Fake reviews on Google Business Profiles are a monumental pain. Assuming they’re 1-star, scathing reviews -- fake ones usually are -- they’re harmful to your online reputation, curtail your profile’s ranking position, and are darn-near impossible to get removed.

Nevertheless, here’s what you CAN do to fight back:

1. Browse to the REVIEWS tab of your Google Business Profile Manager (business.google.com), tap the vertical ellipsis in the top right corner, and flag the review as “inappropriate.”

2. Submit a Review Removal Request form. Make sure to peruse Google’s “prohibited and restricted content” policies first though—that way you’re able to reference the offended violation. Presumably, if a 𝗳𝗮𝗸𝗲 𝗿𝗲𝘃𝗶𝗲𝘄 goes against Google’s directives, it put’s Google on your side.

3. Contact Google Small Business Support. Open up the page, scroll to the bottom, tap the “Contact Us” button, and follow its prompts. If you don’t receive a satisfactory reply, perhaps consider tweeting or messaging @GoogleSmallBiz on Twitter.

4. Brace yourself:  there’s a good chance Google’s canned “auto-reply” nonsense is gonna say that the review doesn’t violate their policies 🙄. It’s frustrating, but it is what it is. It’s mission-critical therefore to establish a process of continually adding new, positive reviews. By doing so, you effectively dilute the bad ones.

Fact is, Google’s got a problem. Consider that 46% of Google’s 8.5-billion daily searches are conducted with local intent. What’s more, 93% of those searches trigger Google’s Map Pack, which means the searcher is actually looking up local businesses. That approximates 3.64B local-biz searches on Google per day🤯

Reviews are simply a HUGE part of the equation for Google! Notwithstanding, Google holds the highest percentage of “inauthentic reviews” on the web—more than Yelp, TripAdvisor, or Facebook. The point being, they’ve gotta do something about it.

So… When it comes to fighting-off review trolls 😈, my thinking is… throw everything at ‘em but the kitchen sink!