Curious to know how long Google reviews stay posted? Whether your concern is about negative reviews or positive reviews, it’s an area worth looking into.
Naturally, you want your positive reviews to stay posted so that customers will see them.
On the opposite end, you’d rather not have customers notice your negative reviews.
If neither of those applies to you, you might just want to keep the hard-earned reviews and star rating your business has obtained… which also begs the question:
How long do they stay posted?
Either way, this guide has all the answers you are looking for.
Find out whether Google reviews expire, along with how to get more reviews on Google and how to improve your Google star rating.
Do Google Reviews Expire?
The upfront answer is that Google reviews do not expire, so any customer reviews you receive will remain posted online (unless you’re able to get them removed - more on this below).
On any Google Business Profile found on Google, clicking on “Google reviews” or “View all Google Reviews” pulls up that business’s reviews, which can be continuously scrolled.
So all Google reviews for a business can be viewed publicly - no matter how old.
Also, a business’s review listing on Google is automatically filtered by the “Most relevant” (but you can change the sort order by “Newest”, “Oldest”, etc).
Google has not stated how relevancy is determined, but studies have found that date, length, locality, product/service specifics, and keywords may be deciding factors, as opposed to review likes, business owner replies, or whether the review is positive or negative.
So overall, customer reviews stay posted and are visible for all customers to see.
When viewed, Google reviews are filtered by the “Most relevant”, but positive and negative feedback are not exclusive factors that determine relevance.
Reasons A Google Review Might Be Removed
Following on from the above, why might a Google review be removed?
There is one way a Google review won’t stay posted, and that’s if the review is deemed a violation of Google’s review policies.
Google does its best to automatically detect review violations, as well as inappropriate content such as fake reviews and spam.
Still, said reviews get through from time to time, but it is possible to report (flag) reviews that you think violate Google’s content guidelines.
Reviews can be reported if they are considered spam/fake, off-topic, illegal, offensive, threatening, or a conflict of interest - to name a few reasons.
Despite that, Google has to confirm the violation before the posted review is reviewed, so reporting reviews does not mean instant removal.
Does Deleting Google Business Profile Remove Reviews?
If your business has accumulated a handful of negative reviews, one thing you might have considered is deleting your Google Business Profile and creating a new one.
Unfortunately, however, this won’t solve anything. Deleting your Google Business Profile will only take away your ability to manage it.
All customer reviews on your Google Business Profile will remain posted and therefore still available for the public to see.
Needless to say, deleting your Google Business Profile with the aim to remove negative reviews isn’t recommended.
How To Show Off Positive Google Reviews
If your business has earned an impressive number of positive Google reviews, you can rest assured that these reviews will stay posted for other customers to see.
Still, it’s only natural to be proud of your positive reviews, so there's nothing wrong with wanting to showcase your best reviews wherever possible.
This can be done by embedding Google reviews on your website, sharing reviews on social media, displaying reviews at your place of business, and including reviews in marketing campaigns.
It’s worth mentioning here that, before sharing reviews, it’s recommended that you ask your customers’ permission.
It’s also worth checking review site guidelines before sharing customer reviews on your website/social media page.
Unfortunately, there is no way to pin positive reviews or change the order of reviews on Google.
Reviews are automatically filtered by the “Most relevant”, but can also be filtered by “Newest”, “Highest”, and “Lowest”, as well as by the most common keywords mentioned in your reviews.
How To Hide Negative Google Reviews
Aside from removing reviews that violate Google’s review policies, is there a way to hide negative reviews on Google?
Yes and no.
Negative reviews that are genuine cannot be removed or hidden by business owners.
It’s possible to request a customer to delete their negative review, but you risk further damaging your reputation - especially if the customer considers it a bribe and decides to publicize it online.
In general, requesting a customer to delete—or possibly edit—their review is only recommended if you have successfully put in the effort to change that customer’s mind.
The only way to effectively “hide” negative reviews is for them to be considered irrelevant.
In fact, something you might be glad to know is that 85% of consumers consider local reviews to be irrelevant if they are older than 3 months.
So, negative reviews will become more irrelevant as they get older.
But your business can also practically hide its negative reviews by getting more positive reviews.
How To Improve Your Google Star Rating
If negative reviews are your concern, your star rating is most likely another concern as a result.
Your star rating, displayed on your Google Business Profile and search engine results pages, is the collective (average) rating your business has received from the review ratings customers have given.
Due to that, it’s an important feature because it’s a snapshot of how credible and trustworthy your business is.
And the higher your star rating, the more you can expect customers to consider and engage with your business.
But if Google reviews don’t expire, and you can’t remove negative customer reviews that do not violate guidelines, how do you improve your Google star rating?
The only real solution is to get more Google reviews.
Get More Google Reviews With ReputationStacker
Getting more reviews is the key to your business’s success - no matter whether you already have a majority of positive or negative reviews.
And, as you now know, customers aren’t just looking for positive reviews, but new, relevant reviews.
This makes it vital that your business receives Google reviews on a consistent basis.
Not only will that increase review relevancy, but effectively hide old negative reviews by making them irrelevant.
What’s the fastest way to do this? By getting more reviews with ReputationStacker.
ReputationStacker guarantees your business more Google reviews, more Facebook reviews, and more Yelp reviews, using a fully automated funnel that streamlines the review process for your customers.
You won’t have to worry about how long negative reviews stay posted or whether or not customers are noticing your new positive reviews.
With ReputationStacker, your business will be receiving new, relevant positive reviews - the kind of reviews that customers want and need to see.
