Bought a Company With a Bad Google Review Can I Get It Removed?
I hear complaints from business owners and marketers all the fourth dimension that the Google My Business organisation guidelines are ofttimes ambiguous, and I tend to agree. It can be easy to read a guideline and interpret it incorrectly.
I have learned that the key to understanding the guidelines is through time and experience. Seeing what Google volition and will not act on tin can provide insight into what things they really care about, and this can assistance you read between the lines.
Until recently, I had always assumed that reviews from former employees were considered to be in violation of Google My Business guidelines. This was based on the following two passages from their review policies folio:
- "Make sure that the reviews on your concern listing, or those that you leave at a business organisation you've visited, are honest representations of the client experience. Those that aren't may be removed." This is the golden rule at the centre of Google's guidelines, which is why the company normally removes peer reviews or reviews you got your friends to write for you lot. (Note that a reviewer doesn't technically have to exist a customer, simply they practise need to accept had client intent — for instance, if someone leaves yous a negative review considering you never chosen them back, that would still be considered a legitimate review because they intended to hire you and you exhibited poor customer service.)
- "Disharmonize of interest: Reviews are near valuable when they are honest and unbiased. If you lot own or work at a place, please don't review your ain business or employer."
My interpretation hither was that reviews left by any employee — electric current or past — would not be in line with Google'south review policies. After all, how on earth is an employee'south bespeak of view an honest representation of a client experience? An employee is not a customer.
However, when I tried to help business concern owners in getting negative reviews from former employees removed earlier this year, I discovered that Google just considered reviews from electric current employees to be against its guidelines.
Stupid, correct? I take tried to wrap my head effectually this, and I tin can't empathise what possessed Google to come upwards with that policy.
Here is a recent example. In this thread on the Google My Business forum, a business owner was trying to get a review from a one-time employee removed. They stated that the employee no-showed on her shift three times and was let go. In the review, the user states:
"Yes I am an ex employee. My stance of [omitted] was the same while I worked there as when I stopped working in that location."
She continues to argue that her stance is the same every bit the customers' and starts comparison them to one of their competitors.
In another example, an ex-employee reviewed a preschool and made negative comments about the business concern possessor and mentioned that their inability to run the school well is why they tin't keep staff.
How Google considers these reviews reflective of a customer experience is beyond me. Even so in both cases, Google refused to remove the reviews and clarified that it's not against their guidelines because the employee doesn't currently work at that place.
The good news, all the same, is that Google updated their review policies on December 14, 2017, and information technology looks like reviews from former employees are finally now able to be removed. The new guidelines are now in the Maps assist center (they used to be under Google My Business), and they note that "posting negative content nearly a current or old employment feel" is no longer allowed, as it is considered a conflict of interest.
If y'all were one of those unfortunate businesses that had experiences similar the two examples above, now is the time to contact Google My Business and ask them to remove the reviews. Hopefully, this time, you'll get an appropriate response!
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About The Author
Joy is the owner of the Local Search Forum, LocalU, and Sterling Sky, a Local SEO agency in Canada & the USA. She has been working in the industry since 2006 and enjoys speaking regularly at marketing conferences such as MozCon, LocalU, Pubcon, SearchLove, and Land of Search. You can notice her on Twitter or volunteering equally a Production Expert on the Google My Business organisation Forum.
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Source: https://searchengineland.com/negative-reviews-ex-employees-finally-googles-guidelines-288390