{"id":2806,"date":"2020-09-23T20:18:37","date_gmt":"2020-09-23T20:18:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/beyondbluemedia.com\/?p=2806"},"modified":"2020-09-23T20:18:37","modified_gmt":"2020-09-23T20:18:37","slug":"how-to-manage-negative-reviews-on-gbp","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dev.beyondbluemedia.com\/index.php\/2020\/09\/23\/how-to-manage-negative-reviews-on-gbp\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Manage Negative Reviews on GBP"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

No business owner wants to see a negative review suddenly appear on their page after they tried their absolute best to build up their reputation. Especially when you\u2019ve been trying so hard to optimize your digital assets<\/a> for reviews.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But, if you see a negative review: don\u2019t panic<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s typical to receive negative reviews. The real problem with removing reviews is: was the negative review warranted?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Various platforms showcase business reviews, but Google Business Profile<\/a> (GBP) is one of the most important digital assets to improve your ranking and reputation. Why?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Google is the top review site online<\/a>, making it the go-to source for customers looking for local businesses they can trust. This means that sites like Yelp and Facebook are placed on the back burner for most online users when it comes to searching for reviews. This is because you either have to go open your app or find Yelp ON GOOGLE<\/strong> in a section underneath where local business lie.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On top of all this\u2026 reviews help you rank on Google\u2019s Map Pack (the top 3 GBP listings visible when searching for a localized keyword).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Reviews on Google Business Profile are one of the most important ranking factors when it comes to ranking in Google Maps. So, when a negative review comes your way, of course, you\u2019re going to be freaking out. You might even think about finding the reviewer in person and telling them a thing or two.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Just don\u2019t. <\/strong>I\u2019ll explain why\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Side Effects of Negative Reviews<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Now, it\u2019s true, negative reviews directly affect your business in a multitude of ways.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n
  1. You\u2019ll likely lose your ranking<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  2. You may lose customer trust<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  3. You might lose business<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    However, that\u2019s only when you have a very skewed <\/em>negative-to-positive review ratio. The majority will always hold the most weight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Let\u2019s say that you have 100 5-star reviews and you just got your first 1-star rating. Your 5.0-star rating will probably move down to 4.9, but only for a moment. If you have such an outstanding reputation online, a single 1-star review won\u2019t hurt your reputation<\/strong> in the long run.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    On the other hand, let\u2019s say that you have 5 reviews and 4 of them are 5-stars while the last is 1-star. In this scenario, you\u2019ll move down to a 4-star rating tier.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    You see, the more high-rating reviews you have on your GBP, the less impact the negative review has on your business. The only time<\/em> that it makes a huge impact is when what\u2019s said<\/em> is just over-the-top horrible – like someone saw your employee smacking a customer and wrote about it is considered a really bad scenario.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    So yes, negative reviews can have negative effects on your business profile and performance, but there are ways to work around this problem.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    How to Remove Negative Reviews<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

    Let\u2019s be clear, this guide won\u2019t help you remove a review that you rightfully deserve. Sorry, but if you are trying to find that \u201csecret sauce\u201d to remove a warranted negative review, there\u2019s no such thing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Also, I encourage you to stop trying.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Rather than hiding or fighting the review, it would be better to handle it responsibly by just responding and apologizing. Trust me, that works!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    If you didn\u2019t deserve the negative review or the person has the wrong business listing, you\u2019re in luck! You can totally have these removed, however, it could<\/em> take some time before Google removes them. And, sometimes, it takes proving to Google (as it\u2019s a 3rd party review site) that the review should be removed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    There are a couple of ways to remove negative reviews.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Flag or Report Negative Reviews<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

    The most common way to remove a review is by flagging it. This is as simple as clicking on the 3 bullets on the right-hand side of the review under the Reviews<\/strong> management section in your GBP dashboard.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

    Click \u201cFlag as inappropriate\u201d then follow the prompts until you make it to the reason why<\/strong> page.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Following Google\u2019s policies and guidelines<\/a> for flagging inappropriate reviews, choose the most relevant reason why it should be removed. You need to be very truthful about the reason, otherwise, Google won\u2019t have it removed because you selected the wrong reason. Remember, you can only choose one reason for each time you flag the review, so make it count.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    After you\u2019ve chosen the reason, click on the \u201cReport<\/strong>\u201d button, then wait for Google to (maybe) remove it. You won\u2019t be notified if it\u2019s been removed, so just keep checking back in to see if it\u2019s gone. Keep doing this process until it\u2019s been removed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    You can continue flagging the review if Google responded to you stating that it couldn\u2019t verify your request for removal. However, spamming the flag button won\u2019t increase your chances of having it removed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    My suggestion to help the process go smoothly is to just respond back to the review as soon as it appears on your listing. Be respectful, even though you\u2019re upset, and directly include the reason(s) as to why the review is inappropriate for the listing in the response. This helps Google Support understand both sides of the story.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    What\u2019s also helpful is when the reviewer doesn\u2019t include a comment or reasons for the review and just selects a lower star rating. Then, Google only has your story to go on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Details definitely matter!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Contacting Google Support<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

    If you\u2019ve already flagged the review and it hasn\u2019t been removed, then the next step is to directly contact Google Support.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    WARNING:<\/strong> They\u2019re not the best at helping you and they\u2019ll typically take up loads of your time. You can either call them or send in a contact request. Then, pray that they contact you. Or, just hire someone who is experienced in GBP management to take care of it for you so you can keep more of your important time on other matters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    No matter what, if the flagging didn\u2019t work, trying to contact and persuade a Google Support member is going to be very difficult. They will typically want even more details than what\u2019s already in your response. Also, they just really don\u2019t want to remove reviews because they\u2019ll claim that they are a \u201c3rd party review site\u201d that can\u2019t \u201cprove the review is wrong.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    After some battling with them, you can get it removed<\/strong>. Just expect to spend a lot of time working with Google on the removal process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Add More Reviews<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

    If the previous tactics didn\u2019t work, never fear. While you might not be able to get the negative review removed, you can definitely push it down and clutter your listing with so many positive reviews that the ratio takes a turn for the better.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    How can you do this? Get more 5-star reviews!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    As I said previously if you have more 5-star reviews and continuously acquire them, your rating with automatically climb, and the negative review will be pushed down.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Eventually, you\u2019ll get so many reviews that the 1-star review will almost be invisible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Key Takeaways<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

    Remember, you can\u2019t remove a negative review if it was warranted<\/strong>. The deed is done, now it\u2019s time to move on with dignity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Respond to all reviews.<\/strong> Users that see reviews will see your response to each review. If you keep up your character and tact in your responses, customers will respect you more. Also, this sends signals to Google that you are interactive and engaging with your local community.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Flag reviews first<\/strong>, before you contact Google Support to save yourself a headache.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Finally, always be pushing for positive reviews and ratings<\/strong>. If you are funneling 5-star or even 4-star reviews constantly, that one negative review won\u2019t do much.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Keep hustling and good luck!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    No business owner wants to see a negative review suddenly appear on their page after they tried their absolute best to build up their reputation. Especially when you\u2019ve been trying so hard to optimize your digital assets for reviews. But, if you see a negative review: don\u2019t panic. It\u2019s typical to receive negative reviews. The […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5756,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2806","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-marketing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev.beyondbluemedia.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2806","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev.beyondbluemedia.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev.beyondbluemedia.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.beyondbluemedia.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.beyondbluemedia.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2806"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dev.beyondbluemedia.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2806\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev.beyondbluemedia.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2806"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.beyondbluemedia.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2806"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.beyondbluemedia.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2806"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}