• The more reviews, the more information potential clients can relate to.
• 87% of potential customers will trust a review as much as advice from a friend.
• The more reviews you have the better you will rank on Google and AI
• The more exposure you will have on directories like Yelp, Yext, BBB, Bing and Google Maps

One of the strongest trust signals to Google as well as potential customers is having a strong reputation.  Years ago, people would recommend good companies to their neighbors over the fence. Today, we trust the word of strangers online. When first impressions are lasting ones, having a strong online reputation is key. Google also ranks you based upon your authority and credibility within your own community. So start asking for reviews and build your foundation for a strong online presence. 

With AI rewriting the rules of SEO, you want to have reviews and credibility beyond your own website and Google Busienss Profile. Here are a few sites that can boost your online visibility and are good places to also ask for reviews:

• BBB (Better Business Bureau) This builds instant trust
  
• Yelp (Known for reviews)
  
• Next Door (Great for job recommendations)
  
• Reddit (This site is all about peer to peer recommendations and reviews) Highly scored for link building citations
  
• Facebook/Instagram (Known for industry and location based group pages, getting online referrals here is a great authority building tool)
  
• Alignable (Business Networking tool that can grow your referral base beyond your backyard)
  
• LinkedIN (The original B2B online directory- great to get recommended here for your person and your business)
  
• Amazon ( Anyone with an online store or eccomerce platform will want to get highly rated product reviews here.)
  
• Online Publications like Best of St. Charles (Hosted by St. Louis Post Dispatch) and ALIST (St. Louis Mag) are great for getting high community engagement with your brand by asking for votes and nominations for your industry specific categories, such as "Market Boss-Best Blog" or Buckingham Pest Control - Best Insulation Company 2025

Ask for them!  When you are an established business, the easiest way to get more reviews is simply to ask your existing customer base.

• Let your current clients know where to leave a review. 
•  Your Google Business Profile generates a free QR code that you can share with your existing clients either via text, messenger or email. You can also share your link in person by handing out postcards with your your review sites on them or ask when customers leave your store or finish a job onsite to make leaving a review easy.
• Include your social media buttons on your website and posts.
• Ask your social media followers to leave you a review. You can encourage this by posting about your business in which others will want to share their thought about your products and services. 
• If you are a new business, or simply don't have many reviews, ask your networking partners who know you and the quality of your work to leave one for you. You can also ask people that you have worked with in the past and even friends, family and neighbors to leave a review.   
• Respond QUICKLY to ALL reviews
• Make sure you have a reviews tab on your business Social Media Pages

While there is no specific reason that Google gives for removing reviews from your GBP, here are some common resons.

Google removes or hides reviews automatically or because they violate its policies:

• Spam or fake content: Google’s algorithm flags suspicious or what they believe were purchased and inorganic reviews. Sometimes this works in the business owners favor as fake negative reviews can be taken down quickly and within 72 hours when reported. 
  
• Policy Violations: Did the review contain sponsored links to customer websites, self promotion, offensive language, incentivised reviews, or a conflict of interest such as an employee? 
  
• Reviewer deleted their review or account: While 64% of negative reviewers will change their review if their concerns were heard and addressed by the business, there are occasions where the reviewr may choose to remove the review completely.
  
• First time reviewer: When a customer leaves a review for the first time that is overly high or overly low, 1 star or 5 star, Google may flag this as suspicious and choose to omit the review from your business profile. 
  
• System filtering bugs: AI makes mistakes sometimes. Sometimes reviews can be flagged and removed for no reason what so ever.
  

Unfortunately, Google does not give a removal log. It's always a good practice to document everything. When a new review comes in, ask the person in charge of responding to keep a log and take a screen shot of each review and it's response. This can be useful in a few ways. 

1. Google likes when a business responds quickly, within 48 hours, to reviews and rewards businesses that do with higher ranking in the map pack and local search grids. 
   
2. You can see how your business is responding to each review. Was it a generic response or did it truly customize the response to match the customer's review. Did the response add keywords to help both Google's algorithm and AI understand what you did for the reviewer so they might better recommend you to future customers with similar needs? 
   
3. It keeps a detailed log of every review that comes in. 

When Google removes your reviews, you don't see a detailed customer list. Instead you just see that your number of reviews decreased. Because keeping a high number of reviews can impact your quality score for your ranking on search, knowing how to maintain these is an important part of your SEO marketing strategy.   By keeping a detailed report that shows every review coming in, it will be easier to determine which reviews were removed and deduce as to why. From there you can ask the reviewer to rewrite their review with new wording that reflects Google's best practices.  

Here are practical ways to check if reviews were removed from your Google Business Profile (GBP):

• Check your review count over time.  Obviously this is easier when your review count is below double digits. But, if you've been tracking your total review count, a sudden drop will generally indicate that some reviews were removed. 
  
• Rather than searching while logged in to your Google account, open an incognito browser and complete a side by side comparison. What do you notice? Take note of that. Search your business while logged in to your Google Maps Account and then, in a separate browser, do the same search incognito and look at the results side by side. If you notice any variations, this may signal filtered and or removed reviews on your account. 
  
• As mentioned previously, you can always ask your customers to resend their reviews. If you know that a customer has left a review, (Perhaps you've responded to it,) simply ask that they re-review your business. In most cases, they are happy to help. 
  
• Lastly, by keeping a detailed report of all reviews you will be able to contact Google Business Profile Support and search missing reviews or similar topics. From there, open the form and provide as many details as you can. You will want to include the reviewer's name, dates, review. Google may investigate, however they usually don't provide an exact explanation as to why the review was removed. 
  

• 9 out of 10 buyers will search for reviews before making a purchase
• 92% of consumers say they need online reviews to make a buying decision
• For a chance on ranking your Google Business Profile on the first page of search, you ideally need at least 10-20 reviews, with the idea range at 47 to really see growth. While many top players have over 100 reviews to rank on the first page of Google and AI search, ranking is dependant on industry as well as location along with other key ranking factors that go beyond your reviews.

The best responses for a positive review include:

• Just a simple thank you and to show that you care
• Does not need to beg lengthy
• No need to offer free gift certificates or products
• Best practices include thanking them for the specific service you provided as this showcases personalised responses that also include keywords to help search engines better understand what you do.

Negative Reviews:

• Keep yourself calm and try to have an open mind. 
• It's crucial that you do NOT respond with a negative tone, but instead thank them for the service and their feedback as this improves your overall service moving forward. Keep your emotions out of it. Regardless of how you feel about the situation, it is important to respond professionally at all times as this showcases your integrity.
• Include what you could have done differently and possibly give them a discount next time they come in.
• If the discussion becomes lengthy, take it offline.

How to respond to reviews from people we have not done business with. (Fake Reviews):

• Similar to how you respond to negative reviews, professionally address the review and state that while you have no record of conducting business with them, you would be happy to discuss their concerns and encourage them to take the conversation offline by calling your office. 
• Report the review using Google's reporting process.

Google Business Profile ReviewTips:

• Provide a follow up email to remind customers where they can leave a review ( This also helps your email marketing campaign)
• Respond quickly to all reviews! (You wouldn't walk away from a customer who had a complaint or paid you a compliment in public would you?)
• Rule of thumb for negative reviews: Acknowlege their pain and take the conversation offline. Resolve the problem. Encourage them to update the review.