Google probes missing reviews, pauses new reviews on local listings
▼ Summary
– Google is investigating complaints of missing reviews from Google Local listings and has paused new reviews on Business Profiles.
– A Google spokesperson stated suspicious reviews trigger removal or temporary review pauses, and incorrectly removed reviews may be restored.
– Business owners and local SEOs report reviews mysteriously disappearing and an inability to receive new reviews, as documented on the Search Engine Roundtable.
– Google’s review spam detection algorithms may be aggressively removing reviews, possibly due to spam abuse or overly sensitive algorithm adjustments.
– Google Product Expert Amy Toman noted that reporting fake reviews can lead to a full review block and reduced ratings, and Google is aware and working on the issue.
After days of mounting complaints from businesses, Google has confirmed it is investigating reports of missing reviews from Google Local listings. In response, the company has paused the ability for Google Business Profile listings to accept new reviews while it looks into the problem.
What Google said. A Google spokesperson told us:
> “When our systems detect suspicious reviews, we take a range of actions including removing reviews and temporarily pausing reviews on the profile to prevent further abuse. We are investigating the issue and will restore any reviews that were incorrectly removed.”
What is the issue. As documented on the Search Engine Roundtable, dozens of complaints have surfaced in the Google Business Profile Forums from business owners and local SEO professionals who say reviews have mysteriously vanished. Beyond the disappearance of existing reviews, many businesses are now unable to receive any new reviews on their local listings.
The root cause appears to be Google’s review spam detection algorithms, which are aggressively flagging patterns and blocking reviews on suspected Google Business Profiles. It remains unclear whether this surge is due to spammers abusing certain profiles or if Google’s algorithms were recently tweaked and are now overly sensitive.
More details. Amy Toman, a volunteer Google Product Expert in the Google Business Profiles community, posted on LinkedIn:
> “If you or a client are in this situation, you can post on the forum if you’d like, but know that Google is aware and working on it. No timeline for resolution stated yet. There is a new issue I’m seeing on Google listings, where after reporting fake or spam reviews, listings are receiving a review block and all reviews are being hidden. And in at least one case, their rating is reduced to 0. Google has been alerted and they now say they’re aware of the missing review issue and are working to resolve it.”
Why we care. If you’ve noticed that many of your reviews have disappeared this week, or that no new reviews are coming in, this issue is likely the cause. Google is actively investigating, and hopefully many , if not all , of these reviews will be restored and new reviews will resume soon.
(Source: Search Engine Land)
