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Should You Delete Negative Google Reviews? + How to Do It

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In a world where the influence of web platforms plays a crucial role for your business, it is normal to read the feedback left online by your customers.

According to Digitad, 97% of Internet users read online reviews before deciding to do business with a company, and 85% of them consider these reviews as much as the opinion of a relative. In this sense, it is normal to wonder when a negative Google review appears on your Google My Business. We can easily question the validity of this opinion and fear that negative feedback will harm our brand image and push back potential future customers.

Should you delete negative Google reviews from your Google My Business business profile to keep an impeccable image? And can I delete negative Google My Business reviews? While this may seem like a miracle solution, it is important to consider the impact that such a decision could have on your company’s SEO, E-reputation and customer experience. To do this, you must first consider the positive and negative aspects of Google reviews, and then understand how to react to negative feedback from your customers.

Download now : -> FREE FRENCH EBOOK 13 Online Review Response Templates (Positive and Negative)

This article will explain whether or not it is better to delete negative Google reviews. In this way, you will be equipped to make informed choices and to maintain a relationship of trust with your customers. In addition, if after your reading you deem it necessary to delete a negative google review, we explain in this content how to achieve it.

The importance of Google reviews

Google reviews allow your customers to express their satisfaction with the quality of your products and services. These feedbacks are vital to your brand image, but also to attract potential customers. That’s why, before deleting Google reviews, you need to understand their importance.

First, Google reviews differentiate you from a potential competitor. During the Zero Moment of Truth, the customer will question the products and services of your company according to predetermined decision criteria. This is when online reviews will come into play: they will allow them to read feedback from customers in your business and favor you over a competitor.

In this sense, you should also know that Google reviews improve your E-reputation. A Web user who sees that you have a relationship of trust with your customers is much more likely to make purchases or purchase your services since they will feel validated by their peers and reassured by your online reviews. In the same vein, it is not recommended to delete negative Google reviews, since they humanize your business and show that you are not perfect.

Finally, Google reviews play a crucial role in Google’s natural search engine optimization (SEO) and your visibility on the Internet. Positive AND negative customer reviews on your Google My Business page count as a conversation: they boost your natural SEO and give credibility to your business. Because of this, it is important to think before deleting reviews from your Google My Business page, as this may cause you to plummet in Google SEO.

Before deleting negative Google reviews from your company profile on Google, we encourage you to consider the multiple aspects of this approach as well as the impact it could have on your E-reputation.

Why do people leave negative Google reviews?

When trying to build a brand, it’s often hard to see that some people have left negative Google reviews about their business. Rather than to delete negative Google reviews, we invite you to consider the reason behind this negative feedback from your customer.

There are several factors that can influence an Internet user to leave a negative Google review:

  • The quality of the service received ;
  • The quality of the product purchased ;
  • Reception in your business ;
  • Professionalism and courtesy of the staff ;
  • The waiting period ;
  • Ease of access to your services ;
  • The cleanliness of the premises and the equipment used ;
  • Follow-up after the appointment ;
  • The price of the services and products offered.

While you are not in control of certain factors, it is important not to delete negative Google reviews that are justified. On the contrary, this is an opportunity to apologize to the client and explain, if necessary, the reason behind some unpredictable and unpleasant situations. By answering your customer, you will show them that you care about their well-being: they will feel listened to and may decide to give your business a second chance.

Free french EBook 13 online response templates (positive and negative)

What to do with a negative Google review?

While this may concern you, you should never ignore a negative Google review. In this sense, deleting negative Google My Business reviews should never be your first reflex. Instead, prioritize this approach :

1. Validate if the Google Notice is spam

Some competitors or malicious persons may write false notices or incite spam in order to damage your company’s reputation. If you find false notices or spam, you can report them to Google to delete negative Google reviews online. This will restore the authenticity of your company’s feedback.

Here are a few questions to ask yourself to help you identify false notices :

  • Do many negative opinions have the same name?
  • Is the author anonymous?
  • Is the feedback off-topic?
  • Does the client share abusive, defamatory or degrading comments?
  • Are the criticisms disproportionate?
  • Does the content contain explicit images or fraudulent links?
  • What is the legality of the content shared by the notice?

