If you have recently added your business to Google and you do not see your Google reviews, don’t worry. You’re not alone! Many companies have complained that their reviews aren’t appearing on the search engine, even though they have followed all the necessary steps. In this blog, we will explore possible reasons and offer solutions for the most common issues.

What Are Google Reviews?

Google Review is about reviews and ratings a business user leaves on Google. They appear on the business’s Google Maps listing, Knowledge Panel, and search results. Customers can read reviews to get more information about a company before they visit it. Businesses can proactively solicit customer feedback through surveys or other means.

Importance of Google Reviews for a Business

Google reviews are an essential part of local SEO. Google ranking algorithms look to review stars, the number of reviews and the ratings as a source of trust. Consumers are more likely to share content peers share than the brand itself. You must list your business on Google and ask your clients to leave a review. If customers rate you highly, you’ll find your Google reviews on GMB (Google My Business).

• Transparency

Reviews play a vital role in creating trust between customers and the brand. Studies have shown that when customers read a good review of a product or a service, they are more likely to try it out or revisit the store. Users perceive a brand with positive thoughts from its customers as honest, loyal and reliable. The more positive Google reviews for a business you receive, the better it is for your business.

• Online Exposure

An increase in the credibility of your brand leads to increased sales and satisfied customers. The recently launched Google review extension allows customers to seamlessly share their experience with you on Google Search, Gmail, YouTube and more. This will enable you to show your business’s personality, transparency and expertise. 

• Customer Service

Make sure you are active and reach out to customers with complaints or praise for your business. You must respond to your reviews in as timely a manner as possible. If a customer gives feedback about your product, try to fix the issue and make sure you notify them of its resolution. Not only will this create a positive impression on them, but it will also help you increase exposure on Google.

• Click-through Rates

Creating a Google Adwords or search engine marketing campaign is one of the most significant ways to get traffic to your website. This campaign aims to increase your website’s visibility in search results and get more clicks from netizens. When you upload a business listing in Google, it will show up in search result pages, such as when someone searches for restaurants near their location. Click-through rate (CTR) is the amount of clicks that lead to an action divided by total impressions or hits.

How Long Does A Google Review Take To Show Up?

It’s difficult to say precisely how long it will take for a Google review to show up, as it can vary depending on several factors. Generally, it may take several days or longer for a new review to be reviewed and posted by Google. However, other issues could be at play if you are experiencing a delay that seems unusually long. Google’s review process may take longer than usual for a high volume of reviews, or there may be other technical issues causing delays. If you are concerned about the delay in your review is posted, you may want to try contacting Google directly for further information.

Why Aren’t My Google Reviews Not Showing Up? 

If your Google business review needs to appear on search results, there are several reasons why this might happen. The most common sense for a negative review not appearing is that it violates the guidelines Google set out in the first place. Here are some common reasons your business review may not show up:

1. Review From a Fake Google Account

Many businesses need to learn they can get penalized by Google for fake reviews. And that’s because customers do not write these reviews or use the business’s IP address when submitting a review. If you have noticed that your reviews work on Google and Yelp but are not showing on google maps, there could be something wrong with these reviews.

2. Reviews with Links and URLs

Google uses a comprehensive filtering system to provide helpful, relevant reviews to users. While we encourage people to post links in their reviews, we also have filters that automatically remove reviews with promotional content. Google wants every review in our database to be genuine feedback regarding a specific business. When they see any form of promotion in a review, they consider this untrustworthy and delete it. Contact the customer who posted the review and ask them to re-post it without any links or other promotional aspects.

3. Reviews have Restricted Content

Your google review not showing up might be that Google closely inspects the content of the reviews and has a right to delete your review. If it contains promotional offers or restricted content, including:

• Alcohol
• Adult services
• Tobacco
• Guns
• Gambling
• Financial services
• Pharmaceuticals
• Health and medical devices

Google has a zero-tolerance policy for reviewing spammers. To curb the rise of fake reviews, Google does not allow any attempt that looks like it may have come from someone who did not purchase or use a product for real.

4. Reviews Havw Illegal Content

Google’s policies on illegal content are designed to ensure that we can remove content encouraging or promoting unlawful acts. The criteria below help us make that determination, but they aren’t an exhaustive list of all things considered illegal by Google, such as

• Content that is either given by a terrorist organization or indicates terrorism
• Promotion of any illegal products and services
• Contents that potentially promote sexual torture, physical violence, or mental abuse.
• Images or other content that has highly dangerous and contains illegal acts such as human trafficking, etc. 

To increase your reputation, it’s wise to do so naturally by encouraging prospects or customers to leave reviews. However, a large influx of new reviews within a short period can make you appear suspect to Google, as if someone has used a fake account or automated systems to generate the reviews. As a result, some or all of your new reviews could get deleted from the site.

 5. Reviews Might Have Dangerous or Derogatory Content

Google Reviews has a strict policy on handling prejudicial and unsafe content. It will immediately remove the review if it contains damaging information that threatens to harm you or someone else. Furthermore, Google will also terminate any reviews that are discriminatory or hateful against a specific demographic

6. Same Business, New Location

Reviews are essential to your business. If you have moved and kept the same name and address, Google should automatically transfer reviews to the new location. If Google doesn’t automatically transfer reviews to the new location, send a report using the Report a Problem link and provide information about your new business location. Remember that moving to a new place means re-verifying your listing as well.

7. Reviews Have Bad Grammar and Misspelled Words

You may have noticed that Google has removed or modified a review. This is because it falls below the minimum standards for published reviews on Google. The reasons could be that the reviewer encountered a problem and the quality of your solution was not up to par, or they didn’t get what they expected from your company in terms of service or delivery. This can also be due to bad grammar, misspelt words, or if a review is 100% grammatically correct. Even though you are shocked that this could happen at first, it’s important to remember that this will not harm your overall star rating because Google does not remove positive reviews.

8. Reviews Have Political Statement

There are many reasons why a Google review may not show up. One reason is that it includes a political comment, which is inappropriate for a business review. If this is the case, one should remove the political statement and post it again. Another reason why the positive yelp review for my business did not appear on Google is that I had to wait six months before seeing it on the map. As already stated, the main focus of reviews is to get genuine feedback and experiences from individuals who have interacted with your business or organization.

9. Reviews Posted from a Newly-made Google Account

Google will likely erase a review if the author of the profile newly created their account. This is because they want to maintain their high standard of customer service, which means that Google prefers to show reviews left by people who are unlikely to be trying to omit negative feedback or post fake reviews.

The fact that Google does not allow agencies or freelancers to buy client reviews makes sense, given that the owners may be less prone to such fraudulent activity. It may not be safe to buy reviews for your business and claim that you do it to improve your ranking in Google. Such practices can lead to a penalty from Google. This isn’t just about relevance but also about honesty. If a review isn’t genuine and authentic, then there is no chance it will withstand a manual investigation.

10. Reviews from Third-Party Sites

Reviews from third-party sites like Yelp, TripAdvisor and Facebook are no longer factored into Google’s local search results. This means if you have a review from one of these sites that appeared on your page when Google used this data, you won’t see it on Google anymore.

11. The Review is Not Deleted by Google But Delayed

In some cases, some reviews are delayed by Google. This occurs when a review does not stray from the official guidelines set by Google and is approved — but the review sat in moderation for several days or weeks before it was posted. Don’t worry — your review will inevitably be posted to your Google Business Profile.

There are several reasons why Google reviews may not appear on your company’s listing in search results. But more importantly, there are plenty of ways to get them to return. Your Google reviews are essential to your company’s online business. Therefore, you want to maximize their impact while minimizing the time and labour you put into gathering them.