Skip to content
    Moz logo Menu open Menu close
    • Products
      • Moz Pro
      • Moz Pro Home
      • Moz Local
      • Moz Local Home
      • STAT
      • Moz API
      • Moz API Home
      • Compare SEO Products
      • Moz Data
    • Free SEO Tools
      • Domain Analysis
      • Keyword Explorer
      • Link Explorer
      • Competitive Research
      • MozBar
      • More Free SEO Tools
    • Learn SEO
      • Beginner's Guide to SEO
      • SEO Learning Center
      • Moz Academy
      • MozCon
      • Webinars, Whitepapers, & Guides
    • Blog
    • Why Moz
      • Digital Marketers
      • Agency Solutions
      • Enterprise Solutions
      • Small Business Solutions
      • The Moz Story
      • New Releases
    • Log in
    • Log out
    • Products
      • Moz Pro

        Your all-in-one suite of SEO essentials.

      • Moz Local

        Raise your local SEO visibility with complete local SEO management.

      • STAT

        SERP tracking and analytics for enterprise SEO experts.

      • Moz API

        Power your SEO with our index of over 44 trillion links.

      • Compare SEO Products

        See which Moz SEO solution best meets your business needs.

      • Moz Data

        Power your SEO strategy & AI models with custom data solutions.

      NEW Keyword Suggestions by Topic
      Moz Pro

      NEW Keyword Suggestions by Topic

      Learn more
    • Free SEO Tools
      • Domain Analysis

        Get top competitive SEO metrics like DA, top pages and more.

      • Keyword Explorer

        Find traffic-driving keywords with our 1.25 billion+ keyword index.

      • Link Explorer

        Explore over 40 trillion links for powerful backlink data.

      • Competitive Research

        Uncover valuable insights on your organic search competitors.

      • MozBar

        See top SEO metrics for free as you browse the web.

      • More Free SEO Tools

        Explore all the free SEO tools Moz has to offer.

      NEW Keyword Suggestions by Topic
      Moz Pro

      NEW Keyword Suggestions by Topic

      Learn more
    • Learn SEO
      • Beginner's Guide to SEO

        The #1 most popular introduction to SEO, trusted by millions.

      • SEO Learning Center

        Broaden your knowledge with SEO resources for all skill levels.

      • On-Demand Webinars

        Learn modern SEO best practices from industry experts.

      • How-To Guides

        Step-by-step guides to search success from the authority on SEO.

      • Moz Academy

        Upskill and get certified with on-demand courses & certifications.

      • MozCon

        Save on Early Bird tickets and join us in London or New York City

      Unlock flexible pricing & new endpoints
      Moz API

      Unlock flexible pricing & new endpoints

      Find your plan
    • Blog
    • Why Moz
      • Digital Marketers

        Simplify SEO tasks to save time and grow your traffic.

      • Small Business Solutions

        Uncover insights to make smarter marketing decisions in less time.

      • Agency Solutions

        Earn & keep valuable clients with unparalleled data & insights.

      • Enterprise Solutions

        Gain a competitive edge in the ever-changing world of search.

      • The Moz Story

        Moz was the first & remains the most trusted SEO company.

      • New Releases

        Get the scoop on the latest and greatest from Moz.

      Surface actionable competitive intel
      New Feature

      Surface actionable competitive intel

      Learn More
    • Log in
      • Moz Pro
      • Moz Local
      • Moz Local Dashboard
      • Moz API
      • Moz API Dashboard
      • Moz Academy
    • Avatar
      • Moz Home
      • Notifications
      • Account & Billing
      • Manage Users
      • Community Profile
      • My Q&A
      • My Videos
      • Log Out

    The Moz Q&A Forum

    • Forum
    • Questions
    • Users
    • Ask the Community

    Welcome to the Q&A Forum

    Browse the forum for helpful insights and fresh discussions about all things SEO.

    1. Home
    2. SEO Tactics
    3. Local SEO
    4. Reviews and Ratings
    5. Google Removed All Anonymous Reviews from GMB Listings with No Warning

    Moz Q&A is closed.

