Online reviews are a big deal. As many as 84% of people trust online reviews as much as they’d trust a recommendation from a friend.
With this in mind, it’s understandable to panic when you see a one-star review pop up on your profile. Your first thought is the same as it is when you get a skin blemish or anything else that tarnishes your image: “I need to get rid of this thing!”
If you’re wondering how to remove bad Google reviews, the answer may not be what you expect.
How Do I Remove Bad Google Reviews?
The bad news is that when you get a negative review on Google, you can’t remove it. Understandably, Google wants to maintain the integrity of an open forum where customers can freely post their opinions. For that reason, they don’t remove reviews even if you believe those reviews are misrepresenting the facts.
That doesn’t make you a sitting duck, though. There are still ways to improve your online reputation when you have bad reviews.
How Can I Improve My Google Review Rating?
If you get a bad review, the answer isn’t to try to hound an unsuspecting Google customer service representative until they take it down. There are a few more productive courses of action you can take.
Post a Well-Crafted Response
You should respond to every customer review you receive, but it’s especially important for the bad reviews.
Post a response empathizing with your customer. Look at it from their perspective and be understanding of their concerns. Then extend an olive branch and try to make it right.
That approach serves multiple purposes. First, the customer might remove the negative review when they feel you’ve resolved their issue. That’s the only way a lousy review disappears from Google.
Second, every person who comes to read your reviews will see your response. They’ll know that you care about your customers’ happiness and that when something goes wrong, you step up and make it right.
Flood Your Listing with Good Reviews
The best way to counteract a bad review is by drowning it in good reviews. You most likely have plenty of happy customers who would be thrilled to share their thoughts. But you need to ask them.
While it’s good practice to ask every satisfied customer to post a review, that can be time-consuming. Instead, you can opt to hire an online reputation management company to handle this for you.
They’ll be able to design and manage a streamlined process that finds your happy customers and encourages them to leave reviews.
A word of caution, though: avoid any company that claims they can remove your negative reviews. As we explained above, Google doesn’t do this, so claims like that are untrustworthy.
Take Control of Your Online Reputation
If you’re not vigilant, bad reviews can sneak up on you. In a matter of weeks or months, you can go from a five-star rating to two stars, and your business will suffer.
The sooner you take control rather than trying to figure out how to remove bad Google reviews, the better. Start by contacting our reputation management team today.
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