This article is from our Agency Growth Handbook—a collection of guides created to help local SEO agencies grow and succeed. It is chapter four of ‘Part 3: Retention & Growth’. 

In an increasingly competitive SEO world, client retention is becoming more important than ever. According to a recent Sparktoro survey of over 600 agencies and freelancers, a majority are reporting that their biggest challenge is their sales pipeline and new client acquisition. That means every client lost is going to have a bigger impact on agencies that plan to grow.

So, how can you improve SEO client retention? Well, as a previous freelancer and current agency owner who’s worked in the industry for over a decade, I’m going to share some of the biggest complaints I hear from business owners and what you can do to stand out in such a competitive market. Apply these not-so-common-sense principles, and I’m confident any freelancer or agency will not only retain clients longer but probably close more new business, too.

What is value beyond deliverables?

I’ve talked to a lot of business owners who have worked with SEO companies. In fact, on the GBP Help Community, where I volunteer as a Product Expert, I spoke to nearly 1,000 business owners in 2024 alone.

One benefit of this is it allows me to get a pretty good pulse on the industry and how business owners describe their problems (which I then, of course, incorporate into how I describe solutions). And if there’s one thing I’ve learned over the years, agency reputation is not at a high point among business owners, to say the least.

In my experience, many business owners are unimpressed with digital marketing agencies (generally speaking here). And aside from the obvious horror stories, I think there’s a fundamental disconnect between what clients hope to get and what they actually receive—even from the “good” agencies!

Let’s look at some noteworthy findings from the Sparktoro survey I mentioned. They report some pretty staggering numbers…

When agencies were asked what they expect their biggest challenge to be over the next year:

• 70% of respondents said new business sales.
• Nearly 40% said existing client retention.

When asked how they feel about the current state of the agency world:

• 44% said, “It’s a struggle right now.” 
• Just 10% said it’s “healthy.”
  

So what’s behind all of this? Why is it so hard to sell? And why do so many agencies think it’s a struggle right now?

It’s certainly not because businesses are spending less on digital marketing. Various reports suggest strong growth in digital spending in 2024, and digital marketing investments are projected to continue growing over 10% YoY and will be a $1 trillion industry by 2030.

I’ll tell you why most agencies find it hard to sell right now: the market isn’t seeing enough value from most agencies. Duh!

One problem I see frequently is that agencies try to “sell” the value of digital marketing, in general, rather than selling the value of themselves. And given the enormous worldwide investments in digital marketing, I don’t think anyone needs to be sold on the value of ranking on Google. It’s not 2001, people!

We’re at a time in the industry of nearly complete adoption. It’s akin to Apple trying to sell the value of cell phones. If that was their only value prop, I’m sure it would be a struggle for them, too.

This brings to mind a client who fired their previous agency even though the agency was producing great results.

The deliverables were there, the performance was there, and in fact the price was cheap too. Yet, the client wasn’t happy.

For this particular client, it came down to “soft deliverables” – mainly communication and basic customer service. They also had a hard time connecting the dots between their marketing performance and what the agency was actually doing (and the ROI of it all).

They were fully aware of the value of SEO and how important it was for their business. Nobody had to convince them of how important it was, nor did they need to be convinced they ranked well for some valuable keywords.

What they told me is that actually SEO gains were not a motivating factor for seeking change – that they were more concerned about understanding SEO, ROI, and digital marketing strategies.

So, with that in mind, if I had presented them with a pitch focused on the value of SEO and how I deliver SEO results, I’m sure it wouldn’t have been very meaningful for them.

Instead, my proposal focused on partnership, customer service, communication flexibility, meeting flexibility, how I could adapt to their operating style, what my work entails, and how my work ties directly to their bottom line. 

Rather than selling results, I was selling how I could tie my role to results (any results – good or bad).

They ended up closing on a deal that was priced 4x their previous agency – and they’re still one of my happiest clients. They’ve even referred multiple new clients.

I have a similar anecdote: I had another client who, after having strong SEO results, referred another business to me. I wasn’t surprised, given the campaign’s success, but what was surprising is what I learned from the new prospect: the client never even mentioned performance to the referral.

My client told this referral that the communication made it worth every penny and more.

