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At this date, Google is the most desirable platform for online reviews. Google reviews, basically, act like personal recommendations in an internet-driven business environment. From amplifying the business’s reputation to bringing new customers, reviews have always played the most important role in the online reputation of a brand.

Google reviews can shape any business. Unfortunately, at one point or another, your business will encounter a bad review. If you have encountered any negative reviews, here’s a Guide on How to Deal with Negative online reviews  that you should read first.

If I talk about statistics, Google customer reviews impact nearly 68% of purchasing decisions and a single negative review or a negative article can turn off up to 22% of prospects. Since Google reviews can shake the purchasing history of any product or business, it is crucial to adopt a practical approach to online reputation management for a business.

Are Google Reviews Doable?

Now the question arises is even if you encounter a negative review, is it possible to delete a Google review? Or the review can be managed without harming the reputation of the business?

All right let me tell you clearly, it is possible to delete a google rating or review. However, there is no direct method to erase negative reviews from Google’s business profile and some businesses can find the whole process a bit complex. If you do not want to go through the hustle of managing reviews, let digital promotion experts handle that for you. Also, there is no harm to the business’s reputation if there are 1 or 2 negative reviews in the line of 10 positive reviews. There are hidden benefits associated with negative reviews too, that I’ll discuss later in this blog.

A Brief About Google Review Policy

The entire process may take several days to remove a review or rating and all that happens according to Google’s review policy.

The review policy of Google makes certain that all submitted reviews are relevant, appropriate, and accurate. A review should contribute to enhancing the user experience. Google protects the content published on its platform to deliver a reliable experience to customers and businesses.

Google does not allow following types of review content on its platform. These types include:

Civil discourse

• Harassment
• Hate speech
• Offensive content
• Personal information

Deceptive content

• Fake engagement
• Impersonation
• Misinformation
• Misrepresentation

Mature content

• Obscenity & profanity
• Sexually explicit content
• Adult-themed content
• Violence & gore

Regulated, dangerous, & Illegal

• Restricted content
• Dangerous content
• Illegal content
• Child safety
• Terrorist content

Information quality

• Off-topic
• Advertising & solicitation
• Gibberish & repetitive content

 

Most of the time, any review content that falls under the above-specified categories is removed promptly through review monitoring and spam detection. Furthermore, if any review that you think is fake or unrelatable or violates Google’s policies, you can act as discussed below to delete it.

How to Delete Google Reviews

Once you encounter such a review that does not follow Google’s policies, flag that review or file a report by connecting with the support team. Here’s the step-by-step guide to follow the entire process of removing negative and fake reviews.

On Your Computer

1. Flagging a Review Through Google Search:

a. Open your computer and open the google website.

b. Search for your business profile and click on ‘view all Google reviews.

c. Navigate to the review that you want to report.

d. Click on the icon More: displayed in front of the review.

e. Click on ‘Report review’ and select the violation that it has committed.

2. Reporting a Review Through Google Business Account:

a. Log in to your Google business account.

b. Search the review you want to report.

c. Click More: and click on flag as inappropriate.

Similar process is being requested on iOS and Android devices. Though you can respond to the negative reviews and try to fix the issue that the customer has faced so that your review either can be edited to 5 stars or deleted by the editor itself.

Reach out to Google Support:

a. Visit support.google.com/business.

b. Scroll down to the Need more help? section and click on contact us.

d. Briefly tell your concern to get started on What can we help with such as remove reviews. Click on Next step.

e. Google will display resources related to your query. If you want to proceed to the next section, click on others and then Next step or just select any resource and take help from there.

f. Select Email to receive help

g. By proceeding, some questions will be prompted that you will have to answer correctly. Make sure that you had already flagged the review so that you have the required case ID to reference.

h. After the successful submission of all the details, you will receive an email from Google. You should revert to that mail to draw the attention of the one working on reviews from Google’s office.

You can also take help by sending a tweet to @GoogleMyBiz on Twitter. Also, keep the screenshot of the review ready whenever connecting with the team to make the review removal process smoother.

Can Bad Reviews Beneficiate Your Business?

Now, what if I tell you that bad reviews aren’t actually that bad? You will be surprised to know that if you get a few negative reviews on your Google business page, it can positively impact your brand and SERP visibility.

Pay attention to the fact that I am talking about fewer negative reviews. If your every other review is a negative review or you get tons of bad reviews, then it’s the time you should seek professional digital promotion help and improve the overall online reputation of your brand. Along with that, make sure that you are providing effective services as you have promised.