If you need help removing Google My Business reviews that you believe are false, you can also consult Google’s list of Prohibited and Restricted Content.

2. Apologize to the customer

Once authentication is done, do not delete negative Google reviews. We encourage you to follow this procedure:

  • Respond quickly, ideally on the same day the notice was left;
  • Begin by apologizing to the client for the unpleasant experience they experienced;
  • Validate the customer’s emotions with an empathic tone;
  • Explain to the customer the cause of the problem, if applicable;
  • Show the customer your desire to fix the situation

3. Provide a point of contact

To analyze the situation in-depth and prevent negative Google feedback from monopolizing readers’ attention, invite your dissatisfied customer to continue the conversation verbally. For example, provide them with your customer service email address or phone number to allow them to express themselves freely and on your side to learn about the reason for their dissatisfaction. This will allow you to privilege the conversation rather than to delete negative Google reviews!

4. Offer to discuss

Show your customer that you care about them and find out why they are unhappy. Write down their comments about her time in your business, and let them know how important their feedback is to you. This will allow you not only to improve your customer experience, but also to turn their negative opinion into a positive one!

How do I respond to a negative Google review? Here are some sample responses

According to a study conducted by Search Engine Land, 75% of companies ignore their Google reviews. They also observed that those who responded to feedback saw a 35% increase in their annual income. In this sense, it’s important for your business to respond to your customers rather than ignore or delete negative Google reviews. But how do you communicate with an unsatisfied customer without aggravating an already delicate situation?

It is advisable to use an empathic tone and apologize to the client within twenty-four hours of the negative opinion. Thank the customer for their time and try to understand why they are unhappy. Avoid confronting them or invalidating their comments: if they feel listened to and understood, your customer can still change their mind about your business. By avoiding to delete negative Google reviews, you can take the opportunity to show your customers how important their opinions are to you. This will allow you to rectify the situation and turn a negative Google review into positive feedback.

Here are two examples of responses to answer to negative Google reviews :

A template for responding to negative opinions with comments

Hello [client name].

Thank you for taking the time to inform us of the situation. I am sorry that your experience with us has not been perfect. I want to correct the situation, because your satisfaction is our priority. I would like to discuss this with you in person to find a solution. You can contact me at [your contact information].

A template for responding to negative opinions without comment

Hello [client name].

Thank you for taking the time to leave a notice. Your satisfaction is our priority, which is why I would like to discuss with you to understand what made your experience not perfect.

You can contact me at [your contact information].

For more customizable examples and templates of responses to customer reviews, we invite you to consult our free and downloadable guide “13 Positive and Negative Response Templates”.

What not to do with a negative Google review?

It is crucial to respond to your dissatisfied customers to show them that you care about their well-being. However, the internet is vast : how to formulate your message when a single misplaced word could cause a scandal, or destroy your E-reputation?

Free french EBook 13 online response templates (positive and negative)

To help you, here is a list of behaviors to avoid when responding to a negative Google review:

  • Ignore or delete negative Google reviews if they are justified and are not false reviews ;
  • Respond to a negative opinion on Google inappropriately ;
  • Confront the client directly ;
  • Invalidate the client’s comments ;
  • To be threatening ;
  • Include the name of your company or keywords in their response, at the risk that SEO will refer the negative opinion to Google.

Remember to always respond to your client in an ethical and courteous manner. When you respond to an Internet user, this response is visible to all people surfing the web. In this sense, you can win potential customers by showing how customer satisfaction is at the center of your priorities.

How to delete negative Google reviews?

As a responsible person, it is normal for you to be concerned about your E-reputation. There may be some ill-intentioned people or competing companies who try to hurt your business. In this sense, you probably want to remove fake notices and spam messages from your page that harm your brand image and drive away potential customers.

Can you delete negative Google reviews?

Yes, it is possible! To do so, you must report the review to Google to delete or dispute it. Here’s how to delete negative Google reviews from your Google My Business page in three easy steps :

1. Go to Google, then write your company name in the search bar. Click on “Google reviews” to see all your reviews.

Delete-negative-Google-review-step-1

2. Find the false notice / spam and click on “Report as Inappropriate”.

Delete-negative-Google-review-step-2

3. Report the issue to Google.

Delete-negative-Google-review-step-3

Once the report is completed, Google will conduct an investigation before removing the review from your Google My Business page. This method is the only way to delete Google My Business reviews without the user doing it by himself.

