How to write a perfect Google review
Firstly, I should mention, that Google uses an algorithm to test reviews, and even the reviews, get reviewed. This algorithm will scan the reviews looking for obvious no-no’s like swearing, racism, sexism and other general unpleasantries. We have spoken to numerous dentists that have had a review left by a patient that was never really their patient, if that’s the case then it can be a lot easier if the fake reviewer is as racist and rude as possible. That way Google will automatically remove the review without question. This isn’t always the case and it isn’t the topic of this blog!
What this blog is focussing on is the genuine, non-rude reviews that Google seems to remove from your business listing. Google reviews can go missing, unfortunately, Google themselves are not able to ascertain exactly why a specific review has been removed. So this week, I decided to call them and go through all of the different reasons why a Google review may be taken off your business page.
There are two groups of reasons that Google divulged with me:
- The Google account
- If the Google account was recently created Google will penalise it more heavily, they think it could be down to the owner making an account and reviewing themselves as an effort to make them rank higher and look better. This doesn’t mean that a new account review will be removed, but Google confirmed it will just be put under more scrutiny.
- The IP address also comes into play, if numerous reviews are being left from the same IP address, Google will again look at this as potential spam and possibly remove reviews
- The way in which the account is used, for example; if the account is (in dentist cases) leaving reviews on other competing dental practices, leaving 1 star reviews, Google may see this as a dental practice attacking another, and therefore remove the review.
2. Quality Guidelines
- The obvious ones, no obscene language, racism or discrimination
- No slander
- Google also confirmed, do not leave anybody’s full name as it can breach privacy and be automatically removed via the algorithm
- No URL’s – Google sees this as advertising and therefore will remove the review
- No business names, Google MAY leave a review if it can detect that the business name used in the review is for the business being reviewed. But this is an algorithm that may not pick up on this. It will remove reviews if it detects other business names on the review. (best not to include the business name)
This is all Google divulged with me, I asked if social media relations could have been identified. For example, a friend on Facebook leaving a review, Google explained this is not looked at. Another interesting fact which Google wasn’t able to confirm is whether the review is duplicated, e.g. copied and pasted from Facebook, or another website onto Google reviews platform. This theory is consistent for numerous clients, so keep an eye on this!
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