Bug In Google System. Google Says Is Not Bug.

[Carwrapsolutions]

Hello Moz fellowship.

Ive been learning and following SEO and local optimization for many years. MOZ has been a SEO playbook and bible for me.

Im running into a transparency issue with Google and need some help please.

I sent Google GMB this email:Hello GMB

"Hello GMB

There is a bug in your system that revises a previously posted review date to a become a new current post date. The bug occurs when someone updates a previously posted review with new pictures or deletes and updates new pictures. When the deletion occurs and new pictures are uploaded, the old review becomes the new date of the picture updates. This bug allows an old review to become a new review. I can send screen shots and can explain how I found this out if Google would like. Basically it doesn't show a true representation of the time line of posted reviews. Thank you"Google GMB support on the phone says it is not a bug. The problem is that its show non-factual and untruthful timeline information to potential consumers because of the original review date changes. The rep says that example: a reviewer from 3 years ago original review could show up as the most recent review with the most recent date. The main problem is, any consumer shopping and doing research would misinterpret this as being the newest review when it was not. On GMB dashboard the date gets revised to show the latest date. There is no notation that the review is old or that there has been a modification to the original review. So where is the transparency on Google's side to show the customer the actual real date of the review? This problem opens up a can of worms for millennials trying to make it happen and for business owners that are trying their best to become better at their service, etc. Especially when you want the newest review and not something from years ago or months ago or dealing with a potential harassing customer who knows the bug exist and will take advantage of the flaw and constantly update his review so it shows as being the 1st all the time. How does the online customer know this is happening?thank you.

[MiriamEllis]

Hi There,

I'm doing a search for 'internet lawyer ft lauderdale' and would recommend going through these in your search for a lawyer: https://www.google.com/search?q=internet+lawyer+ft+lauderdale&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8#q=internet+lawyer+ft+lauderdale&rflfq=1&rlha=0&rllag=26186765,-80135356,3464&tbm=lcl&tbs=lf_msr:-1,lf_od:-1,lf_oh:-1,lf_pqs:EAE,lf:1,lf_ui:2&*

I'm afraid I don't know what legal action would be appropriate (I have no legal background) but I'm hoping you'll be able to get one of these firms to call you back. Hopefully, with the documentation you've gathered, you'll be able to present the issue clearly to an attorney and get their qualified advice.

Wishing you good luck!

[Carwrapsolutions]

Hello Miriam

Super appreciate the link. It has a wealth of information regarding review responses and extremely smart.

Here is the date stamp in Moz local for this review: Today at 1:16 AM Google (Does this look right????)

I cant change my response because Im trying to show Google that while my response date ages, the reviewer post date is actually much newer than my response and continues to stay on current dates. Im taking screen shots day by day now since I noticed what was happening. Google's position via support is pretty much nil on the subject, they say its not a bug, but offer no solution about the harassment and how they can stop this person from continually doing this or what they would do when it happens to the next business. Should I pursue legal action against Google too? I dont want to. My whole business pretty much exists because of what Google has created. I personally am a huge fan of Google.

As far as the legal part I just cant find an attorney who will call me back. I actually have emails, videos and pics to pretty much disprove everything the person says in his review. I know Google wont spend a second checking them out, regardless of how untruthful or slanderous the review is, with the exception that he pretty much says I tried, until something happened. Ultimately I told the customer to leave me the review that he threated to do on multiple occasions. But that did not stop the problem of harassment, because he was doing at the office too until we had to get the police involved, so he moved online and behind the scenes.

thank you Miriam.

[MiriamEllis]

Thanks for confirming. I wanted to ask, as I saw the reference to legal action in that person's review. Because of that, this is the point at which you have to switch from thinking of this as a reputation issue to thinking of it as a legal one. In a blog post here at Moz, I strongly advocate that any mention of legal action by a consumer is a signal that the business needs legal counsel. Please, take the consumer's statement seriously and consult with an attorney. This goes beyond Google and their ability to moderate consumer activity. It's a legal matter.

