, but no request reliably brings a removed one back.

Asking customers to post again tends to repeat the pattern that removed the first review. Google's rules also forbid offering money, products or services in return for reviews.

And never write a review on a customer's behalf, even with their blessing. That is exactly what the filter exists to catch.

A worked example

A helicopter tour company runs short sightseeing flights over mountains and inlets from a pad beside a marina. Most passengers are visitors to the area, and many fly only once.

In June the manager emailed every passenger from the past year in a single evening, asking for a Google review.

Nine reviews arrived within two days, several from Google+ profiles created that evening, with no photo and no other reviews. Within a week most had gone.

Requests now go out one at a time, the day after each flight, to passengers who agreed to hear from the company. Each carries a short line on how to find the listing, and nothing about what to write.

Reviews now arrive one at a time, written at home on passengers' own phones and computers. That spacing is what genuine customers produce when nobody pushes them all at once.

The steady way of asking

Ask each customer separately, after the work is done, and let them write the review later, at home, on their own device. Requests spread across the week bring reviews spread across the week.

Make it easy: a card or a line in a follow-up email saying how to find the listing, with a link where you can give one. Do not suggest what to write.

Ask every customer the same way, including the quiet ones. A listing of nothing but praise is harder to believe than an honest mix.

Customers without a Google+ profile

Writing a review on Google needs a Google+ profile, and some customers would rather not create one. Pressing them produces exactly the new, empty profiles the filter distrusts.

Give those customers another way to help: a few lines by email that you may quote on the website with their first name, or a review on another site they already use.

Either way, the choice stays with the customer, which is where it belongs.

Replying to the reviews that stay

Google My Business lets an owner reply publicly to each review. A short, specific thank-you shows readers that someone at the business reads them.

Reply to critical reviews too, calmly and without arguing. A reply stays beside the review, so write it for the next reader as much as for the reviewer.

The counter-case

Losing three reviews out of eleven feels serious, but readers weigh how recent the reviews are and what they say, not only how many there are.

Some losses cannot be prevented: a reviewer closes a profile, or the filter misjudges an honest review that arrived alone.

That is no reason to stop asking. It is a reason to ask steadily, the same way every week, so the listing keeps gaining reviews that stand.

Asking without tripping the filter

  1. Count your reviews while signed out, once a month.
  2. Note when each review appeared and how it was requested.
  3. Keep reviews off the business's own Wi-Fi and devices.
  4. Ask each customer separately, after the work is done.
  5. Hand over a card or a link they can use at home.
  6. Never write a review on a customer's behalf.
  7. Offer another way to customers without a Google+ profile.

Step four keeps reviews standing. Separate requests produce separate reviews, written in each customer's own time and on their own account.

Reviews Yelp keeps off your main page explains why Yelp holds back reviews for similar reasons, and why it discourages asking for them at all.

Frequently asked questions

Why did some of our Google reviews disappear?

Google's automated filters remove reviews that look fake: bursts, new or empty profiles, reviews from the business's own connection, and similar wording. Some vanish when reviewers close their profiles.

Can a reviewer still see a removed review?

Often, yes. A reviewer signed in to Google may still see their own review after it has been filtered. Check the listing while signed out to see what others see.

Can we get a filtered review restored?

Not through any setting. The filter does not explain its decisions, and asking customers to post again tends to repeat the pattern that removed the first review.

Is it a mistake to email all our customers at once?

It produces a burst of reviews, often from new profiles, which the filter treats as suspicious. Spread the requests out, sending each one shortly after the visit.

What is a better way to ask for reviews?

One customer at a time, after the work is done, with a card or a link they can use later at home, on their own device and account.

What about customers without a Google+ profile?

Do not press them to create one. Offer another way to help, such as a few lines by email that you may quote on your website with their permission.

West Coast Media Solutions Inc. provides web design, web development, hosting, digital marketing, and business consulting to organisations across Canada, drawing on more than twenty-five years in the field.

Reviews disappearing from your Google listing?

Tell us how you have been asking for reviews, and we will suggest a steady routine that suits your business.

Start a Conversation