Written by: Matthew L
April 11 2018
Anybody can place a review on a Google Business profile even if they haven’t used your service. TripAdvisor has the same ‘open’ review system which allows anyone to post a review even if they haven’t been to the location or stayed at the hotel they are reviewing. In the case of Google business the idea seems to be more content is good content regardless of the quality of the content (completely contrary to Google’s own SEO guidelines).
The result of the open review system is that negative review campaigns are possible and false or misleading reviews can be placed on your Google business page.
What can you do if your business receives an incorrect or misleading negative review?
When it happens it can be infuriating, because it’s unfounded and out of your control. What you can control of course is your response. And that response needs to be fair and logical. It’s best not to answer with your first (possibly angry) thoughts, if possible think, throw around a response with a colleague, work out a positive spin and leave it for the next day. Essentially you need to step back and give a reasonable answer to the unreasonable review.
Other real or actual customers will then see that you are a reasonable business to deal with and the potentially negative review will be muted or even spun around to be a positive.