Working in the SEO space for over eight years, I've worked with Google Business listings often.
Adding relevant information about the business, photos, giving clients the link to share for reviews, replying to reviews, utilizing new features, etc.
Every now and then an inquiry would come up from a client about getting a bad review removed. Recently, clients have been telling me that their client reviews are not publishing, or got published but then vanished.
Good Reviews Not Publishing
I've worked with countless businesses who simply want their quality client reviews to appear, but Google won't allow it because of a "potential policy violation".
Every time I email a Google support team member, they reference a policy and never actually dig into an issue for you. It's painful to deal with.
They'll comment on how the policies are made to ensure a quality review landscape, but the algorithm may remove the review and there's nothing they can do about it.
It's funny to me that their current policies directly contradict their goals, achieving the opposite.
Sorry to rant, what I'm getting at is that I feel your frustration if you've dealt with this before or are currently dealing with it.
The unfortunate news here is that you'll have to ask your client to publish a review again, and maybe change it up so it doesn't get removed manually or by the algorithm.
Here are Google's policies for reviews.
Somehow, the following review from my client Sarah wouldn't go through, even though Sarah has tried multiple times to get it published (thank you Sarah you are the best!!!)
False/Inaccurate Reviews Staying
The most common problem I've had with reviews was trying to get bad reviews removed.
I've come across cases where someone left a bad review, maybe an ex-employee or someone the business was not familiar with. The business would want to get rid of it but Google would not permit it.
Anytime I reach out to Google and let them know about a review that is false or irrelevant, and many times in violation of their policies, I get another policy-focused response that isn't helpful and tip toes around the issue without digging in.
In these situations I recommend 4 things:
Reply to the review in a polite way that states the facts
Flag the review
Try to reach out to Google to see what they can do about it
Have others on your team flag the review (it's rare, but sometimes enough flags can get a review to come down)
Need help?
I'd be happy to work with you on your Google Business Profile, Reviews, creating/claiming/updating other listings and directories, and more.
Let me know how I can help by filling out this short contact form.