Various People Are Reporting Missing Reviews from GBP (Again)
Since March, there have been handfuls of Google Business Profile managers noticing that some of their customer reviews have vanished. And recently, reports have spiked again stating more are disappearing.
Here Is What We Know
- Complaints about missing reviews have been up and down since October 2021.
- Last week, a new round of reports was posted on the Local Search Forum.
- A few SEOs believe it could be Google filtering new reviews that they aren’t sure are legitimate.
- Others are also seeing old reviews with no additional text being removed as well.
- Google has not confirmed it is a bug, and some experts believe it is an intentional act to combat review spam.
- If you notice you have legitimate reviews missing, Sterling Sky details step-by-step instructions on how to contact Google in their blog post.
How Often Do Fake Reviews Occur?
According to a study by Uberall, the company examined 4 of the most popular review platforms and gathered that Google had the most inauthentic reviews across business categories (10.7%). Other sites such as Yelp (7.1%), TripAdvisor (5.2%), and Facebook (4.9%) were also a part of the study. Given this data, it could make sense that Google has put a strict filter in place.
