How to Delete False Negative Reviews on Google

According to a BrightLocal Consumer Review Study, 91% of consumers, between the ages of 18 and 34, trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations. What does this mean for you? It means that you should have a reputation management system in place to ensure that your reviews will attract potential patients.

But what if you have a negative review? Well this can be a bit tricky as there is no ethical way to remove a negative review, UNLESS you can prove that it is fake. For a normal negative review, it is best to respond directly to the customer, determine the issue, and resolve it either publicly or in private. 

But, let’s go back to addressing fake negative reviews. If you notice a negative review on your Google My Business from a user that you’ve never done business with, you may be able to have it removed. Believe it or not, this happens often and is a violation of Google’s review policies. 

Before taking the issue directly to Google, be sure to check a few things to ensure the review is indeed fake:

1. See if they are in your patient management system
2. See if your customer service team has them in their system
3. Check to see if the review has specifics about their experience or is generic in nature
4. Ensure there was not a sudden influx in negative reviews within a short period of time
5. Check to see if the review tries to direct users to a competitor of yours

How to Report a Fake Google Review

Now that you’ve determined that the review is fake, it is time to report it:

1. Find the review via Google Maps and click on the three dots to the top right, click “Flag as inappropriate”
2. If you know that the review was left by a competitor, consider reaching out to them directly and ask them to take it down from their end. If they are resistant, consider reporting the business to the Better Business Bureau or even your Local Chamber of Commerce.

How to Remove Negative Google Reviews

Now that you’ve flagged the fake review, let’s go over how you can ask Google to potentially remove it. But first, make sure that the review violates Google’s guidelines, including:

• Spam or fake content
• Off-topic
• Restricted content
• Illegal content
• Sexually explicit content
• Offensive content
• Derogatory content
• Dangerous content
• Impersonation
• Conflict of interest

Once you’ve ensured there is a violation and the review has been tagged, follow these steps to initiate Google’s removal process:

1. Login to your Google My Business profile
2. Click “Support” in the navigation panel
3. Click “Need more help” 
4. Click “Customer reviews and photos”
5. Click “Manage customer reviews”
6. Click “Email support”

When emailing the Google support team, make sure to include all of the information you’ve compiled that proves the review is fake and in violation of their review policies. If you can prove that the review is slander, you can fill out Google’s removal request form as well. 

If Google finds that your report was valid, they will be in contact to let you know further details.

Generate More Positive Reviews

In the meantime, you can counteract the repercussions of negative reviews by generating more positive reviews!

Our ReviewIQ service makes it easy to generate new reviews by automating review link invites via email or SMS. Automatically send out review invites when patients are checking out and capture their responses on the sites that matter most to you, such as Google, Healthgrades, Vitals, Facebook, and more!

How to Respond to Negative Feedback: Step-by-Step

Responding to negative reviews can be tricky. You can’t get upset and react irrationally, yet you need to respond promptly in order to salvage your doctor-patient relationship. By waiting to resolve the issue, you risk prospective patients running into the negative review and ruling out your practice. Therefore, you must learn how to respond to negative reviews appropriately.

1. Respond promptly

First and foremost, when you see a bad review, you cannot wait to react. It should take priority and you should immediately start planning your response. Read the review several times and try to control your emotions. You may find that the reason for their complaint was entirely out of your control. At this point, it doesn’t matter. What matters is that you mitigate the repercussions of the public grievance.

2. Acknowledge their grievance

We get it, you run your practice with the intention of giving your patients only the best service. You’ve planned out the check-in process, scheduling system, and every other client-facing process. But that doesn’t mean that your plan is fool-proof. People have bad days and every business eventually deals with negative feedback.

So, again, read their complaint objectively and acknowledge how you could have provided better service. Or determine if there was a miscommunication somewhere down the pipeline that caused their poor experience.

3. Apologize and sympathize

Next, you should apologize for any wrongdoing on your part, even if it wasn’t intentional. Perhaps the patient experienced elongated wait times that was due to you being short staffed. That is not necessarily your fault, but it did impact the patient experience. Therefore, you should issue an apology, even if it means putting your ego aside.

4. Take responsibility

As a part of your apology, make sure you are taking responsibility for the poor service. The last thing your patient wants to hear is an excuse or you get defensive. Instead, try to remain objective and determine how the situation could have been avoided. Make sure to reiterate your practice’s quality standards and how you intend to uphold them.

5. Give an explanation

If the reviewer is not satisfied with your apology, then provide an explanation as to why they received the service that they did. Were you understaffed? Was there a miscommunication? Did your staff have a bad attitude? Whatever the circumstance may be, explain what happened and reiterate your apology. However, it is important to not justify the behavior but rather explain what caused it.

