Google review policy for businesses, one rule at a time
Google keeps its review rules on one long policy page. This section puts each rule on its own page: what it says, what it does not cover, the evidence that supports a report, and examples we wrote to show where the line sits.
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What are Google's review guidelines?
Google’s review guidelines are the rules in its Maps user-generated content policy, and they apply to every review on a Business Profile. The banned kinds of review sit on one page, Prohibited and restricted content. The twelve pages in this section take that list one rule at a time.
The guidelines are also the test for removal. Google says you can report any review, but only those that break a policy are eligible for removal. A review that breaks local law goes through a separate legal removal route instead.
The six policies behind most removals
A report names one reason, and an appeal is allowed once. Choosing the right policy, and having the evidence ready, is most of the work.
| Policy | What Google can remove | What it keeps online | What a report rests on |
|---|---|---|---|
| Spam and fake content | Reviews not based on a real experience, paid reviews, one person posting from many accounts | A real customer you cannot find in your records. A rating with no text | The pattern: timing, new accounts, copied wording |
| Conflict of interest | Reviews by current or former staff, contractors, competitors and family | A customer who prefers a rival | The tie between the reviewer and the business |
| Off-topic | Political or social commentary, personal rants, reviews of another place | Any criticism of price, staff, speed or results | The sentence that shows there was no experience |
| Personal information | Another person's full name, face, contact, financial or medical details, without consent | The name of a doctor or other professional who practices under it | The detail, and whose it is |
| Offensive content | Threats, doxxing, slurs, attacks, unsupported claims of crime, profanity used to offend | Negative experiences described in a respectful manner | The words |
| Advertising and solicitation | Promotional content, links, email addresses, phone numbers and social handles | A comparison with a competitor | The link, code, number or handle |
Source: Prohibited and restricted content, Google Maps User Generated Content Policy.
The rest of Google's list
Rarer on a business profile, and clear when they appear. Restricted content matters most to brands that prescribe, because it covers offers to sell medicine.
Restricted content
Google removes reviews with offers, links or contact details for regulated goods such as prescription medicine. What restricted content covers.
Impersonation
Google's impersonation policy removes reviews that pose as a person, a group or an official body. Related rules cover harmful, deceptive health claims.
Dangerous content
Google's dangerous content policy removes reviews that encourage serious harm or give directions for dangerous acts. A related rule covers violence.
Illegal content
Google handles illegal content in reviews through a legal removal form, not the report button. How the route works and when to call a lawyer.
Sexually explicit content
Google removes reviews with sexually explicit or adult-themed content, and sexual remarks about a person. What the policies cover and how to report.
Terrorist content
Google's terrorist content policy removes reviews that promote terrorist acts, incite violence or come from terrorist groups. How to report one.
How these pages are made
Each page quotes Google’s own wording and links to the page it comes from. The main sources are the Maps user-generated content policy, its list of prohibited and restricted content, and the Business Profile help page on reporting reviews. Each page shows the date it was last checked against them.
Google’s current policy page has no heading called “illegal content”. Content that breaks local law is handled on a separate legal removals page, and our page on it says so.
The example reviews are ours. We wrote them to show where a policy applies and where it does not. They are not real reviews, and an outcome shown next to an example is our reading of the policy. Google decides every real report.
For how the policies fit together in practice, read the guide to Google review removal. To check one review against the policies, use the free qualification tool. Trustpilot’s rules are covered in the Trustpilot guidelines section.
Find out how many of your 1-star reviews we can remove
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