Google Confirms Cause of Missing GMB Reviews – Will They Ever Come Back? via @MattGSouthern
Google confirmed the cause of missing Google My Business reviews, an issue that may not be resolved any time soon.
Several weeks ago SEOs began to notice Google My Business reviews were going missing.
In some cases it was only one or two reviews that disappeared, in other cases, all of a business’s reviews vanished.
Those who reached out to Google about the missing reviews were told it’s a bug that’s getting worked on.
Apparently, the issue is unrelated to the other recent bug with Google My Business where listings were getting suspended after adding shortnames.
There has since been an update from Google which sheds some light onto the reason why reviews are going missing.
Why Are Reviews Disappearing?
Google reached out to local search expert, Joy Hawkins, with some new information about the reviews issue.
The company says legitimate reviews were inadvertently removed from business listings during Google’s efforts to remove fake reviews.
Here’s Google’s full statement:
“In our ongoing efforts to remove fake reviews from Maps, we’ve experienced an increase in reviews being removed from businesses. We are inspecting our tools and systems to ensure that any legitimate reviews are reinstated.”
What does this mean?
If you take it at face value – legitimate reviews were accidentally removed and they may or may not be restored.
Hawkins has a different interpretation, believing that the reviews won’t be coming back.
“In my experience, when Google adjusts something that automatically removes reviews across tons of listings algorithmically, they do not restore these since they were removed intentionally.”
Time will tell whether the issue gets resolved. In the meantime there’s nothing business’s can do as the problem is all on Google’s end.
