Google Reviews Not Showing Up? Here’s How to Fix It

Every business owner knows the power of a great review. Your Google Business Profile, formerly known as Google My Business, is where your reviews and business information are kept. Your Google reviews are displayed right alongside your business listing in local search results, making them even more valuable as marketing tools than your standard referral.

However, some business owners have difficulty getting these reviews to display correctly. This could be happening for a number of reasons, many of which you can fix yourself. Learn more about what problems might cause missing Google reviews and how you can get those reviews to reappear on your profile page.

Potential Issues with Your Google Business Listing

When Google reviews go missing, your business profile is often to blame. Begin your troubleshooting by checking your profile for any of the following problems.

The Listing Information is Incorrect

If the name, address, and other contact information on your business listing does not match the information available elsewhere, customers who attempt to leave you a review may assume that they have the wrong profile. This may cause them to leave your profile without offering a review, even when they agreed to do so earlier.

You Have One or More Duplicate Listings

Many people accidentally create more than one listing for their business. Not only does this cause confusion when leaving and tracking reviews, but it is also against Google’s terms of service. Check to see if there are multiple listings for your business and request to have any extras taken down.

Your Listing Is Inactive

If you have had your Google Business listing for a long time but have not kept it regularly updated, it may have been flagged as inactive. This means you will have to re-verify your listing to get it to display reviews and appear in searches again.

The Review is Flagged

Google monitors all new reviews to ensure that only genuine, high-quality feedback ends up on their site. A review may get flagged due to potential bias (such as a review from a competitor), embedded links, profanity, or several other issues. Most of the time, reviews that trigger the flagging algorithm are not useful from a marketing perspective. It is actually best not to have them displayed as they may tarnish your leads’ impression of your business.

The User Removed Their Review

Google users can remove their own reviews at any time and for any reason. Their reviews may also be removed automatically if their account is closed. Aside from attempting to convince the customer to put the review back up, there is not much to be done about this problem.

Your Business Listing is Too New

A Google Business profile’s first few reviews do not appear immediately. Google waits for each business to accumulate around 5 genuine reviews before allowing those reviews to be displayed publicly. This helps prevent new businesses from adding piles of new reviews to their page using bots. It also gives new businesses the advantage of never appearing to have just one or two reviews, a state which turns off more leads than not having any reviews at all.

The Review Was Flagged as Fake

Google reviews can be marked as fake via automatic algorithms and manual reports. If this happens, those reviews will be pulled and looked over by a moderator. Depending on what that moderator finds, they may be reinstated or removed entirely. If enough of your reviews are flagged as potentially fake, you may even have all your reviews pulled and checked at the same time.

The Review Came From a Third-Party Site

In some cases, Google displays reviews that come from external websites (such as Yelp or TripAdvisor) instead of their own internal review pages. If these reviews disappear, it is likely because the site that hosts them removed them.

Google Bugs and Issues

Sometimes Google Business profiles are affected by bugs that disrupt their ability to receive reviews. For instance, some Canadian business profiles occasionally experience a bug that sets their location to Saskatchewan instead of wherever they are really located. If this happens to you, reset your location and your reviews may reappear.

Okay – I Am Sure My Business Page Is in Order. What Now?

If you have gone over all of the points above and have not found any problems with your profile, there may be other problems at work.

To be absolutely certain that your profile meets the required standards, consider hiring a local SEO company to help you touch up your Google profile. Google listing management services will not only keep all of your reviews visible, but will also generate more leads and help you respond positively to any negative feedback you might receive.

Potential Problems with Google Business Reviews That Are Not Showing Up

If your profile is not to blame, the issue may lie with the reviews themselves. Check to see if any of these common problems apply.

The Review Was Not Left at the Correct URL Link

Avoid linking customers to your business profile and asking them to leave a review there. These reviews sometimes fail to make it into your page. Instead, give those customers your profile’s special review link that takes them directly to your page. You can find this link under the ‘Get More Reviews’ section of your profile.

The Review Contains Links or URLs

Google does not allow links within reviews, including links to your business website. Removing the link may cause the review to appear.

The Review Was Paid for Or Incentivized

Google’s terms of service prohibit paying people to leave reviews on your page. This includes offering customers discounts, raffle entries, or small free gifts in exchange for reviews. This is a common practice that often goes unnoticed, but if you do it, you run the risk of getting your reviews removed at some point.

Be Aware of Geography

Google’s review policies involve a lot of anti-fraud measures. It has not been confirmed that location is one of them, but based on patterns that have been observed in review takedowns, it seems likely that it is. This means that any reviews coming from people who do not live close to where you operate may not make it onto your page.

Getting More Google Reviews

If your business is having trouble getting some Google reviews to show up, the best thing you can do is focus on getting more reviews overall. This will make the missing ones less important for your marketing overall. How do you get these reviews? Try these tips to get started.

Ask For Them

Many customers are happy to give businesses a Google review when asked. It is a quick, easy, and free way to show their appreciation for a product or service they truly enjoyed. If you are operating a brick-and-mortar business, consider making it easy for them by posting a QR code linked to your reviews page by the checkout counter.

Include a Google Review Link in Your Website Footer

Adding a link to your Google reviews page in your footer is another way to draw your customers’ attention to it. This strategy is less proactive than asking for reviews directly, but it is a clear reminder that reviews are appreciated. Many customers will pick up on the extra emphasis and leave you a review out of courtesy.

Actively Respond to Your Existing Google Reviews

Have you ever attempted to engage with the Google reviews you already have? If not, you may be giving potential reviewers the impression that you would not value their input. Start responding to all of the reviews and comments you receive on your Google reviews page. Be gracious and polite even when the reviews include criticism. Eventually, you will make it clear that you love to hear from your customer base. This will help people feel more comfortable leaving you feedback.

Include a Google Review Link in Your Signature

If you frequently communicate with customers through email, you can also add a link to your reviews page in your signature. This strategy works almost as well as asking directly because it highlights how important reviews are to your business.

Follow Up

Many customers who say they will leave your business a review never actually do so. However, this usually happens because they have forgotten about the matter, not because they do not want to endorse your business.

Following up with customers who have agreed to leave a review will get many of them to take action. Send them a brief email reminding them of their pledge and telling them how grateful you would be for their support. Most will recognize the sincerity of your message and gladly help you out.

How to Solve Missing Google Reviews

One or two missing Google reviews is not a big deal. It will likely take more work to correct this problem than it is worth. Instead of worrying about this small loss, focus on figuring out how you will get a steady supply of reviews in the future.

In some cases, however, you may be missing a substantial amount of reviews or appear to be unable to receive new ones. If you have gone through all of the steps listed above and have still not managed to solve your problem, you may need outside help to deal with it.

You can use Google’s official support page to submit a ticket regarding your missing reviews. Be sure to write down all of the things you have checked and any additional problems you are having to help Google’s support team get to the bottom of the issue.

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If you want to improve your business’ presence on Google, hiring professional help from WSI Comandix is the way to go. We are a leading digital marketing company within the GTA with a special focus on local SEO, including Google profile management. Contact us today and let us help you establish a strong following on the world’s most popular review site.