Guides for the hard cases.

Google Review Mentions My Name: Can It Come Down?

Google’s review policy covers a person’s full name or last name posted without consent. Whether your review qualifies depends on whose name it is and how it is used.

HIPAA Violation Google Review: What Doctors Can Do

HIPAA does not stop a patient from writing about their care. It does limit what you can say back. Here is how to reply safely and which reviews you can still report.

Google Review Appeal Status: How to Check It

Every review you report to Google has a status in the Reviews Management Tool. Here is where to find it, how to read it, and what to do next.

How to Escalate a Google Review Removal

When a report comes back with the review still up, Google offers a short list of further routes. Here they are in order, with what to send at each one.

Google Review Evidence: What Proves a Breach

The best evidence for a removal is usually already on the page. Here is how to read it, capture it and back it with one record that settles the point.

Google will review your appeal: what happens now?

The message confirms your appeal is in Google's hands. It is not a decision, and nothing about the review has changed yet.

Google review appeal email: what each result means

Google sends the result of a review appeal by email. There are two outcomes, and each one leads to a different next step.

Google review from an ex boyfriend or girlfriend?

A review written by a former partner is about you, not about your business. Google's policies have words for that.

Google review from someone suing your business?

When the writer is on the other side of a dispute with you, the review is read like any other: against Google's policies, word by word.

Google review names my employee: what can I do?

Staff are named in reviews every day. Whether a review comes down depends on which name is used, who the person is, and what the review says about them.

Google review with your phone number or address?

A review that publishes where someone lives or how to reach them privately is a privacy problem first and a reputation problem second.

Threatening Google review: what to do first

Safety comes before the listing. Once people are safe, the review goes to Google under its harassment policy, quoted word for word.

Google review from a former business partner?

A partner who left, sold out or was bought out knows your business from the inside. That is exactly why Google's conflict of interest policy applies.

How to remove a previous owner's Google reviews

When you buy a business, its Google reviews come with it. Google's help says so plainly, and its content policies still decide which old reviews can be reported.

Why can't doctors respond to Google reviews?

A doctor can reply. What a doctor cannot do is use the reply to say anything about the patient, and that rules out the reply most owners would write.