How to Remove Google Reviews With 2x Success Using the Appeal Form
If you’ve ever reported a Google review and were left at a loss after a rejection email, you aren’t alone. Hundreds of thousands of Google Business Profile (GBP) users are searching every month for information on how to report, delete, or remove Google reviews (many of which violate Google’s restricted content policies).
“Guaranteed” review removal scams thrive as a result, and many frustrated merchants and agencies fall victim to egregiously expensive “reputation defense” services, hoping they’ll have another trick up their sleeve.
Here’s the good news: you don’t need to. Any business owner or agency can add a trick up their own sleeve and achieve better success than any reputation service.
Why? Because Google’s review management tool and appeal form is free – you just have to know how to use it.
As someone who has reported thousands of Google reviews that were successfully removed, I’m going to help you avoid the fees and double your success by sharing tips for:
- Understanding which reviews can be removed.
- The types of evidence you need.
- Using the appeal form, common mistakes, and how to frame your argument.
Report Reviews Like a Pro
The first thing you need to be aware of is this review reporting tool and the appeal form found in the tool. It’s the first organic result when you search ‘how to remove a Google review’ (if you can make it past the ads).
Don’t report reviews directly from the review itself. Always report reviews from the tool instead. Though the appeal form is a lesser-known GBP feature, there are already many helpful walk-through guides and videos about the tool and appeal form, so I won’t get into that in this article.
Instead, I’m going to share some of my best advice on how to be most successful when using the review tool, the common mistakes I encounter, and the best kind of evidence to look for. If you want a simple walkthrough of using the tool, check out this helpful video from GBP Platinum Product Expert Joy Hawkins
Step 1: Understand Prohibited and Restricted Content Policies
Before we get into anything, you first need to be familiar with Google’s policies on prohibited and restricted content. The only reviews that can ever be removed are reviews that violate these policies. You can’t beg or pay Google to remove a review. The secret to successfully removing reviews is using these policies against Google, like a lawyer in court. The stronger case you can make (based on these policies), the better success you will have.
Step 2: Report the Review in the Review Tool
Technically, you can just report the review from GBP, Search, or Maps, but it is better to just go straight to the tool. When you first flag a review, you’ll be prompted to pick a category. You may notice not all violation categories are listed. This is a major reason you need to be familiar with the appeal form and all of the policies – some violations you can’t even report until you have the opportunity to appeal.
If you aren’t sure which policy your report falls under, just pick the closest one.
For example, the policy prohibiting ‘unsubstantiated allegations of unethical behavior or criminal wrongdoing’ doesn’t fit into any of these categories. So just pick the closest, such as ‘Off-topic’ or ‘Harassment’.
After your initial report, you’ll need to wait at least three days before you can appeal, so my suggestion would be to start this process sooner rather than later.
Pro tip: you don’t have to wait for a rejection before you submit an appeal. More on that later.
Step 3: Identify Policy Violations and Gather Evidence
When reporting reviews, Google isn’t going just to take your word for it because you say it is a violation. You’ll need evidence. Keep in mind these important points:
- Google does not verify whether an account of an experience is true or false.
- Google doesn’t enter disputes over facts between the business owner and the review.
- You do not need to be a paying customer to leave a Google review.
- People can leave reviews for any experience with your business.
- Many people use an alias as their Google username, thereby making themselves anonymous.
- In reports, Google considers the reviewer’s public username. All evidence with the reviewer’s name must be in relation to the username that appears on the review. This may be their real name, but not always, so it’s just important to keep that in mind.
- Your report should be believable from an unbiased third-party observer. Think about it like presenting evidence to a jury.
For these reasons, it can sometimes be virtually impossible to prove an experience never occurred, even if you know it is fake. To be successful, you’ll want to draw a clear line between a specific policy and your evidence.
Here’s where I have the best success or see the most mistakes:
In Appeal, Be as Specific as Possible
I mentioned in the initial report you could “just pick the closest category.”
DO NOT do that in the appeal. It’s critical to be specific now because you are submitting an argument that humans will most likely check. Explain your argument like you are explaining it to an actual kindergartener. And I’m not exaggerating. You may need to explain things that shouldn’t even need explanation.
For example, on more than one occasion, I have seen people be unsuccessful with reports when a reviewer called the merchant a “racist” or “homophobe”.
Some people quickly report this language under the ‘Hate Speech’ category.
But calling someone a racist isn’t hate speech – saying something racist is hate speech. This is an important nuance.
It doesn’t mean it’s not a violation, though. It just means that whichever Googler reviewed the report may have had a hard time understanding the violation argument. Many Google Support staff are multilingual, and English may not be their native language.
Accusing someone of being a racist or homophobic would more accurately fall under ‘unsubstantiated allegations of unethical behavior’ in the ‘Offensive Content‘ category.
