How to remove old Google reviews left under a previous owner

Google's help page on managing reviews across profiles is direct: “If a business has a new owner or manager but keeps the same name, the reviews remain.” It also says “Do not create a new Business Profile because of a change in a physical location or ownership,” and “Not all business changes qualify to move or remove reviews.” The same page says that if a business changes its name beyond a minor change, it is considered a new business.

So the purchase alone is not a reason Google accepts. Each old review is read the same way as a new one: against the content policies.

• The writer says they were never a customer.
• The writer worked for the previous owner. Google's conflict of interest wording includes “current or former employment.”
• The writer was a competitor of the previous owner.
• The review names a former employee by full name, or posts a private number or address.
• The review threatens someone, or uses a slur.
• The review is an advert or a phone number for another business.

Age does not weaken these. A review that broke a policy the day it was posted breaks it still.

A real customer who had a bad meal, a rude greeting or a long wait under the previous owner wrote about a genuine experience at that place. Google allows it, however out of date it now feels. These are the reviews to answer, not report. Google's help says that to explain any changes or improvements to your business, you can reply to old reviews. A dated reply tells a reader at a glance that the complaint belongs to another owner's time.

1. 01

   Take over the existing profile

   Have primary ownership of the current Business Profile passed to you, rather than starting a new one.

2. 02

   Read every low review

   Sort the reviews by lowest and read each one against the clauses above.

3. 03

   Find the staff list

   Ask for the previous owner's staff list as part of the sale papers. It is the record for any old review written by a former employee.

4. 04

   Report the ones with a case

   Report each from your Business Profile or the Reviews Management Tool, under the reason its words meet.

5. 05

   Answer the rest

   Reply to old reviews that stay, starting with the most recent and the most read.

6. 06

   Tidy the access

   Once the handover is done, review the profile's owners and managers and remove anyone from the previous owner's team.

Keep it short, date the change, and say what is different. For example: “Thank you for this. The business changed hands in March 2026, with a new kitchen team and a new menu. We would like the chance to show you the difference.” Do not blame the previous owner by name, and do not argue with the reviewer about something you were not there for.

If a duplicate profile was created by mistake during the handover, Google says to contact it to transfer your reviews from the old profile to the new one, so the two do not split your reviews.

The free audit reads every low review on the listing, old and new, against Google's policies and gives one line for each: a clause and a fee class, or No rule broken. For any review you want to pursue, a case sheet comes first, with the clause, the reasoning and the record. The fee is per removed review, set by a fixed class, and it is on the sheet before anything is filed. A declined case is filed a second time at the same fee.