    After more than 13 years, and tens of thousands of questions, Moz Q&A closed on 12th December 2024. Whilst we’re not completely removing the content - many posts will still be possible to view - we have locked both new posts and new replies. More details here.

    Google Removed All Anonymous Reviews from GMB Listings with No Warning

    Reviews and Ratings
    6
    10
    1793
    Loading More Posts
    • Oldest to Newest
    • Newest to Oldest
    • Most Votes
    Reply
    • Reply as question
    Log in to reply
    This topic has been deleted. Only users with question management privileges can see it.
    • HammerandHand
      HammerandHand last edited by

      I just saw that Google is no longer accepting anonymous reviews for businesses, and in fact have REMOVED all current anonymous reviews. This just happened in late May, but I'm pretty surprised there hasn't been any talk about this, it's a pretty big deal.

      Before I knew this I called their "specialists" to ask why we lost so many reviews. I specifically asked if Google had changed their review requirements that would result in old reviews being removed. She said no. She's either not well informed or just lied.

      https://orthopreneur.com/anonymous-google-reviews-disappeared/

      My company just lost 20+ positive reviews. Anyone else hurting from the change and finding solutions?

      swathij 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
      • swathij
        swathij @HammerandHand last edited by

        @HammerandHand We lost 5-6 genuine customer reviews. Google has not restored them. Multiple support emails are not helping. We are a financial company, and all the reviews came from real clients. But Google removed them without any notification. How can we stop this or get a copy of the reviews? The Google GMB team will never give specific answers about what the customer reviews have violated from their rules.

        1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
        • PR-ReviewInc
          PR-ReviewInc last edited by

          Thanks for the post Laura,

          Here's an interesting article that talks about this topic and how fake reviews tie into the motive
          https://blog.reviewinc.com/2018/07/24/fake-reviews-latest-news-you-should-know/

          1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
          • MiriamEllis
            MiriamEllis Subject Expert last edited by

            Just wanted to update this thread with a little note that I've created a blog post about this very topic, published this afternoon on the Moz Blog: https://moz.com/blog/lost-anonymous-google-reviews

            1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 2
            • MiriamEllis
              MiriamEllis Subject Expert @HammerandHand last edited by

              I totally understand, Laura. It's really dreadful to see your hard-earned reviews just disappear, at the stroke of a pen from Google!

              Something I hope will help to think about ... it's consistently found by surveys that well over 1/2 of customers will leave reviews if asked. It's just finding the best way to ask that's the challenge. If your consumer segment is particularly tough, you might want to consider checking out software like GetFiveStars, that will help you systematize review acquisition.

              1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
              • HammerandHand
                HammerandHand @MiriamEllis last edited by

                Thanks Miriam. After seeing our competitors have suffered the same fate (some worse than us) I have calmed down a bit. I understand the reasoning behind removing old anonymous reviews but to do it without any notice just seems wrong.

                It's tough for some businesses - for example we have a small number of clients per year, not thousands like a restaurant or coffee shop - and many of them are incredibly private people. Getting them to write online reviews is difficult. Seeing the ones we were able to get from clients over the years disappearing like that was a bit devastating.

                We don't like to bug our clients with requests for reviews but looks like we're going to have to!

                MiriamEllis 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
                • MiriamEllis
                  MiriamEllis Subject Expert @paupastorlopez last edited by

                  Hi Pau,

                  Thanks for contributing to this thread.

                  I do want to offer a very serious warning against ever buying reviews. Doing so can lead to:

                  1. Legal action against the brand

                  2. Public humiliation and irreversible brand damage

                  3. Removal of local business listings

                  Purchasing reviews is an act that has the intention of deceiving the public. It's not an honest business practice, and any potential reward will never be worth the risk of lawsuits and loss of the public's trust.

                  The good news is, good businesses need never purchase reviews. Deliver a quality experience to customers, follow the guidelines of the various platforms as to how you can/can't ask for reviews, and you should be just fine.

                  1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
                  • MiriamEllis
                    MiriamEllis Subject Expert last edited by

                    Hi Laura,

                    I agree with you that there hasn't been a ton of buzz surrounding this. I'd put it down to the fact that when Google makes a decision like this, there's nothing you can really do about it. You can't get the reviews back. What a pain, I know. My suggestions:

                    1. Be sure you have an active review acquisition strategy in place so that you are continually earning reviews at a moderate pace.