And this was after he had worked with several marketing agencies for over the past 10 years.

I don’t believe these are flukes, either. I regularly hear complaints that clients feel neglected, they don’t understand where their money is going, that their strategy seems generic, they don’t fully grasp what agencies do for them, and they aren’t getting what they thought they were buying.

So, how can you counter these common pain points and stand out?

5 Tips to Close More Deals and Keep Clients Longer

1. Being a Partner vs Vendor

In my experience, most clients aren’t looking for a task rabbit. Many don’t even understand this stuff (that’s why they are looking for a partner). They don’t know what tasks need to be done, which ones will pay off, what’s the best fit for their business, and most importantly, what they mean to their bottom line. 

What I see is they are looking for a trusted expert to guide them on the best path forward and explain how things work, why it will work for them specifically, and how to measure the ROI of it all.

Having worked for agencies and as a customer of agencies when I was in-house, I’ve noticed that many operate more like vendors than partners. Whether it’s rate cards, packages galore, or templated reports and dashboards, it seems more like a product than a service—and I don’t think clients are looking for a product. At least mine aren’t.

Because of this, I tend to spend a lot more time one-on-one with clients. Is that scalable? No. However, customer service can retain a client through difficulty.

Vice versa? Not so much.

That’s why partnership and customer-centric values are top priorities in how I do business, particularly when most of my clients are doing local SEO. I know that local businesses meet their customers face-to-face, day in and day out, so weak customer service from me won’t be acceptable.

So, instead of selling effort and deliverables, I sell partnership (which just happens to include some deliverables).

Which brings me to my next point.

2. Stop Selling Deliverables

Aside from selling the value of digital marketing, another common problem is selling deliverables. According to a different agency survey from BrightLocal, over 50% of agencies said that their billing structure is based on deliverables.

Usually it looks like something like this:

• One blog per month
• One backlink per month
• Four GBP business posts per month
• And so on

Sound familiar? 

It’s worth considering that, at a time when most agencies are reporting trouble with their sales pipeline, most are also billing clients based on deliverables.

While this might be a case of correlation rather than causation, there are definitely a few issues with this approach:

1. Clients Aren’t in the Market For it

When was the last time you heard this from a potential lead: “Hi, um, so I’m looking for one blog per month, one backlink per month, and four GBP posts per month. Do you have any in stock?”

Right… so why do we sell this? In my experience, clients don’t know what that stuff is, but if it gets them more customers: “then sure?” And that’s a best-case response!

2. It Commoditizes SEO

If SEO is one blog per month, one backlink, or whatever, then why don’t they just go with the next agency that provides that stuff for less?

3. It Ties Your Work to Tasks

That means if those tasks don’t get done, then they aren’t getting what they paid for. So if calls are up 60% YoY, that doesn’t really mean anything if you didn’t deliver your deliverable (aka, that blog).

4. Your Work is Always Aligned Toward Meeting Deliverables Rather Than Clients’ Real Goals

That sets you up for a client who doesn’t see real value in your work because those deliverables were never their real objective to begin with.

I’ve learned this the hard way. It’s pretty frustrating when you’re producing results for a client, yet they’re unhappy because a blog wasn’t completed on time! 

I know some might argue that operational structure can prevent the issue of missing deliverables, but my point is that it’s actually quite telling if a client sees a blog deliverable as more important than calls. Clearly, they aren’t attributing my work to the call increase! 

And that’s a big problem, which brings me to my next point.

How to Create Better Local SEO Proposals

Learn More

3. Vanity Metrics vs KPIs

The same BrightLocal survey found that the most common challenge clients bring to agencies is revenue not meeting expectations. 

Interestingly, “needing one blog per month” didn’t make the list… but I digress.

Aside from undervaluing deliverables, clients also undervalue all sorts of metrics that are important in SEO.

They don’t see value in impressions, traffic, rankings, or any of those metrics (generally speaking). These are all metrics that only matter to marketers.

So unless your client is also a marketer, there really isn’t any value in showcasing it unless it is directly tied to actual KPIs (i.e., calls, sales, etc.). If a client comes to you and says, “Customers can’t find me online,” and you show them a rank tracking report, that actually doesn’t tell them anything about how many more customers found them online.

