Reviews are the major influencers in a customer’s decision to use a business. A negative review can make a great difference between using your business or not. When the negative review is fake or posted by a competitor or a frustrated employee, it’s recommended that you address it.

What Kinds Of Reviews Are Eligible For Removal?

• Fake Reviews:

When you come across a review that you want to remove, ask yourself why it has to be removed. Determine if the review is defamtory or slanderous. If it is more of a racist tirade or personal to your employees, you can have them removed. If you are able to prove that the user has not been your customer, you can take required steps to remove the fake reviews legitimately.

• Reviews Breaking Google’s Guidelines:

If the review violates the Google’s content policies, they can be reported for removal. Reviews containing advertising material, spam content, contact information, illegal content, copyrighted content and confidential information can be reported to Google for removal.

Remember that the fake reviewers are making the effort to hurt your business, so you should take necessary steps to address the issue as early as possible.

How to Deal With Fake & Negative Google Reviews?

1. Respond to the Review:

No matter how cautious you are, your business happens to get two or three reviews that would affect your business negatively. Acknowledge the review and try to figure out the best way to change your customers’ opinion. Also provide your contact information and let them know that you can sort out the problem if they contact you.

And if you can’t identify the reviewer as your customer, acknowledge by saying “We don’t have a record of you as our customer. Regardless of that, if you could contact us, we can help you sort out the issue”. The idea is to make a genuine effort to resolve the issue, despite the review looking fake. If you don’t get any response even after three or four days of your reply, you can move on to the next step.

2. Report The Review to the Google:

Reviews left on Google Maps and Google+ are available on Google Places. In either case, you can find your business on Google Maps and check the reviews. If you would like to report a review, simply click on the little flag icon that you will find in the review itself. When you click it, you will be asked to fill out a short form and a reason for reporting it.

Google often takes a few days or even a week to evaluate your report and determine whether the review is legitimate or not. If they decide that the review is legitimate, they will leave it. If they determine that it is a fake review, they will remove it.

If none of the above works, you can get online reputation management sorted from Verve Innovation. We take a holistic approach, taking all aspects of your online reputation into account and combining social media and content marketing to ensure that your business reflects all the great work that you put into it. If you have any queries or overwhelmed with negative or fake reviews, call 1300 683 783 for a quick advice!