                    2. Be sure you are earning reviews beyond Google on the other platforms your customers are most likely to use.

                    These are the best insurance policies I know of in an environment in which Google can make policy changes at the drop of a hat.

                    HammerandHand 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 3
                    • paupastorlopez
                      paupastorlopez Subscriber last edited by

                      Hi Laura,

                      as the article says, "There is nothing that business owners can do about the removal of anonymous reviews. This is an update that Google made to its core algorithm. It was not a selective penalty levied against a small number of businesses.".

                      What you can do about this is ask your clients for reviews if they are satisfied with your service or product, you can also offer an incentive so that more customers are encouraged to leave a review.

                      Here you can see some interesting articles about it:

                      https://www.google.com/search?q=how+to+get+google+reviews+from+customers&rlz=1C1CHBD_esES777ES777&oq=way+to+get+google+reviews+f&aqs=chrome.2.69i57j0l5.8463j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

                      If you can't get reviews this way, I suggest the possibility of buying reviews, but be careful with this it can be risky. If you want to do it, do it natural, buy from real people with reputation on Google that live near your business.

                      But better try to get real reviews from your clients.

                      Hope that helps, best wishes!

                      MiriamEllis 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote -1
                      • Seenlyst
                        Seenlyst last edited by

                        Hey there,

                        I think the best thing you could do now is to have a strategy to ask for a review from your existing clients

                        and to be honest anonymous review doesn't carry much credibility either.

                        1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
                        • 1 / 1
                        • First post
                          Last post

                        Got a burning SEO question?

                        Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.


                        Start my free trial


                        Browse Questions

                        Explore more categories

                        • Moz Tools

                          Chat with the community about the Moz tools.

                        • SEO Tactics

                          Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers

                        • Community

                          Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!

                        • Digital Marketing

                          Chat about tactics outside of SEO

                        • Research & Trends

                          Dive into research and trends in the search industry.

                        • Support

                          Connect on product support and feature requests.

                        • See all categories

                        Related Questions

                        • Jarod4566

                          I'm wondering if reviews services like yotpo and reviews.io are worth it.

                          The reviews services advertise that your reviews and stars will be placed in your Google search results and this helps with rankings. Does anyone have experience using Yotpo or Reviews.io with a brick and mortar business? Or, any business for that matter? Thanks,

                          Reviews and Ratings | | Jarod4566
                          0
                        • Virginia-Girtz

                          Review Schema Dropped Off A Cliff!?

                          Hello everyone, I recently implemented some review schema for my website which looked to be successful as my review stars were appearing in organic rankings with no problem! Yay! However... I've just checked in on where we are with these and they have literally dropped off a cliff and I have no idea why. See image attached with the graph that shows our reviews looking great in July/August then dropping off w/c 26th August. I literally have no idea why this has happened. The Schema Markup Tool shows no errors or issues with the markup either. Can anyone advise? 81Rv88Y

                          Reviews and Ratings | | Virginia-Girtz
                          0
                        • the-global-communicator

                          Any experiences with Reviews.io?

                          Hello, We have used Trustpilot.com for a few years in the past. Service was reasonable and they did what they were supposed to do. However, due to their price and requirement for a full-year payment upfront we stopped using their review collection service. Is someone using Reviews.io? They are included in Google Review Partners, which seems to be very encouraging:
                          https://support.google.com/adwords/answer/2375474?hl=en Also, they have a decent price for their intermediary package (about $ 89/month) and don't require a yearly contract like Trustpilot and some others. Any experiences you could share about Reviews.io will be appreciated. Luciano, The Translation Company Group

                          Reviews and Ratings | | the-global-communicator
                          0
                        • jeremyskillings

                          Paying for Reviews Penalty?

                          Hello,  recently came across a company that has been paying people directly for reviews. I of course do not recommend this and realized the ethical implications and even the lawsuits that can come from this, but does Google have a manual penalty for fake reviews or do they just algorithmically discount ones that raise red flags? I have never really had to worry about this in the past.  I know you can flag fake reviews to them on an individual basis, but does anyone have history of knowing specific situations where a company was manually punished for doing this?  Just curious and I kind of wanted to give them strong documentation to knock it off.  Thanks in advance.