I'm so sorry you are having this trouble with a customer, and the best thing I can do is recommend that you speak to a lawyer to discover best steps toward resolution of the situation. Wishing you good luck.

[Carwrapsolutions]

Hello Miriam

The person in reference is P.B., correct. Yes, this person is bringing this to the extreme. So what protects the business owner for this type of harassment. A review or even an updated review once or twice would not bother me, but almost every day. That is a problem. He is even making reference to a court website. Never seen something like this. And since I have no control over what the customer says and does, how long should I deal with this and what is Google guideline on how much the business owner should continually take?

thank you.

[MiriamEllis]

Hi Again,

Agree that it's bizarre that this disgruntled customer would be going to so much effort. Is this your business:

https://www.google.com/maps/place/Car+Wrap+Solutions/@26.069977,-80.210786,15z/data=!4m2!3m1!1s0x0:0x518642b0ad3f68c?sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjCgYywwanSAhVK1WMKHbhuC3UQ_BIIngEwCg

And is the negative review in question left by someone with the initials P.B.?

[Carwrapsolutions]

Hello

This same person review is now labeled 2/24/2107 and on Google search timeline it says "in the past week". Is this really right??? Original review was for 1/26/2017.

thank you for any help or advice.

[Carwrapsolutions]

Hello Miriam

Super appreciate your response to this.

I did a test and revised text wise, 3 old reviews of mine and they stayed on the exact same timeline as the original review. The positions did not update to a new date or get bumped up on each business timeline. Ive never updated a review personally in the past up to know, nor have I had a repeat customer revise theirs either. My 2 negative reviewers wont be coming back and revising either and I have 60 plus reviews as of today. I feel sorry for any new millennial just learning the basics of knowing how customers can be and the pressure of running a business and getting a bad review. This will be a new tech related social problem for the next generation.

Ive been receiving reviews since 2010. I get a lot of reviews and definitely respect the right of someone to review. This came to light because I have a person (an actual previous customer and one of those super rare bad apples) who actually left me a negative review at the end of January and is using his negative review as a way to harass the business owner. This person constantly monitors my reviews. He has realized that every time I get a new review which are all positive, all he has to do is change out some pictures to revise his review to make it look like the newest review. Unfortunately, there is no notation on the review feed that this person has done this multiple times and its the pictures that actually update the timeline, not a change in text and the review date changes with it. So he found a way to take advantage of the Google system. This person has done this 7 times in the last 4 weeks, which is pretty extreme. This person could do this for the next who knows how many years that Im trying to run a business. Its not nice seeing this in your GMB dashboard either. A new person reviews and he does this a day or so after so his review is the 1st again, not in the correct timeline position and in the timeline it says "in the past week", not the past month, etc. So a potential customer doing research on new company to work with would have no clue this is happening, nor would they know that is an older review. All they are seeing is a negative review stacked on the other 60 plus reviews I currently have. The date is not truthful or and they would not know its a fake date to anyone looking at new reviews. GMB dashboard shows as new review, no notation of updated review or when the original review was actually posted.

So what does Google do when someone is actually taking advantage of they system? This is a bug that Google did not factor into, because its a people thing that trolls do and will take advantage of. On Yelp they stay on the date, regardless of what the reviewer does.

I have a ton of screenshots tracking this too. Please test on your end and let me know how you see this.

thank you.

[MiriamEllis]

Hi Carwrapsolutions,

That's really nice to know Moz has been a help to you in your SEO. I wish we could help out on this one, but basically it appears that Google does not consider this to be a bug. It sounds like they consider the latest update to a review (adding or changing photos) to be cause for updating the date on it. I can see their point of view - the date they are showing is the one on which the review was most recently updated. So, for example, if I reviewed a restaurant in 2014 and then dined there again yesterday and updated my original review with new photos of the taco I ate, Google feels there is freshness associated with my new activity.

That being said, if the review in question is being updated with any content that violates Google's guidelines for reviews or images (as in a case where someone might be a harassing a business with inappropriate images) then this is something you can report.

I'm curious to know what the actual situation is with the business you are monitoring, if you can share it. Is a competitor or a past employee or something like that harassing a business?