I’m a Level 7 Local Guide and have recently noticed that several of my negative reviews have been removed, even though they were legitimate and did not contain any offensive or defamatory language. Interestingly, only my negative reviews are affected, while my neutral and positive ones remain untouched.
It seems that some businesses may be systematically reporting my reviews, and Google appears to be siding with them. I always ensure my reviews are factual and based on real experiences, so this is quite frustrating.
I have a few questions:
Has anyone else experienced this issue? Is there a way to appeal these removals effectively? What can I do to prevent this from happening again?
I appreciate any advice or insights from fellow Local Guides or Google representatives. Thanks in advance!
Google may take down any review that google think that doesn’t follow Google’s review policies. when the business owner report it by Flag the review (On the review, click More Flag as inappropriate); after flagging the review Google investigate it though the Google’s review policies.
I appeal every time. But some of the reviews are years old, and I no longer have any proof or documentation to support them. In such cases, Google seems to require some kind of evidence, but they mostly seem to side with the business.
My reviews do not violate any guidelines, and I have no idea why this is suddenly happening so frequently. Interestingly, it only affects reviews from Germany, never from other countries. Also, many of the removed reviews were very detailed, where I had thoroughly described what went wrong.
You should not make changes to the comments after submitting the objection form. It may take up to 8 weeks for the objection form to be resolved. Sending an objection form is not the solution. Your comment will continue to be removed. Google is waiting for you to make a positive comment. This is a situation that damages Google’s impartiality.
My negative comments have been removed hundreds of times. About 100 of my comments have been removed in bulk. Even my trades comments containing semi-criticism have been removed. Do not have too many expectations from a platform where the staff on the support line provides free service.
Like everyone else, I look at Google reviews in business first. Some businesses are closing down because the reviews and ratings are so bad, and he is opening a new business, but the result is still the same.
I am writing the complaint of a woman who writes on the leading complaint site in Turkey here:
“My Google local guide and comments are not published. Today I was beaten up and I wrote to the business uploading images about violence against women, but they were not published. I was victimized and there is no criminal element, there are no insulting words. Is it wrong then? I think Google makes comments with money. He doesn’t accept the negatives, but the fake accounts are published. I’m going to pursue this.”
On the same day, he added the following to his complaint:
“I was beaten up by him in this person’s business. Google doesn’t publish this even though I’m a local guide. Please, I want it corrected as soon as possible and the honest comment that I was beaten up on to be published. Then why did you give me the title of local guide? My comment is visible to me, but unfortunately it doesn’t appear when I log out because it wasn’t posted. I’ve become even more confident, I think they don’t want honest commentators. They are not publishing my comment to a different business again.”
Of course, the comment covering a legal process should not be on Google. However, there are many people on Turkey’s leading complaints site who say that their comments have been removed. Currently, business owners in Turkey are complaining that comments made to their businesses have been deleted and their scores have been reduced.