Have you successfully removed an off-topic review?

[Lachlan_Wells]

Hi guys, I had Google reject a removal request that I was certain would go through today. While I don't want to indulge in a "my GMB support story is worse than yours!" bitchfest, I'd really like to hear from anyone who's tried to remove a review recently. Did you succeed, or have you decided to give up after a certain point?

Here's my example. The business is MJH Group, a marketing agency in Melbourne, who received the review below.

Near Sydney there is a construction company that's also called 'MJH Group' (no affiliation), so the review was obviously for them.

I gave the spam team all the info they needed (links to both profiles) and used the right forms, but the response was "this doesn't violate any of our policies". I responded to the support team member with a link to the section of the policies that explains exactly why this will be taken down, rejected again for the same reason.

 

[keyserholiday]

Here is what you’ll need to do.
Step 1. Go the Google My Business (GMB) forum and create a new thread asking for help.
Make sure that you include the following information:
Business name
Address
Phone number

The same information of the business in question that the review belongs too.

Step 2. Ping me with the link to the thread and I’ll handle the rest.

Please make sure that you have flagged the review and have waited 3 days too. You can also reply to the review and advise them that they reviewed the wrong business. They will be notified of your response via email. Make sure that you remain polite and cordial too.

 

[innateseo]

No, it's not possible on any platform. The only thing I've successfully done is just changing the name of the business listing to get rid of a flurry of fake reviews.

The good news is, you can just get good reviews to cover the bad ones, it's really not that hard you just have to be proactive about it, and don't be afraid to ask people.

 

[keyserholiday]

I respectfully disagree. I have had countless success getting fake and negative reviews removed. I have assist businesses that have been attacked after going viral to get their reviews removed and get their accounts locked down. This review has a 97% chance of being removed.

I don’t understand how changing the business name fixes anything. The old reviews will still show up on the listing and impact the results. That also sounds like a black hat tactic that can cause a listing to become suspended too.

 

[Lachlan_Wells]

Thanks for the responses guys. I really appreciate your offer to help Keyser, however I'm afraid I've done everything already:

1. Flagged the review
2. Waited more than 3 days
3. Contacted GMB support
4. Provided evidence and links to the policy it violates
5. Appealed the decision

I'd love your help, but unless you know someone on the spam team and can somehow ensure the ticket is assigned to them, I suspect you'll get the same copy paste responses I've had.

Instead of going in circles on this one issue, I'd like to see if others are having as much difficulty as I am getting Google to enforce their own policies. Do you think the spam team is widely undertrained and understaffed, or am I over-reacting? This error message in my GMB console suggests they don't have the resources to deal with the current volume of reports.

 

[keyserholiday]

I am a Google My Business Product Expert and I can communicate directly with the spam team. You have absolutely nothing to lose by allowing me to try. You haven’t tried every yet. You still have several options left available to you.