Someone Left a Fake Review on My Google Business Profile: What You Can (and Can't) Do

What qualifies for removal

• The reviewer was never a customer and says so, or the review describes an experience that doesn't match your business (wrong location, wrong service, wrong industry).
• The review contains hate speech, harassment, or threats.
• It's a conflict of interest: a current or former employee, a competitor, or someone with a personal dispute unrelated to the transaction.
• It violates the spam and fake-engagement policy, including reviews left in bulk or in exchange for compensation.

How to report it

From the review itself, use the flag icon to report it, and select the reason closest to what actually happened. Vague reports get vague outcomes. If you have evidence the reviewer was never a customer (no matching transaction, no matching visit), say so specifically in your response and in the report, rather than just disputing the rating.

What to do while you wait

Respond publicly, calmly, and specifically. A measured response that states the facts without arguing does more for future customers reading it than the removal itself, since most people who see a suspicious review also read how the business responded. Don't get pulled into a public back-and-forth: state your side once and move on.

The part most owners miss

Reports on a single review are easy to lose track of, especially across more than one location. Without a running view of what's been reported, what's pending, and what's been resolved, the same fake review can sit unresolved for months simply because nobody followed up.

ProfileWard flags new reviews the moment they post, suggests a response you approve before it goes live, and keeps a running view of what's still unanswered across every location, so a bad-faith review never just sits there unnoticed.