6. Continue the conversation privately

Remember, the review and all of your responses are public, which can be a double-edged sword. If you are able to deescalate the situation and resolve it amicably, it shows prospective patients your professionalism. On the other hand, if the situation escalates then it can hurt your reputation. If you see the situation turning sour, request to take the conversation offline and handle the matter privately.

7. Implement change

Last, and certainly not least, right the wrong and implement changes you deem necessary. This may mean offering a refund, discount on their next visit, or changing your processes to ensure the situation doesn’t occur again.

And there you have it! Seven steps on how to respond to negative reviews. If you want to further improve your reputation management practices, make sure to check out our service ReviewIQ which automates review link invites and alerts you whenever you receive a new review!

How to Use Bad Reviews to Your Advantage

Some businesses have reservations about review management solely because they fear the impact of negative reviews. We get it. But, in reality, companies can use negative reviews to better their customer service and even their business model. 

Negative reviews are inevitable. People have bad days, customers get impatient, and accidents happen. The most important thing is how you react and utilize bad reviews. Let’s go over why negative reviews are actually good for your business.

Negative Reviews Makes Your Business Look Authentic

When customers see a business with hundreds of perfect, 5 star reviews, they get a bit suspicious. Are these reviews fake? Is the business legitimate? It is the negative reviews sprinkled in there that make your business look authentic. And they actually make the good reviews look even better. 

Negative Reviews Aid the Purchasing Decision

When prospective customers are deciding whether to make a purchase or patronize a business, they look for negative reviews to determine what the worst case scenario could be. Do the negative reviews complain about long wait times or a more serious issue?

Many companies are surprised to find that the majority of negative reviews are not because their product or service was bad, but that it didn’t live up to the customer’s expectations. Yotpo sifted through 1.3 million bad reviews and found that the most common negative word used was “disappointment” or “disappointed.”

These reviews help give other customers better expectations and allow you to improve your products and services. 

Negative Reviews Allow You to Build Trust 

In addition to the negative review itself, potential customers want to also read how the business chose to respond. Customers expect businesses to respond to negative reviews and resolve the issues in any way possible, even if it is just an explanation.

For example, if a customer receives their package late, they aren’t always looking for a refund. A lot of the time explaining supply chain issues or other causes is enough.

All Reviews Help with SEO

You know how people say there is no such thing as bad publicity? Well, it’s true–at least in the sense of search engine optimization, SEO. Regardless if you get negative or positive reviews, the fact that people are generating content using your business’s name enables search engines to boost your online listing. Your business’s name is your primary keyword, so whether someone uses it in a positive or negative manner, it doesn’t matter. Platforms, such as Google, tally up how many times your name is used and ranks you accordingly.

Negative Reviews Provide Honest Feedback

Some bad reviews are the result of a one-time accident or grumpy customer. However, valid reviews give you valuable insight into your business. Look out for consistent reviews regarding the same issue, from complaints about a specific employee to comments on different services. Perhaps you need to work on your wait times or need to improve your facilities. Whatever the issue may be, keep an open mind and objectively address it.

How to Handle Negative Reviews

Responding to bad reviews can be tricky and needs to be handled on a case-by-case basis. But, here are some things to keep in mind: 

1. Stay calm. It is easy to get frustrated when dealing with negative reviews, it’s understandable. But the worst thing that you can do is respond defensively. 
2. Keep your negative reviews. It is tempting to remove negative reviews, but remember that they are actually good for your business. Of course, there are exceptions, and you should report negative reviews that are either untrue or malicious.
3. Respond publicly. You may not want to draw attention to bad reviews by responding but not responding actually looks worse. Carefully calculate your response and resolve the issue publicly. 
4. Learn from it. Take the negative review as constructive criticism. Find how you can improve your products, services, and business processes.
5. Follow up. After you respond, make sure to follow up with the unhappy customer to ensure the issue is resolved. This could win them back.

The main takeaway is that negative reviews are not the end all be all. You can actually use them to better your business.

Reputation management, brand management, review marketing–we hear these words time and time again, but what do they really mean? And how do businesses actually manage their reputation?

Well reputation management is how businesses control how their clientele and prospective customers perceive their business. And what is often the first thing that people see when looking up a brand? Their reviews. 

Bright Local found that approximately 93% of consumers use reviews to make a purchasing decision. So if you don’t have a positive review history, you are significantly less likely to attract new customers.

Review management is mostly a reactive approach, as businesses typically monitor and respond to reviews after they’re posted. However, some companies have taken it upon themselves to get in front of the situation to mitigate potential negative reviews.

Companies that Successfully Use Reputation Management

You more than likely have already encountered reputation management. If not from the business-side then definitely from the consumer perspective. 

Have you ever been at a restaurant and waited so long that the manager offered to comp your meal? That probably stopped you from leaving an angry rant on Yelp, didn’t it? Regardless of whether or not you are willing to return to the restaurant, your experience remains unknown to potential customers. 

