As a business owner, Google reviews and the impact that they can have on your business and potential customers is significant.
If you own a business and have noticed that a few of your Google reviews seem to be missing, you might be wondering: Why do Google reviews disappear?
In this article, we will cover why Google reviews disappear and offer suggestions on how to get them back.
So, let’s get started.
Why Are Google Reviews Important?
Google reviews, and reviews in general, give potential customers a better idea of your business and whether they would like to use your services.
The importance of reviews should never be overlooked. Through a stream of positive reviews, over time, your business can build trust and credibility, making a name for itself as a reputable business.
In fact, nearly four in five people trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations from friends and family.
Why Do Google Reviews Disappear?
There are a variety of reasons why your Google reviews might have disappeared. In the majority of circumstances, reviews going missing are down to policy violations such as inappropriate content and spam.
When a review disappears because it contains spam, this is due to Google’s spam algorithm.
So, what is Google’s spam algorithm? Google’s spam algorithm helps to ensure that they are providing the best information possible to the person using Google. Essentially it’s Google’s way of identifying and nullifying spam,
As a business owner, it is important to recognize the role that Google’s spam algorithm plays in removing reviews, even when those reviews are legitimate.
Google’s spam detection scours for spam, including Google reviews, which is why your Google reviews can disappear.
There are a variety of different reasons that could lead to Google’s spam algorithm flagging a review.
If you’re unsure whether the review in question would have violated Google’s Review Guidelines, then there are a few factors that you will need to consider when you are trying to determine what caused a review to disappear.
Phone Numbers
Leaving a phone number in a genuine review is quite an unnatural thing to do, and Google can recognize this. As there’s little to no reason to include a number in a genuine review, phone numbers therefore often indicate self-promotion to Google.
As a result, if a review contains a phone number, then this often triggers Google’s spam algorithm, which subsequently leads to a review disappearing.
URLs (Web Addresses)
URLs can be a huge trigger for Google’s spam algorithm. A customer might want to include your web address in their review if they want to promote your service.
However, you should be aware that in the same way that including a number can flag Google’s spam algorithm, including URLs in Google reviews can cause the reviews to be automatically removed.
Duplicate Reviews
While your loyal customers might see promoting your brand over and over again as a good thing, duplicates of the same review on a wide variety of websites can actually be flagged by Google as spam. This is called “review syndication”.
It’s better to have your customers leave one review on one review site as opposed to copying and pasting the same review on several different review sites.
IP Address
You should be mindful that if you ask your customers to leave reviews whilst they are in your store, all of their reviews will be uploaded from the same IP address.
This can be a huge trigger for Google’s review spam detection system, which could result in these reviews being removed despite the fact that they are genuine reviews.
Making sure that you are aware of the various triggers for Google’s spam algorithm can help you to avoid encountering the same issue in the future. So, how else can you get your Google reviews back?
How To Get Google Reviews Back
Unfortunately, once a Google review has been removed by Google for policy violations, there is no way to get that particular review back as Google does not reinstate these reviews.
However, if you are aware of who left the review and you have a good relationship with them, you can consider asking them to write another review, taking care to avoid whatever may have triggered Google’s algorithm to filter the original review.
The good news is that it’s quite a rare occurrence for Google reviews to be removed. So instead of worrying about a few reviews that have disappeared, it’s more productive to focus on getting more reviews on a consistent basis.
Chances are, it’s those reviews that will stick.
How ReputationStacker Can Help Your Google Reviews
ReputationStacker is an automatic service that invites your business’s customers to leave a review by replying to a short feedback survey via email or text.
ReputationStacker automatically sends your customers to the online review sites of your choice such as Google, Yelp, and Facebook.
The system generates more five star reviews and more customers to your business, and it’s a hands-off approach that allows you to focus on other aspects of your business.
The amazing thing about ReputationStacker is that it is entirely customizable, allowing you to choose the review sites that are the most essential to your business and its growth.
As a result, the service can be used to help target specific websites where your customer reviews are lacking, encouraging new customers to try your service.
In Summary
So, there you have it. Google reviews are important to every business, however, a few reviews disappearing isn’t the end of the world.
While you can’t get deleted reviews back if they have been removed by Google for policy violations such as spam and inappropriate content.
ReputationStacker gives you a great way to encourage more customers to leave a Google review and generate more new customers for your business.