This may seem like semantics. Shouldn’t Google know it’s still a violation? Well, yes, probably. But this article isn’t about that. This article is about being successful when reporting reviews, so pay close attention to category definitions and pick the right category before your appeal.
Check for Multiple Violations
I seem to have more success when there is more than one violation. In my experience, there seems to be a level of subjectivity with policy enforcement. One Googler may agree something is a violation, while another may not. Be sure you aren’t missing something secondary, even if you think there is already enough evidence for an egregious violation. It will improve your case.
Pay Close Attention to the Text
In my experience, Google first looks for violations within the review text itself. That’s why “rating-only” reviews are so difficult to remove.
The algorithm can sometimes miss language that is indeed a violation, especially regional slang. First, determine if the language in the review has a possible violation you can explain.
For example, I saw one recently that called the merchant a “crook.” Be prepared to define the word crook. It might sound silly, but again, your report may not be reviewed by a native English speaker. Don’t assume they know what a crook is. My friend and unofficial Product Expert mentor, Amy Toman, pointed out that the word crook has several definitions.
When asked to elaborate on the review text, Amy says, “You may also want to mention any nuance specific to your area or country. Words have different connotations in different countries and regions, even in a large geographic area like the US. It’s worth it to spell out the meaning specific to your area in your appeal.”
So be ready to explain the violation category and then define the word “crook” and why that is a violation in context. It’s safer to over-explain than not enough.
Because Google’s English dictionary uses Oxford Languages, I defer to Oxford Dictionary whenever possible (for English).
Becoming familiar with the guidelines can help you tell the story more effectively on why the words in a review are a violation (calling someone a crook can be an allegation of criminal behavior, but the algorithm or a non-native speaker may not catch that unless you spell it out).
This can also be true with hate speech.
“Fake Engagement”
The first restriction in the guidelines, Fake Engagement, is by far the most common complaint I see. “I don’t know this person! Remove this review!” – sound familiar?
This is arguably the hardest policy violation to prove and have success with. Google isn’t going to take your word for it. You’ll need evidence. If it were as easy as simply claiming a review is fake, there would probably be no bad reviews on Google.
Proof of fake engagement might be:
- Facebook posts or viral videos calling for negative reviews.
- Reviews that flatly say in the review text that they did not have an experience with your business, such as admitting it is based on hearsay or a “friend’s experience”.
- Having many 1-star reviews in a short time frame, when that is out of the ordinary for the business. If you get one review a month, then randomly get ten bad reviews in a day – Google would investigate that. Point out this pattern.
- Proof that the reviewer’s name matches a competitor’s name. You can reference their website, LinkedIn page, etc., which shows they are part of a competing business.
- Photos of fliers or social media posts offering incentives for reviews, such as raffles or prizes
- Evidence of blackmail demanding money to remove a review. But this won’t always work because people do try to forge these.
- Check the reviewer’s history – do they leave a lot of bad reviews for the same industry?
Saying you don’t know the person, that they weren’t a customer, or even proving they weren’t a customer isn’t enough – because they don’t need to be a customer. Fake engagement policy is more about deliberate attempts to manipulate a place’s rating, so that is what you should try to prove, not necessarily whether an event occurred or not.
Check the Reviewer Username for Pranks
It’s perfectly allowed to use an alias on your Google account. However, it can’t be inappropriate, like fictitious epithets intended as a prank or insult.
Maybe you remember when a local news station gained national headlines when they were duped into reporting offensive prank names on a live broadcast covering a plane crash.
Understandably, Google can miss nuance like this, too, and I have seen it. They don’t want to look dumb or offend their audience either, so these accounts are often suspended or hidden when reported. Be sure to explain very clearly what the name means when you report this type of thing!
Conflict of Interest
Maybe a disgruntled employee left a review. That is a violation, but you’ll need to prove it.
- Does the name match any records you have?
- Are they still up on your website as an employee?
- Does the review specifically say or imply they were an employee?
You may need to get creative. I recently helped a lawyer who received a scathing retaliatory review from an opposing party in a custody trial. The lawyer was able to supply court records that showed the reviewer’s name matched the opposing party’s and also showed the opposing party’s lawyer, who was also a competitor of the lawyer I was helping.
This is all obviously a conflict of interest, and this review was successfully removed when the evidence was shown (even after hiring other reputation companies who failed in their efforts).
Misinformation
Does the review get into stating “facts” about health, finance, or law?
Google takes this seriously. Misinformation on Google is a liability. If a reviewer says something wrong, explain how this misinformation or advice can negatively affect Google users’ health or finances.
Personal Information and Harassment
Does the review target a specific staff member by their full name or last name? This can often be removed.
Just keep in mind it isn’t considered personal information if your last name is part of your public-facing image or branding. Lawyers and doctors are a common example.
