At least a couple of my own reviews are not showing publicly

[Brian - TGL]

I just noticed this within the last few months.

When I am logged into my personal Google account I see my detailed reviews with photos for a couple of businesses, but they are not showing publicly.

I have been contributing with the account for about a decade with a few hundred reviews, thousands of photos and a level 9 designation on Local Guides (if those make any difference in the credibility of the account?).

I inquired about one but just got a standard copy-and-paste reply each time I provided more detail:

--------------------------------------------------------------

Greetings for the day! I hope you're well.

I am Farha from the Google Business Profile Support team.

I understand that you are a Maps user, left a review on a profile and it is not live on Maps.

We apologize for the inconvenience and delay caused in regard to your issue. Please know that every time a review is left, it might take up to 24 hours to appear live on Maps. This is to ensure that reviews on Google profiles are relevant, helpful, and trustworthy.

Please be informed that to protect business owners and customers, we have systems in place which remove reviews that; include any of the following: inappropriate content, advertising, spam, off-topic reviews, or conflicts of interest. Learn more about Google content policies.

These measures help ensure that reviews on Google properties are relevant, helpful, and trustworthy.

Thanks for your patience and understanding.

If you'd like more help on this issue, reply to this email. We'll be happy to help! For help with other issues, you can always reach us via our Help Center.

Regards,

Farha

 

[Colan Nielsen]

Sometimes making an edit or two to the review will cause it to stick and go live.

 

[Brian - TGL]

Sometimes making an edit or two to the review will cause it to stick and go live.

Meaning edit two parts of the review, or make an edit on two separate occasions?

 

[Brian - TGL]

Today I just added three services that I have used (they are a mechanic near me so I have been several times). I will see if that changes visibility in the next few days.

 

[Colan Nielsen]

Editing a single review.

 

[Brian - TGL]

Sometimes making an edit or two to the review will cause it to stick and go live.

Great suggestion Colan, I just checked and it went live about 7 hours ago.

 

[Brian - TGL]

I modified another review that wasn't published. Added a line to the thrift store review itself "Plenty of things that are old and new."

Boom, instantly published!

 

[Brian - TGL]

So . . . I have seen prompts on my Pixel phone to update reviews to places I have previously left a review for.

I wonder if that has a positive outcome on new review velocity for a business.

Also, do we think it's in the best interest of the business to update their replies to updated reviews to avoid the strange look of a review labeled as NEW with a reply from 7 months ago?

 

[Tony Wang]

I agree, it does look strange to see replies much older than the updated review, so not a bad idea to update the reply. But I have never gotten notifications for updated reviews, only new ones, so I don't know how feasible it is to keep track of that.

As a side note, interesting that your Pixel prompts you to update reviews, I don't think I've ever been prompted.

 

[Brian - TGL]

I agree, it does look strange to see replies much older than the updated review, so not a bad idea to update the reply. But I have never gotten notifications for updated reviews, only new ones, so I don't know how feasible it is to keep track of that.

As a side note, interesting that your Pixel prompts you to update reviews, I don't think I've ever been prompted.

I don't know if there is anything specifically Pixel-related to the prompt, I just like to include information just in case it turns on a lightbulb in someone else's brain.

The next time I see the prompt, I will investigate and screenshot it.

I just updated a 5-star rating I posted for a company 12 years ago: 2023-09-13_21-25-52

The review I added is showing it now as brand new: 2023-09-13_21-32-01

I now manage that GBP (not from my Local Guide account) and I can confirm there was no updated review notification.

 

[Brian - TGL]

I now manage that GBP (not from my Local Guide account) and I can confirm there was no updated review notification.

Actually, there was no EMAIL notification, but there WAS a push notification from the Google Maps app that I noticed this morning.