Removing a Google review as a financial advisor

An advisor holds a client’s balances, beneficiaries and plans, and the confidentiality you owe clients, set out in your privacy notice and your firm’s policies, applies to a public reply as much as anywhere. A reply that mentions an allocation, a loss, a fee or a call log confirms the writer is a client and discloses their affairs. If you work through a broker dealer or a compliance team, they will expect to see any reply first.

The safe reply says the firm keeps every client relationship confidential, takes concerns seriously and will speak with anyone who calls. Never argue performance in public. Other readers cannot see the account, and the attempt reads as defensive.

• A client unhappy with returns after a market drop.
• An heir who disagrees with how a parent’s account was handled and was never a client.
• A client angry about a fee schedule they signed.
• Threats or your home address posted after a loss.
• A rival advisor or a former associate who took clients with them.
• Complaints about the custodian’s website, transfer times or statements.

Returns and fees are a client’s real experience, and Google allows harsh opinions about them. Google also allows the name of a financial planner who does business under that name, so a review naming you is not a privacy breach on its own. Add your home address, a private phone number or remarks about your family and it becomes one: Google’s personal information policy covers private details posted without consent, and doxxing is listed under harassment.

A specific threat meets harassment. An heir who was never a client meets fake engagement, and Google names familial relationships under conflict of interest. A rival advisor or a former associate meets conflict of interest as a competitor or former colleague. A complaint aimed only at a custodian’s systems describes a business you do not run, which is off topic.

• Screenshots of the review, the reviewer’s profile and the date.
• For an heir or relative: a search of your client records with no account under that name, stated as a result.
• For a former associate: their dates at the firm and where they work now, from public registration or their own profile.
• For a custodian complaint: a general statement of which firm holds client assets, with no account named.
• For a threat: your incident note and any police report number.

A departure sends reviews in two directions. The advisor who left, or their assistant, may review the old firm from the job, and that meets conflict of interest through former employment. Their public registration or profile shows where they work now, which is the record the case needs.

Clients who moved, or who stayed and felt abandoned, may review whichever side they blame. They are real clients describing a real experience, and their reviews stay even when the move is the whole complaint. Answer them with the general reply and a direct call.

1. 01

   Tell compliance

   If your firm reviews public communications, send them the review before anything else.

2. 02

   Protect yourself

   If your address or a threat is in the review, treat it as a safety matter first.

3. 03

   Report the review

   In your Business Profile, open Read reviews, select the Report icon, choose the reason and select Send report.

4. 04

   Run the free audit

   The audit reads every low review and marks each with a clause and a fee class, or No rule broken.

5. 05

   Accept the case sheet

   The clause, the reasoning and the fee are written down first. Nothing is filed until you accept.