Google reviews missing? Here are some potential explanations

If your business delivers a service, reviews make your world go ‘round. If these reviews have gone missing, this can be an endless source of frustration not to mention an inhibitor of generating new customers. If you’ve ever searched “Google reviews missing” and need answers, we’re going to cut right to the chase by offering the reasons why this may be occurring.

Web Works of Kansas City has laid out over 25 (!) such reasons. We’ve condensed them for you here, but their whole post is available for additional info. If your Google reviews are missing, let this be your troubleshooting guide:

Google reviews missing due to reviewer error

• If your reviewer included a URL in their review, Google will most likely flag it as spam and not show it
• The same result will occur if your reviewer includes a phone number
• A review cannot be an exact copy from another site such as Yelp or Facebook.
• If your reviews are coming from the same IP address, two different people using the same computer for example, Google will not show the review
• If the review comes back from a location deemed too far from your business, Google may not show it
• Users have the ability to delete their review after they post it
• If the reviewer has a completely blank Google profile, the review will not show
• If the review was paraphrasing the experience of a friend or colleague, not the reviewer’s own, it will not show
• If the review contained profane language or hate speech, it will not show
• Some business owners like to offer an incentive for their customers to leave reviews. Google does not agree and will not show reviews that are created in this fashion

Google reviews missing due to business owner error

• If your business has several Google reviews but none on Yelp or Facebook, this may be flagged as spam and thus deleted
• If the review was submitted by a Google account associated with your Google My Business page, it will not show as it will be deemed conflict of interest
• If, for example, you have an iPad on hand for your customers to submit reviews in your office, Google will not show it again citing the reason as an identical IP address
• If you have not reviewed or added to your Google My Business profile over a six-month span, your profile will be unverified, thus unable to support reviews

Google reviews missing due to Google error 

• If Google deems you received an abnormal amount of reviews over a short period of time, they will be deleted
• As with any digital entity, Google My Business is prone to glitches or bugs that may result in deleted reviews
• It is possible, although rare, that a Google employee may accidentally delete a review while performing maintenance

Google My Business is something we’ve featured on our own blog. We love it, but (like anything) it’s not perfect. We hope this post gives you a toolkit to diagnose any Google reviews-based ailments that may arise.