Doxxing and mass calls for reviews are also not allowed. I’ve seen various cases of viral TikToks calling for reviews targeting a merchant. Save that evidence!
Obscenity
Google encourages reviews that provide a helpful account of your experience, whether positive or negative. Using language to shock or emphasize criticism to others is often not allowed. The F-bomb or obvious obscenity is usually automatically filtered. However, some abbreviations can still be considered offensive if they portray the same meaning.
Some words or idioms may only be considered vulgar to some people or cultures, so they can be missed at first, but Google may still remove them when they are appealed and properly explained.
If you can supply documented evidence online that explains how a phrase or abbreviation may be offensive or is offensive in your region specifically, use it as evidence in your appeal.
Gibberish, Rambling, Repetitive
Again, Google encourages reviews that actually help users. Incoherent rambling, typos, or gibberish is not desirable.
You’ll want to explain to Google that this content isn’t helpful, as the meaning is difficult to understand or just plain hard to read. Point out the specific excerpts rather than the whole review.
Keep an eye out for what appear to be AI reviews or exact copy-and-paste. Google also removes these types of reviews, especially when you are able to show evidence or a pattern.
Allegations
This is an often overlooked but quite effective violation category. I mentioned it already, but it’s under Offensive Content: ‘unsubstantiated allegations of unethical behavior or criminal wrongdoing.’
The evidence of this category would be in the review itself.
- Did the reviewer accuse you of a crime?
- Did they accuse you of unethical business practices?
- Did they call you a scammer?
There is a good chance you can have these reviews removed, but usually only after an appeal.
This category is extremely vague, and even after reporting thousands of reviews, it’s still unclear where the line is drawn with this category or how “unsubstantiated” is defined. However, many reviews with allegations of all kinds are removed when you are able to explain this policy in your appeal.
Some allegations may not be considered unethical in one industry but quite unethical in another. One industry-specific example was a law firm that was accused of accepting a gift for pro bono services. In the legal world, that would be unethical and may be defamatory because pro bono means ‘for the public good’ (and strictly without compensation). Some US states, such as New York, even require a certain number of hours of pro bono work from practicing attorneys. Be sure to explain similar industry nuance whenever applicable.
Step 4: Appeal
Once you have your evidence gathered, you are ready to submit a strong appeal. Some important tips:
- You don’t have to wait for a decision to submit an appeal.
- After three days, you can submit an appeal even if the decision is still pending. This can speed things up and improve your chances of removing the review because you will be able to include your evidence. There is no benefit of waiting.
- Do not get emotional in the appeal. Stick to the facts, policies, and evidence. Pleading only distracts and will do more harm than good.
- For review attacks (getting several negative reviews at once), you can select up to 10 in the review tool and then submit the appeal. This will allow you to submit the reviews as a batch, which will be more successful than one at a time. For larger attacks, I suggest going to the GBP Help Community. For ongoing attacks, Google may be able to block new reviews temporarily.
- With a single 1-star rating and no text, it will be very hard to remove. It might not be worth the time chasing this one unless you have solid evidence the username matches a competitor or part of a coordinated review attack. It’s worth a try to flag it, but if it fails to come down, the appeal is less likely to help for no-text ratings.
Plan B: GBP Help Community
Another lesser-known option is that you can actually get one more shot on the GBP Help Community, even if you submitted an appeal and it was rejected. Product Experts, who are very familiar with the guidelines, can escalate reviews to Google if it looks like there was indeed a mistake and the review should be reconsidered.
Still Want to Hire an Expert? Here Are the Green Flags:
Not all paid services for review management are bad. Many merchants are too busy and prefer to hire a professional to handle it correctly. There are many reputable consultants and agencies available to assist.
The biggest green flag to look for is not “working for free” until removal – like the “guaranteed” removal shams I mentioned and recently covered.
As a local SEO consultant, I sometimes consult my clients on negative review reporting. But this is always on an hourly basis because it’s consulting. I can’t guarantee review removal; I just know a lot about review reporting. Many other reputable vendors work similarly, charging for time and experience, which is usually more valuable anyway.
Wrapping Up: Take Ownership of Your Review Management
Unscrupulous reputation services are investing heavily in deceptive marketing tactics to take advantage of desperate merchants and Google’s weak policy enforcement. I’ve outlined how Google review removal really works and which reviews can be removed.
Even though “guaranteed” review removal isn’t possible, you can still be highly effective – without the need to hire anyone. By taking the time to understand Google policies along with the tips and common mistakes I’ve outlined in this article, any business can report reviews just as effectively as a professional service at no cost.
Save this article for the next time you need to report a Google review. I encourage every business to first try on their own before considering paid assistance. It just might save you thousands of dollars!
