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How to remove a Bad Google Review in Australia
Modern society has hailed the internet as the biggest way to market yourself and your business…
…As this is becoming more and more prevalent every day, it is extremely important to keep your business presence relevant and positive online. Google reviews are a key part of the online network of advertising and promotion tools that your business should be taking advantage of.
The difficulty that comes with Google reviews can often be that people are much more likely to write a negative review about one bad experience than a positive review about many great experiences. This is the unfortunate nature of reviews. Negative reviews can have a detrimental effect on the reputation of your business and could directly impact your bottom line. This is why we believe in helping to resolve this issue.
What are your options to delete bad Google Reviews?
One thing that you should note is that it is impossible to forcibly delete a bad review on your Google Business Profile. Once a bad review is written and posted, unfortunately, it cannot be taken down by you. However, there are some options that you can consider to address this problem.
Reporting a review
If you have a reason to believe that a negative review that you have received on your Google Business Profile is not legitimate, there are measures that you can take. If you report a review, or flag it as inappropriate, there may be a chance that Google will remove it as a breach of its code of conduct. To report a review, click on the 3 dots on the review in question. Google at its sole discretion may choose to remove the review. You will be presented with the following options to report the review to Google:
- Off topic – Review doesn’t pertain to an experience at or with this business.
- Spam – Review is from a bot, a fake account, or contains ads and promotions.
- Conflict of interest – Review is from someone affiliated with the business or a competitor’s business.
- Profanity – Review contains swear words, has sexually explicit language, or details graphic violence.
- Bullying or harassment – Review personally attacks a specific individual.
- Discrimination or hate speech – Review has harmful language about an individual or group based on identity.
- Personal information – Review contains personal information, such as an address or phone number.
- Not helpful – Review doesn’t help people decide whether to go to this place.
If the Google review relates to any of the aforementioned categories, you may want to report it. This could result in the removal of the review if Google deems it right to do so.
Responding to the poster
Without getting emotions involved, it is worthwhile responding to the review, trying to fix the issue. It is best to respond quickly to bad reviews and genuinely try to help the person. If someone feels like they had a bad experience with your business, then you can try to offer a fair solution.
Additionally, other people reading the negative reviews will see that you are trying to help and will rethink how your business operates. Furthermore, you might actually get a response from the person that posted the negative review, have the opportunity to fix the problem and potentially have the poster change their review.
How you should respond to a negative review
- Try to contact the person directly if you have their details.
- Be friendly and professional.
- Provide your contact details to allow the poster to get in touch with you to work out a fair resolution.
- Remember that you need to sound politically correct and professional if you want to gain the respect of the poster and the general public that might read the review.
How you shouldn’t respond to a negative review
- Do not sound angry in your response.
- Do not pick apart their argument.
- Do not turn your reply into an argument otherwise you’ve already lost.
Reporting a legal issue
If the review is in breach of any laws, then you can report it as a legal issue. The most common case might be slander. It is illegal to be slanderous. People are allowed to express their experience with a company, however, they cannot be slanderous. That means if a negative review is fake and does not reflect an actual experience, then it is illegal and should be reported to Google. There may be other laws that a review can breach and if you notice that a review is in breach of the law, then you can report it as a legal issue.
To report any review for a legal issue, click the 3 dots at the top right of the review, and then click “Flag as inappropriate”. Then at the bottom of the list of options, you can click “Report a legal issue”. You will be taken to a form to complete to allow you to have the review removed.
If you notice that you are receiving a lot of negative reviews that don’t reflect actual experiences at your business, it could be your competition trying to sabotage your business. You can report the reviews as a “conflict of interest” issue and report it as a legal issue.
Adding more positive reviews
The other way to fight back against negative reviews is by buying more positive ones. Through this method, you may “drown out” the negative reviews with the amount of higher-rated reviews. This may prevent the negative reviews from surfacing as the most recent reviews. At Tiny People Review, we provide the opportunity to buy Google reviews. We believe that this can even out the playing field and give businesses a “fair go” at achieving a reputable online presence.