However, there are ways to make a negative Google review go unnoticed on your Google My Business page without proceeding with its deletion. For more information, see our article on Delete a Google Review: 3 steps to get there.

How does deleting a Google review affect your brand image?

Even if you care about your E-reputation, it is not recommended to delete negative Google reviews, since this can have a detrimental impact on your brand image. A company with only five stars could, in some cases, sow doubt in the mind of a potential lead. According to Strategies, 47% of people are suspicious of brands that have only positive reviews because they think they have false reviews, and 40% think they manage to get a “perfect” image by removing negative feedback from their customers. This shows that, when you delete negative Google reviews, it will not go unnoticed: your potential customers may be wary of your control of the information and will favor a business with more authentic feedback.

It’s also important to know that trying to delete negative Google reviews can harm your natural SEO (SEO). According to a PlanetRate survey, positive and negative reviews represent 15.44% of the ranking of Google’s local businesses. In this sense, when you decide to delete Google reviews from your company, you deprive your SEO of some natural SEO, at the risk of falling into Google recommendations. By the same token, you also lose credibility with Google, whose search engine (SERP) calculates the authenticity of reviews before making a recommendation to its users.

One of the most detrimental impacts when you delete negative Google reviews from your business is that you minimize the importance of listening to your customers, satisfied as well as dissatisfied. If you ignore the feedback from your dissatisfied customers, you will not be able to understand the source of their frustration, which will ultimately prevent you from resolving the problem. In this sense, you will have more and more negative opinions to take away – and the cycle will continue as long as you don’t value what your customers have to say to you.

As a responsible entrepreneur, it is important to have the well-being of your customers at heart. While you may think that it is a good idea to delete negative Google reviews to improve your brand image, it may harm your E-reputation, your SEO, and your customer experience. Instead, have a conversation with the authors of these feedbacks to understand the source of their dissatisfaction, so you can improve your customer experience while building a relationship of trust with your customers.

How can InputKit help you prevent and manage negative Google reviews?

How-InputKit-Can-Help-Manage-Reply-Google-ReviewsDo you have trouble managing your negative Google reviews? Afraid of not having an appropriate response for a dissatisfied customer? No problem: with InputKit, you will no longer have to delete negative Google reviews that are not spam.

With our automated web reputation solution, you can invite your customers to leave Google reviews at the right time, without being afraid to bother them. Our solution focuses on satisfied customers to optimize positive feedback, so you can increase your positive customer reviews without the fear of prompting a dissatisfied customer to leave a negative review about your business!

If you wanted to delete negative Google reviews because you didn’t know how to react to negative comments, InputKit instead proposes to keep the review and respond to it with several customizable automated response templates that will suit your customers’ needs. Our artificial intelligence adapted to user feedback will allow you to save valuable time while remaining professional.

Finally, the InputKit solution also detects dissatisfied customers in-real time. This feature, along with centralized management of Google reviews and a filter to view non-responded reviews, will help you quickly respond to your customers’ feedback to show them how their satisfaction is at the center of your priorities. By establishing a relationship of trust with your customers, you will not have to delete negative Google reviews : you will be able to converse with users, understand the source of the problem, and maybe even turn their negative opinion into positive feedback if you manage to handle the situation.

While it may be tempting to delete negative Google reviews in order to give a perfect impression to your business, you should keep in mind that it is normal to have a few dissatisfied customers. Rather than opt to report these reviews to Google, reach out to your customers to understand the source of their frustration and show them that you care about them. Their feedback will help you improve your customer experience to increase your visibility and credibility with Google. In this sense, you will increase your SEO while building a relationship of trust with your customers.

Don’t forget to respond courteously to negative Google reviews. Do not confront or threaten the customer: apologize to the customer for the unpleasant experience and empathize with the customer. That way, they may give your company a second chance.

Do you take the time to respond to a negative opinion on Google? If you need help preventing or managing negative Google reviews, feel free to schedule a demo of InputKit’s web reputation solution!

FREE FRENCH EBOOK
13 online review response templates (positive and negative)

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