Removing Negative Google Reviews [Field Test]

ThopHayt · Jul 7, 2016

Ok, so I keep seeing threads pop up with people asking how they can 'remove a negative review.' Like most of you SEO'ers and ORM experts I'll tell them its simply easier to wash it out with positive reviews. But, since I'm creeping up on my 5,000th post I'd like to do a little test just to see how hard it actually is to get a review taken down.

For my test I've randomly selected a negative review of a legit business on Google. Its a brand new review left just a few hours ago, and the business has been brick and mortar that's been in NY for 25 years. I intend to flag the shit out of it over a period of days until Google removes the review. Lets see if this actually works as so many here have requested...

Day One (last night):
I flagged the review using a hyper-local aged Google account that is a registered Local Guide. I only have a couple of these at my disposal for this geo-targeted area, but I wanted to start out with a high authority flag. I flagged this one using a mobile device, in the actual Google Maps app WHILE actually in NY, which is where I'm flagging the review. This is believed to be the highest level of trust for a reviewer activity. As of this morning the review is still up, but I have more actions planned.

~Stay Tuned For Daily Updates and My Eventual Findings~

-ThopHayt

Schindler · Jul 7, 2016

Subscribed! Looking forward..

Take Action · Jul 7, 2016

Very unique and interesting thread here. Looking forward to the progress and intrigued to know how it ends finally. And advance congratulations on reaching 5000 posts.

Good Luck!

nikchaing · Jul 7, 2016

Nice thread man. I've been working with reviews for a minute now and tried many different angles to reliably remove negative reviews. Hope you find something that actually works, and isn't just a coincidence.

peter2will · Jul 7, 2016

Hi, thanks for sharing this, keep us updated man.

Naomi Tyrone · Jul 7, 2016

I am interested in your progress, do you have any updates on this?

pseudonym · Jul 7, 2016

posting to keep this thread in my history. i am also very interested in the outcome, and have some local reviewer accounts at disposal in EU

MikeyMikey13 · Jul 7, 2016

Thanks for this, I will be staying tuned.

Quick question: where did you get the aged accounts with geo-targeted area?

ThopHayt · Jul 8, 2016

MikeyMikey13 said:
Thanks for this, I will be staying tuned.

Quick question: where did you get the aged accounts with geo-targeted area?

I created them manually about 2 years ago when I was doing some ORM. I am also looking to "bribe" some actual human users into flagging the review for me as well. This will give me both aged "fake" accounts with Local Guide Status, and real local accounts at my disposal for the test. I personally am optimistic that this can work. The key, I'm hoping at least, is that slow and constant dripfeeding of flags over multiple days from high quality accounts. I've read studies that failed before elsewhere, and they typically were based around blasting flags in mass from (what I'm guessing) are cheap fake accounts. My next flag comes later today and I will do an official update after the fact.

-ThopHayt

Nut-Nights · Jul 8, 2016

Well added this to watched thread.

tokokipiani · Jul 8, 2016

Nice case study. Keep us updated!

RuthSam · Jul 8, 2016

And what do you want to end up with? a website filled with false reviews or a website where all reviews have been removed what is the point, sorry I don't get it?

MikeyMikey13 · Jul 8, 2016

RuthSam said:
And what do you want to end up with? a website filled with false reviews or a website where all reviews have been removed what is the point, sorry I don't get it?

When a business has a bad review, you generally want it removed or buried.

Here he is testing to see if he can get the review removed, thus the bad reputation will go with it

ThopHayt · Jul 8, 2016

UPDATE #1:

Flagged the review for a second time, using a real account on a mobile device that is based in the same city. If the review is still up tomorrow I will flag it on yet another real account.

-ThopHayt

ThopHayt · Jul 9, 2016

Update #2:

The review has dropped down a bit in the list of user reviews as of this morning, below two older reviews now. It has yet to be removed, however. Will keep you updated...

-ThopHayt

ThopHayt · Jul 10, 2016

Update #3:

Dropped two more flags this morning over the last hour, both phones again... one real 'not-so-geologically-close' from upstate, and one fake but with Local Guide status. Should carry some decent authority between the two.

The little bastard is still there, but I'm going to keep taking this "dripfeed and grind" approach until either its gone, or I'm satisfied that this method doesn't work. Frankly I would think that at SOME point it should (or has to) work, but the question is how many flags and how long.

-ThopHayt

nikchaing · Jul 10, 2016

From my experience, I don't think a review will get deleted unless it's breaking a rule. I've called in and had employees look over negative reviews, and they give a ton of leeway to the reviewer.

The only review I got deleted was from a spam account that was promoting a car leasing site via Google reviews.

ThopHayt · Jul 11, 2016

nikchaing said:
From my experience, I don't think a review will get deleted unless it's breaking a rule. I've called in and had employees look over negative reviews, and they give a ton of leeway to the reviewer.

The only review I got deleted was from a spam account that was promoting a car leasing site via Google reviews.

You may be right, but it at least seems to be pushing the review down for now. At SOME point (brute force) you would think that a review would get removed though. I'm going to take this to the absolute limits to explore this theory.

-ThopHayt

Worldwidebacklinks · Jul 11, 2016

It is extremely hard to remove reviews on Gogle my business listings unless they are defamatory (naming names of people who work at the business etc).

I have tried many different ways with no success, ranging from -
Flagging the review multiple times
Calling Google local support & applying basic Social Engeering to get them to remove the review

The best way is to drown the review out with other good, legitimate reviews!

I will be keeping a close eye on this

. Good luck!

ThopHayt · Jul 12, 2016

Dropped another flag last night, tablet account. The review is still there, although its not as high as it once was. Going to keep it going and see if it can be done though!

-ThopHayt

Removing Negative Google Reviews [Field Test]

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