Can this Google review be removed?
Paste the review. This checks it for the kinds of things Google's rules say it takes down, tells you which option to pick when you report it, and what to do if it's allowed to stay. It runs in your browser: the review isn't sent anywhere.
Also check by eye
- Was this person ever a customer? Look them up in your bookings or receipts. If there's no sign of them and the details don't match anything, report it as “Fake or deceptive”.
- Does it attack someone for who they are (race, religion, gender, disability and so on)? Report it as “Discrimination or hate speech”.
- Did several 1-star reviews from strangers land in a day or two? Report each one, and say so if you contact Google Business Profile support.
This looks for wording, so it can miss things and it can be wrong. Google decides, not us.
How to report a Google review
- Sign in with the Google account that manages your Business Profile, and open your profile (search your business name on Google, or go to business.google.com).
- Open Reviews, find the review, and tap the ⋮ (three dots) next to it.
- Choose Report review, then the reason that fits. The options have been:
- Low-quality information: off-topic, gibberish, repeated, or advertising something
- Fake or deceptive: not a real customer, a competitor or ex-employee, or paid for
- Profanity: swearing or sexually explicit language
- Bullying or harassment: personal attacks on someone
- Discrimination or hate speech
- Personal information: someone's phone number, address or the like
- Wait. Google aims to look at reports within about a week (reported). You can check where it stands in Google's Reviews Management Tool.
- If it's turned down and you're sure it breaks a rule, the same tool lets you appeal.
What won't work, and can backfire
- Paying someone who promises removal. Only Google decides what comes down. Nobody can guarantee it.
- Pressuring the reviewer. Offering money or a discount to delete a review breaks Google's rules, and in the US the FTC's review rule bans threats and intimidation to get a review taken down.
- Burying it with fake 5-star reviews. That's fake engagement: Google can pause new reviews on your profile or show a warning to everyone who visits it.
- Reporting honest reviews. A real customer's bad review stays up, even an unfair one. Reporting everything wastes a week and changes nothing.
When it's allowed to stay
Most bad reviews are. What changes minds is the reply: short, calm, specific, and offering to put it right offline. Future customers read your reply more closely than the review. Our guide on replying to bad reviews shows how, and the free reply writer drafts one for you. Then keep asking every happy customer for a review, so one bad day doesn't define you (the free review QR code helps).
More in Google's review rules, in plain English.
Sources
Bad reviews, answered calmly, for you
WinBack answers every review in your voice, for $39 a month plus a one-time $40 setup fee. When a low Google review looks like it breaks Google's rules, it's flagged on your page with the option to pick, and I'll report it for you if you'd like. No contract.
Not sure where you stand? Take the free one-minute review check-up.