Google review removal appeals: how the process works

Where does a Google review appeal sit in Google's process?

A Google review removal request has two stages, and the appeal is the second.

1. The report. You choose a reason and send it. Google says evaluation typically takes several days.
2. The appeal. Open only if the report comes back with no violation found. You get one.

There is no third stage in the tool. That shapes everything about how to use the first two. A careless report still leaves you the appeal. A careless appeal leaves you nothing.

What do the three statuses mean?

The Reviews Management Tool lists each review you have reported, with one of three statuses. The wording is Google's.

A removed review does not need a status. It is gone from Maps and Search. Our guide to review management software covers what else the tool does, and what paid products add.

One detail trips people up. After an appeal is decided against you, the status still reads "Escalated - check your email for updates". Google's page says so. The email is the record of the result, so make sure someone reads the inbox of the account that manages the profile.

Should you appeal every review Google keeps?

No. An appeal is worth filing when two things are true.

• The review does break a policy. Read the policy again, in Google's words, on the Prohibited and restricted content page. Our policy pages quote each one.
• You can add something. The first report carried a reason and nothing else. If you have facts the reviewer could not see, the appeal is where they count.

If the honest answer to the first is no, stop. Google's page is plain: "Do not report a review just because you disagree with it or dislike it". An appeal will not change that, and a reply will do more good.

How do you file a Google review removal request or appeal?

These are Google's steps, from its report page.

1. Go to the Reviews Management Tool.
2. Confirm the email address tied to your Business Profile, or switch account.
3. Select your business.
4. Choose "Check the status of a review I reported previously and appeal options", and continue.
5. At the bottom, select "Appeal eligible reviews".
6. Select the review. You can select up to 10.
7. Continue to "Submit an appeal". A form opens in a new tab.
8. Fill out the form and submit.

Selecting up to 10 reviews in one appeal is useful for a wave, where the case is the same for each. For unrelated reviews, file them apart. One form cannot argue three different policies well.

What should the appeal say?

Keep it short, and build it in three parts.

1. The policy, in Google's words. Name it and quote the line. For example: fake engagement, "content that has been posted from multiple accounts by or at the request of one person".

2. The facts, in a few lines. What shows the breach. Dates, counts and links do more than adjectives.

3. What is new. Anything the first evaluation could not have seen from the text alone.

Here is a worked example for the fictional Northstar Health clinic. It is ours, written to show the shape.

Policy: fake engagement, content posted from multiple accounts by one person. Between 2:10 pm and 4:45 pm on March 3, five 1-star reviews were posted to this profile. All five accounts were created that week and have no other reviews. Four of the five use the sentence "worst clinic in town, avoid at all costs". The clinic was closed on March 3. Links to all five reviews are below.

Compare the appeal that fails.

This review is completely false and is damaging our business. We have never treated this person and we demand that it be removed.

The second one may be true. It gives Google nothing to check.

What helps, by policy

What to leave out

• Patient information. Never send Google a record to prove someone was or was not a patient. For a health brand that can be a HIPAA breach.
• Threats. An appeal is a request, and legal language does not speed it up.
• The backstory. Google is checking a review against a policy. It is not judging the dispute.

What happens after you submit?

Google assesses the appeal and emails the result. Its page gives the two outcomes.

• "If the review violates our policies, it will be removed."
• "If the review complies with our policies, it will remain live."

Google gives no time for this stage. Plan in weeks, and do not hold a reply back while you wait. A calm public reply protects you with readers whichever way the appeal goes.

Can the reviewer appeal too?

Yes, and this is the part most businesses do not know. Google's appeals page gives contributors their own route. A person whose review was removed can appeal once. If Google finds the content "was removed in error", it restores it.

Two things follow.

• A removal built on a clear policy line holds up better. A review with a phone number in it will not be restored. A review removed on a thin case might be.
• Do not contact the reviewer. A message from the business after a removal can look like pressure, and pressure to keep a review down is what the FTC's rule calls suppression.

Google also tells businesses that reviews removed for policy violations are not restored on request. That line is aimed at owners asking for good reviews back, and it is worth knowing for that reason too.

What is left when an appeal fails?

Four things, in order of how often they are the right answer.

1. A reply. Most readers judge a business by how it answers. Keep it short, general and free of anything about the patient. Our HIPAA-safe reply guide has wording.
2. More real reviews. Google lets you ask every customer for a review, with no incentive and no filtering. Because the score is a plain average, each new rating moves it.
3. A report on the user profile. If the account's whole history breaks the policies, the profile can be reported from the Google Maps app.
4. The legal route. For content that breaks local law, Google has legal removal forms. Read can you sue over a bad review first. A legal threat aimed at an honest reviewer can breach the FTC's rule and the Consumer Review Fairness Act.

How do we handle appeals?

We draft the appeal before we file the first report. That sounds backwards, and it is the point. If we cannot write a three-part appeal for a review, it does not belong on the list of reviews to report.

For each review on your list you see the policy, the evidence and the status, in one shared sheet. When Google keeps a review we still believe breaks a policy, we file the appeal. When it keeps one after that, we tell you, and you are not charged for it.

The main Google review removal page covers the full service and the price. The same packs cover rule-breaking Trustpilot reviews, where the appeal rules are different: one appeal, within 6 months, as Trustpilot's appeals page sets out.

Before any appeal comes the first report, and our guide on how to remove a Google review from the first report covers it.

If you would rather hand the work over, see our Google review removal service and what each removal costs.