How to report a fake review on Google Maps
What Google removes, how to flag it and what to do while you wait.
By the GladReply team · Published · 5 min read
You get a one-star review from someone who has never been a customer. Or three in one night, all vague, from profiles with no photo and no other reviews. It is frustrating, and it moves your rating. The good news is that Google does remove fake reviews. The bad news is that it only removes reviews that break its policies, so how you report one matters.
What Google will and won’t remove
Google doesn’t decide who is right in a disagreement with a customer. It checks whether the review breaks the Maps user-generated content policy. The reasons that usually apply to fake or unfair reviews are:
- Fake engagement: the review isn’t based on a real experience, was paid for or is part of a coordinated campaign.
- Conflict of interest: it was written by a competitor, a current or former employee, or someone else with a stake in your business.
- Off-topic: it is about politics, the news or a personal dispute, not about an experience with your business.
- Harassment, hate speech, profanity or personal information: threats, insults, slurs, or someone’s phone number or address.
What Google will not remove: a genuine customer who had a bad time, a review you think is unfair or exaggerated, or a review from someone you simply don’t remember. Reporting those wastes the report, and a calm, polite reply does more for you.
Signs a review may be fake
None of these proves anything on its own, but together they make a strong case:
- You have no booking, order or receipt that matches the name, the date or the details.
- It describes a product, service or staff member you don’t have.
- The profile is new, has no other reviews, or has reviewed many businesses far apart on the same day.
- Several similar reviews arrived in a short time, often after a dispute or a competitor’s opening.
- The text is generic and could be about any business: “Terrible service, avoid.”
Write down what you find and take screenshots of the review and the reviewer’s profile before you report. If the review is removed or edited, you still have the evidence.
How to report a review, step by step
From your Business Profile (as the owner)
- Sign in with the Google account that manages the business and open your Business Profile.
- Select Read reviews.
- Next to the review, select Report.
- Choose the reason that matches the policy it breaks, for example “Spam” or “Conflict of interest”.
- Select Send report.
From Google Maps (anyone)
Open your business in Google Maps, go to the reviews, open the menu next to the review (the three dots) and choose Report review. Customers or friends can do this too, but one accurate report with the right reason is worth more than many vague ones.
Google’s own instructions are in Report inappropriate reviews on your Business Profile. If a reviewer’s whole profile looks fake, you can also report the profile itself from the Google Maps app.
After you report: status and appeal
Google says reviewing a report typically takes several days. You can follow it in the Reviews Management Tool, where each report shows as “Decision pending”, removed, or “Report reviewed – no policy violation”.
If Google finds no violation and you still believe the review breaks the policy, you get one appeal per review, from the same tool. Use it well: say which policy is broken and why, in a few factual sentences. “We have no record of this customer, the review mentions a menu we don’t serve, and the same profile reviewed six businesses in other cities that day” is much stronger than “This review is fake and unfair.”
If a review is defamatory under your local law, Google has a separate legal removal request. That is a legal process, so get advice before you use it. If someone threatens to post bad reviews unless you pay them, that is extortion: Google has a specific way to report it, linked from its help page above.
Reply while you wait
A report can take days, and it might not succeed. Meanwhile, the review is public. A short, calm reply tells every reader that you checked, without accusing anyone:
Hello, thank you for your review. We’ve looked for your visit and can’t find a booking or order that matches it, and we don’t offer the service you mention. If you did visit us, please get in touch through our website so we can look into it properly.
Avoid calling the reviewer a liar or a competitor in public, even if you are sure. If you are wrong, it looks terrible. If you are right, the calm reply already makes your point.
What not to do
- Don’t answer fake reviews with fake ones. Asking friends or staff for reviews to push the rating back up is a conflict of interest under the same policy, and can get your profile restricted.
- Don’t pay services that promise to remove reviews. No one outside Google can remove a review. They use the same report button you have.
- Don’t let it go unanswered. The best answer to a rating hit by a few fake reviews is a steady flow of real ones, each with a reply.
That last point is where GladReply helps: it drafts a reply to every review in your own voice, so none of them sits unanswered, and it holds anything below five stars for you to check first. See how it works, or read our guide on building a good review reply template.