How to Disable Google Reviews: Drawbacks and Alternatives

Businesses with a Google Business Profile often ask how to disable Google reviews, because unhappy or malicious reviewers can damage a company's reputation. Some fake reviews come from people who were never customers, and occasionally a competitor is behind them.

Reporting reviews to Google does not always work, so some owners consider switching reviews off altogether. Here is what is and is not possible, and what to do instead.

How to Disable Google Reviews

If you are dealing with a wave of fake reviews, you may be looking for a way to turn reviews off. For almost every business, you cannot. Anyone with a Google account can review a business that has a public Business Profile, and there is no setting that disables reviews.

There are two partial exceptions, both at Google's discretion:

• Unusual activity. If a profile suddenly receives a burst of suspicious reviews, for example after a news story or a coordinated attack, Google may temporarily stop new reviews from being posted while it investigates, and may remove reviews that break its policies.
• Google's own choices. Google decides where reviews appear on its products, and a business owner cannot opt out.

Either way, the decision rests with Google, not with you. Be wary of anyone who offers to "turn off" or "clean up" your reviews for a fee.

3 Alternatives to Disabling Google Reviews

Online reviews on Google, Yelp and elsewhere play a big part in your reputation. When you face fake or negative reviews, you have better options than trying to switch them off.

Do not try to remove genuine negative reviews. Treat honest criticism as feedback, and use it to improve.

Here are three alternatives.

1. Flag or Report Fake Reviews

If you believe a review is fake, report it. Open your Business Profile on Google Search or Maps, find the review, open the menu next to it and choose to report it, selecting the reason that matches the policy it breaks.

Google only removes reviews that break its prohibited and restricted content policy, such as fake engagement, off topic reviews, restricted or illegal content, conflicts of interest and impersonation. You can track the status of your reports, and appeal a decision once, in Google's Reviews Management Tool, linked from the Business Profile help page on managing reviews.

People posting fake reviews often try to make them look genuine, so gather what evidence you can: whether the reviewer appears in your booking or sales records, the timing of the review, and any pattern across several reviews.

2. Respond to Negative and Fake Reviews

If a review you reported stays up, respond publicly. Keep it calm and factual. Apologize for any genuine problem and offer a way to resolve it.

If you cannot find any record of the reviewer as a customer, you can say so politely and invite them to contact you directly with details, such as the date of their visit, so you can look into it. Do not post anyone's personal information, and avoid accusing a reviewer of lying in public; readers will judge the exchange as a whole.

Respond to all reviews, positive and negative. Showing that you care and want to improve reassures readers, and a well handled reply sometimes leads a reviewer to update their review of their own accord.

Thanking people for positive reviews leaves a lasting impression too.

3. Ask for More Reviews to Balance Things Out

The most effective long term strategy is a steady flow of genuine reviews. When most of your recent reviews come from real, satisfied customers, readers are far less likely to be put off by an occasional negative one.

Start with consistently good service: the better you meet guests' expectations, the more likely they are to leave positive feedback. Use criticism to find and fix weak spots, and let customers see the changes you make.

Then make reviewing easy. Tell customers you welcome reviews and show them where to leave one. Two rules keep this compliant:

• Ask every customer the same way. Do not send your review link only to people you expect to be happy. Selective asking, known as review gating, breaks Google's policies. See review gating and Google's policy.
• Do not offer incentives. Google's policies prohibit offering discounts, gifts or other rewards in exchange for reviews.

Our companion guide on bad Google reviews, linked below, covers reporting and responses in more detail.

Take Charge of Your Reputation Through Google Reviews

Asking every guest by hand is the part most venues drop when it gets busy. VoqadoWiFi includes review requests without gating on every plan: guests who log in to your branded WiFi portal and choose to hear from you can get a short review request after their visit, and everyone asked sees the same public review link. Like every guest email, requests are switched on venue by venue as email goes live. You also get a guest list you own, and Growth adds Mailchimp sync. Starter is free forever for one location and 500 guest logins a month. Create a free account or read how Google review automation works.