                          Reviews and Ratings | | jeremyskillings
                          0
                        • RosemaryB

                          Moving my photography business to another state. Is it possible to transfer Google My Business listing WITHOUT losing my Google Reviews?

                          A friend of mine is transitioning her photography business to another state.  She moved about 5 years ago and consequently lost all of her Google+/Yelp reviews.  Having reviews as a photographer is EXTREMELY important for her business reputation.  She doesn't want this to happen again. Is it possible to change the location of a Google my Business page and keep the existing reviews? Thanks

                          Reviews and Ratings | | RosemaryB
                          0
                        • menachemp

                          How can I avoid duplicate content when building a review widget?

                          My website has a profile page for each of the home improvement contractors who signs up.  They accumulate reviews on those pages.  I want to build a review widget to display our reviews on our contractors' websites.  How can I avoid duplicate content issues for the reviews? Example of a profile page with a few reviews:  http://www.thehomefixers.com/members/425/waterheaters-plus-llc.php

                          Reviews and Ratings | | menachemp
                          0
                        • cschwartzel

                          Blocking Reviews by Blocking Words?

                          A client sent me an email this week, stating that you could block bad reviews on social media sites by "blocking" certain words from comments such as "I", "you", "them", "they"......she heard it at a conference from some other CEO's that had some problems with bad reviews. Essentially these CEO's blocked these words making the pages read only pages so no one could leave a review on social media sites. Now, I have never heard this tactic, nor think this is a good idea in any way shape or form. And I know that you can't block bad reviews from happening (without looking at the bigger picture and encouraging some look at internal processes and customer service). Has any one heard of this tactic? Or better, know of anywhere online that documents this idea of blocking words? I have to get back to her, but I have beaten the drum about how to acquire good reviews so much, I feel I am not getting through! Help! Thanks

                          Reviews and Ratings | | cschwartzel
                          0
                        • RobertFisher

                          Having Yelp Reviews Removed

                          Since we all work with Yelp on a local basis, I believe many are aware that if a review is placed by a non customer about a company, Yelp will typically remove them if you show that it isn't valid, etc. We all know they made a show of outing those who posted fake reviews as well. Here is a question I have though: Have any of you been aware of Yelp taking down valid negative reviews for companies? I have just run into this and find it somewhat perplexing. If you know of this, I would love to hear how it happens? Thanks,

                          Reviews and Ratings | | RobertFisher
                          2

                        Get started with Moz Pro!

                        Unlock the power of advanced SEO tools and data-driven insights.

                        Start my free trial
                        Products
                        • Moz Pro
                        • Moz Local
                        • Moz API
                        • Moz Data
                        • STAT
                        • Product Updates
                        Moz Solutions
                        • SMB Solutions
                        • Agency Solutions
                        • Enterprise Solutions
                        Free SEO Tools
                        • Domain Authority Checker
                        • Link Explorer
                        • Keyword Explorer
                        • Competitive Research
                        • Brand Authority Checker
                        • Local Citation Checker
                        • MozBar Extension
                        • MozCast
                        Resources
                        • Blog
                        • SEO Learning Center
                        • Help Hub
                        • Beginner's Guide to SEO
                        • How-to Guides
                        • Moz Academy
                        • API Docs
                        About Moz
                        • About
                        • Team
                        • Careers
                        • Contact
                        Why Moz
                        • Case Studies
                        • Testimonials
                        Get Involved
                        • Become an Affiliate
                        • MozCon
                        • Webinars
                        • Practical Marketer Series
                        • MozPod
                        Connect with us

                        Contact the Help team

                        Join our newsletter
                        Moz logo
                        © 2021 - 2025 SEOMoz, Inc., a Ziff Davis company. All rights reserved. Moz is a registered trademark of SEOMoz, Inc.
                        • Accessibility
                        • Terms of Use
                        • Privacy

                        Looks like your connection to Moz was lost, please wait while we try to reconnect.