Now, coming to the point, why fewer negative reviews can be good for your business.

Trust me when I say that more people will trust a 4.6 or 4.7 rating than an ideal 5-star rating. This was found in a study organized by ReviewInc. Customers know that some businesses play the “review game” by providing payment or exchange for positive and 5-star reviews.

Also, the good news that I would like to share with you that ReviewInc found in a survey is that 65% of people do not leave a bad review when they encounter a negative experience. That means, the chances of getting positive reviews are much higher than the chances of getting negative reviews.

In fact, you can actually take advantage of negative reviews. Check out the following reasons why negative reviews aren’t as bad as we think.

1. Negative Reviews Bring Genuine SEO:

Reviews and ratings are key factors in increasing visibility in SERP. Google describes that high-quality and positive reviews can improve business visibility. But for the safer side, Google tends to create a necessary balance with negative reviews. It is because businesses can acquire fake positive reviews and this will highly impact SEO.

2. Negative Reviews Can Improve Business Operations:

Bad reviews are always good at one thing, you get to know what needs to get fixed. In this competitive environment, no one is perfect, but if you work on customer reviews, you will surely improve the quality of your business’s operations. Whenever you get a negative review, use the opportunity to improve your service or product quality.

3. Bad Reviews Bring Potential:

One of the worst things that business owners do with bad reviews is that either they don’t reply to them or they just revert with an egoistic vibe. Your business runs with your customers. If you have encountered a bad review, just revert to it very politely and act like professionals at every spot. Even if the owner doesn’t delete a review, he/she will always remember how you treated them and this is what your other customers will see. Unlock new business opportunities with a soft voice.

4. Bad Reviews Build Trust:

Reviews are a trust-building machine. Here, two mechanisms go in parallel. First, when your customers realize there are bad reviews too on your website, they are more likely to trust positive reviews and try to understand your business ethics. They get to know that all reviews are original and trustworthy. Second, when they see you reverting to the bad reviews and trying to resolve or fix the issue, they feel a classy vibe of the customer service. And that’s how your customers will trust you even more.

All right, so now that I have already told you the ways you can delete a Google review and also that negative reviews are also not as bad as we treat them. You need to take serious steps when you are getting too many bad reviews.

First: Hire a digital promotion service provider company that can offer you a plan to improve the online reputation of your brand.

Second: Improve the quality of your services or products and act with your customers nicely. Your customers are paying you for your services or products so keep your ego aside and present whatever you have with maximum effort.

Tips to Acquire a High-Quality Positive Review

Well, it entirely depends on how much a customer wants to rate your business. But here are some tricks that can help you in achieving 5-star ratings and reviews on Google.

1. Precisely Illustrate Your Products or Services:

When you represent the products on any online site or app, always be true to your customers. Show them real portfolios, pictures, or descriptions. When they found the products or services exactly as mentioned, you will undoubtedly receive a positive review on your Google business page.

2. Offer Premium Customer Service:

The services or products are not the only reason you get good reviews. The way you treat your customers after they encountered an issue is essentially important. Tell them that you work for their convenience and will try to do everything that can be done. Try to resolve the issue at the earliest you can.

3. Train Your Personnel Properly:

A key component in handling customers nicely is that your personnel/staff/employees should be trained properly for every work. When each member of your business is working on the same page, customers will attract to your services unquestionably and you are more likely to receive good reviews.

4. Collect Customer Feedback:

While Google works on reviews, you should actively seek for the customer’s feedback. Try to gather data as much as you can. Do genuine data analytics on the data and analyze what you can improve. Since feedback is in detailed form, you can actually catch the root cause and work on future improvements.

5. Follow Up with Your Customers:

When you work on the issues that are mentioned by your customers, always try to find the real problem. Once you get the nerve of the issue, share it with your client. Update them that you have fixed the issues and your business is always open for further improvements. The real you make them feel, the better reviews you will get.

Wrapping Up:

It is an interesting fact that reviews can be good and bad, and both can be fake and real. It is important for you to understand no review can suppress your business’s reality. You just make sure that all your business operations are going smoother. In this blog, you must have realized that online reputation can be easily managed by doing little positive efforts. There is just one mantra to achieve a superior quality online reputation- just put your business true to your customers and treat them nicely like you want to be treated.

In case you are wondering, what online reputation is and how this works. Drop your queries in the comment box and you will soon get an answer from my side.

In case you want to hire digital promotion experts who can improve your business’s online reputation, leave us an email at info@chawtechsolutions.com.