If you’re one of many companies who have had dozens of reviews on Google but have recently seen them disappear, take heart. You’re not alone.
Since its inception in 2008, Google’s local review area has had complaints “lost” reviews. But things have seemed to be more serious with the recent change from Google Places to Google Plus Local. Businesses that have listings on Google Places previously have seen some of their reviews no longer exist. This is especially important to companies that have had reviews compiled over four years and built an exceptional online presence.
Some local businesses have reported that reviews have reappeared after a few days, but others, now months after Google made the transition, still haven’t seen their reviews return to their page. Google has issued a note to SEOs saying that they are looking at long term solutions. So what do you do in the meantime?
First, keep doing what you’re doing as a local business. Keep up your great service and keep asking customers to leave reviews. You can ask customers through social media or an email blast. Include links to help them leave you a review.
Still scratching your head about why your Google reviews might have gone missing? Here are some reasons that may apply:
- They’ve been “misplaced” by Google for any number of days. This has happened frequently with merged listings or those making the switch to Google Plus.
- In the transition to Google Plus Local, reviews marked their reviews as private.
- The review was marked as spam by Google’s spam algorithm.
- A listing can be duplicated and the review was associated with the other listing.
- The review shows in the review points accumulation, but the written review does not show.
