5 reasons Why Google reviews don’t show up
Google My Business reviews are an important part of your online presence. They help you stand out from competitors and give people confidence in your business. If you’ve been struggling to get reviews visible, here are five reasons why they may not show up on Google.
Your Google My Business listing been verified
Before getting any reviews, you need to make sure Your Google My Business listing has been verified
If your listing is not verified, it won’t show up on search results. That’s because Google requires businesses to verify their business listing for reviews to appear. This process is done by Google and not by you or the reviewer.
Google has different ways to verify a business, usually they sent you a verification code by post to your business registered address, however they can use some other verification methods.
If you are not sure if your business has been verified just log in into your Google My Business account and you will see the business or businesses you have listed and their status, this should be shown as “Verified”
Now that you’re sure your business has been verified, and yet some or none of your customer reviews just aren’t showing up, you’re wondering “why my Google My business reviews don’t show up?” below 5 possible reasons:
1. Links in the reviews
Google doesn’t like links in reviews because they can be used to manipulate search results, so links must be removed before they’ll show up on Google Maps (this applies to both text links and image links).
2. Reviewer has a low profile
If a reviewer has not left many reviews, it is likely that they have not built up their reputation score. You can see how much rep they have by looking at their profile or by hovering over their avatar.
If you’ve given them good service and they’ve interacted with you in the past, ask them to leave another review! And if not, well…you can try asking them again later when they might be more willing to do it.
3. Reviews are Fake or marked as Spam
When business owners or account admins ask friends, family members or even strangers to write positive reviews about their business so that they can rank higher in search results, this is against Google’s review policies.
Also a review can be consider as a Spam if the reviewer profile doesn’t have a name, photo or any other important info.
There are also many companies around who sell Google reviews, in most cases these reviews are detected by Google’s security algorithm as these reviews are usually created by bots into fake accounts.
A very important point to consider is that once Google detects a fake review in your account, it’s like a red light that badly affects your business reputation and may cause future genuine reviews simply don’t show up.
4. New business listing or recent move to a different location.
If you just opened a new location and haven’t been around long enough to collect reviews, it might be difficult for Google to understand your business. Your listings will show up in the maps results, but not on search pages. If this is the case, then wait a few months and try again.
To ensure that you get legitimate reviews from customers within your area (and not random people who live out-of-state), consider placing a visible QR code with your review link so customers who are visiting your shop can leave a review on Google Maps.
Additionally, make sure that your overall star rating is high enough (4/5 stars) so that people feel comfortable leaving their own review about what it’s like working with you as well as their experience visiting your store/restaurant/etc…
5. Your listing is suspended
If your listing has been suspended and you’re unable to edit it, the reason is likely one of the following:
- You’re not following Google’s guidelines. If your listing contains content that isn’t allowed by Google, such as duplicate content or hidden text, then it will be suspended. To fix this issue, simply remove all elements from your description and sitemap that aren’t allowed by Google’s policies.
- You’ve added too many images to your gallery.
- The information you share is ofensive or inapropiate.
Stay on top of your GMB listing!
Google reviews are a great way to get more clients to your business and can help your search rankings, but only if they’re showing up. But for some reviews, if the Google algorithm thinks the review or the email address used to post the review is violating any of the policies, they may be automatically removed. If you want your Google reviews to show up, stay on top of all aspects of your GMB listing and respond when necessary!
It’s important to make sure that you have enough positive reviews from real customers so that Google will display them prominently in Search Results. You should also respond to negative reviews by thanking users for taking the time out of their day to leave feedback. This not only shows that you care about customer satisfaction, but also helps build trust within our community which will likely lead back into more business down the road!
Hopefully this helps you understand why your Google review may not be showing up. Just keep in mind that you can still get reviews even if some of them have been removed by Google. If you’re still having trouble getting verified, please contact GMB support service or have a look at this guide
You can also check the Google review policies for more prohibited and restricted content which cannot be posted on your business by customers.