This is just one example of how businesses maintain their image. Here are some well-known companies that actively use reputation management:

Nike

In addition to review sites, many customers also report to social media to air out their grievances. This is precisely why Nike has decided to employ an entire Twitter support team to immediately address customer complaints and concerns via Twitter. This way, if someone has some choice words to say, a person is on standby to rectify the situation and preserve their online appearance.

Starbucks

Starbucks has become a coffee king and they have really stepped up their customer service in an effort to keep the crown. In the case where a customer is dissatisfied with their beverage, experiences an elongated wait time, or other inconvenience, Starbucks pays for their order.

Snowbird

Snowbird ski resort took an unorthodox approach to responding to negative reviews–they broadcasted them. Yes, Snowbird launched an entire marketing campaign centered around making fun of themselves by promoting their worst reviews. While it paid off, we don’t advise doing this unless you have a solid understanding of your audience and an amazing sense of humor.

Examples of Poor Reputation Management

On the flip side, there are plenty of companies that attempted reputation management but ended up tarnishing their image further. Here are some real-life examples of what not to do:

United Airlines

United Airlines suffered a tremendous loss of revenue and customers when the Flight 3411 incident went viral. If you are unfamiliar, United Airlines employees were filmed forcefully removing a passenger from the plane. This one incident cost the airline nearly $1 billion in value.

After the video went viral, the president of the company released a letter making excuses as to why the employees acted the way they did. This did not go over well. People were furious and the airline lost even more patrons.

Nestle

Back in 2010, in the midst of the Going Green movement, Nestle was outed for sourcing palm oil from unethical suppliers. Rather than addressing the issue outright, they went through their social media deleting comments and leaving sarcastic responses, but people quickly caught on.

Needless to say, this is not how you maintain your image or do damage control.

Reputation management is very powerful. It impacts your customer retention and customer appeal. Before launching a brand management campaign or strategy, make sure you have a thorough understanding of your clientele, analytics, and customer perspective.

5 Ways to Repair Your Online Reputation

Every business receives a negative online review at some point, it’s inevitable. However, you need to understand how to mitigate the repercussions of negative reviews to ensure the online reputation that you worked so hard to build remains intact. Otherwise, you may engage too late and risk permanent damage to your business.

Here are five ways to repair your online reputation:

Launch a Search Engine Optimization Strategy

Search engine optimization, or SEO, relies on quality content, whether it’s user-generated or paid. The more high quality content your website produces, the higher Google and other search engines rank you on the results page for relevant keywords. However, you have to be generating content that targets those keywords and phrases.

For example, if you are an optometrist, you can create a blog that covers everything optometry, from common eye diseases to preventative eye care. This way, when someone searches optometry-related topics, such as “how to prevent glaucoma,” you are among the top links on the result page.

Create Business Accounts on Social Media

Social media is the perfect place to give your clients updates about your practice and interact with them both publicly and personally. Most social media platforms allow you to create business profiles, including Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn. A business profile enables you to check insights regarding user engagement, reach, and followers. 

Plus, it gives your patients a place to leave reviews and a chance for you to showcase the best ones! This is critical, as Google will recognize social media reviews when people search for your business. So the more reviews, the better!

Establish Listings on Major Directories

If you haven’t already, you need to claim a listing on all major healthcare directories, including Healthgrades, Vitals.com, and most importantly Google. Businesses and medical professionals have the unique ability to claim a Google My Business listing. This opportunity isn’t offered to everyone. The president, celebrities, and politicians are not allowed to claim a listing, but you can!

Google My Business is free and allows you to establish a profile that shows whenever someone searches for your business or related keywords. You should include all of your practice’s relevant information, including:

• Phone number
• Address
• Hours of operation

Google My Business also allows you to publish posts to inform viewers of any updates, such as special offers, new hours, and even rebrands!

Ask Google to Remove Old Listings

If your reputation took a hit due to someone posting inappropriate, sensitive, or illegal content, you may be able to ask Google to take down the listing. Make sure to read up on Google’s current removal policies to see if you are eligible for removal. Also, if the original defamatory content was hosted on another website, be sure to contact them as well and ask them to remove it.

Generate More Patient Reviews

Last, but certainly not least, generate more patient reviews. You should have a revolving door of new patient reviews each week to ensure your reviews accurately reflect your current practice. Neglecting review generation, could result in lopsided ratings that showcase past negative reviews that no longer represent your brand. 

The more reviews, the merrier, as it shows prospective patients that you are active and keep your current clients engaged. 

Repairing a damaged online reputation most certainly doesn’t happen overnight. You need to consistently work to amend it through different avenues in order to counteract the damages. So, you must remain patient and dedicate hard work into genuinely improving your practice.