Let me put it this way: in my previous role, where I worked as an in-house Director of Digital Marketing for a healthcare chain, I reported directly to the CFO. And while I am indeed a marketer who uses all sorts of metrics to perform my job well, I can assure you I wasn’t going to the CFO end-of-year to report how impressions increased by a whopping 300%. CFOs don’t speak that language.

My reports were always tied directly to new business, revenue, and specific attribution year over year, and that’s how I operate with clients as well. While I know impressions and clicks are valuable, my clients simply do not speak that language either.

They speak:

• Phone calls
• Appointments
• qualified leads
• Sales
• Revenue
• ROI

Rankings and traffic are just how you get to the metrics that actually matter.

I know my clients will never see value in a vanity metric, no matter how “up and to the right” or shiny it may look to me or another SEO.

The good news with this approach is you also don’t need to have case-study-level homerun ROI every time. The mere fact that you helped a client implement attribution and tie SEO efforts directly to business outcomes will make your services stand out in a big way! Because that in and of itself is highly valuable, even if performance didn’t end up as strong as you hoped.

4. The Problem With Account Managers

While some clients like account managers, I’ve heard and seen enough of the bad not to have them at my SEO agency.

Don’t get me wrong—some account managers are great! But the term just doesn’t make the most sense in the agency world. It also has a negative connotation for many business owners who are unhappy with agencies (many of whom have account managers).

AMs make perfect sense in the SaaS world, for example. They can help clients make the most of the product and are often a valuable asset since they are experts in it.

That’s the issue I have: in the agency world, clients aren’t looking for a product. Even if digital marketing strategy were a product, then the AM would need to be the person who actually developed and implemented the strategy to be a true expert in that client’s particular “product.” 

Clients generally don’t need to be convinced SEO is valuable, nor are they looking for high-level general concepts and the deliverables involved. They aren’t stupid. They might not completely grasp SEO, but most of them certainly know when they are getting blown smoke. 

In my experience, what they are actually seeking is a deeper understanding of what exactly is the plan for them, why, what’s next, and whether or not they are getting a return from a particular task (or if it’s just a waste of time).

To some marketers, this might come off as needy, hence the solution of handing clients an account manager so the client knows things are getting done and has a person to talk to.

But that won’t fix anything if the “problem” you are trying to solve via an account manager isn’t even the real problem to begin with.

What I’ve heard from a number of business owners is that they have perceived some account managers as a sort of “buffer” between them and the people actually running the strategy and doing the work. Which makes sense… Because that’s exactly what it is (generally speaking).

This all goes along with point #1 above – clients want a partner, not a vendor. Account Managers seem more like a vendor thing. I mean, it’s even just the name… Account Manager.

I think most of my clients would be quite offended if I referred to them as an “account.”

5. Proactivity vs Reactivity

The last place I want to be with a client is when they are wondering where I am or what I’m up to. In fact, I’d prefer they have as little opportunity as possible to reach out to me first. At my agency, we’re always looking for excuses to talk to clients. I know they are less likely to be compelled from a cold outreach if they are in constant contact with me!

For example, we recently noticed an SEO client was trying to post links in their Instagram posts. We don’t work on their social media, nor have we sold it or even intend to. That said, we decided to create a LinkTree for them and give some suggestions on Instagram marketing best practices. It was very quick, easy, and only cost us a few dollars. And those few dollars very well may end up paying off more than we could ever quantify! You never know when an agency might come along and approach my client with, ” Wow, your current provider never told you that!”

Wrapping Up

Selling SEO is becoming more difficult, which means keeping your current clients is more important than ever. Fortunately, there’s no shortage of business, which means freelancers and agencies can continue to grow if they can better understand their customer’s pain points and deliver more value beyond a deliverable. By focusing on customer service, ROI, and communication, agencies can position themselves to stand out in a crowded market and retain clients longer.

Do you know a freelancer or agency struggling right now? Be sure to share, save, or bookmark this page if you’ve found it valuable. That way, we can all help businesses get more back from their SEO investment – which will build a happier & healthier SEO industry for everyone.

Fake reviews are out of control on Google. Signaling a desire to address the problem, Google released tougher GBP guidelines last week that warn merchants of new punishments for “fake engagement”.

This should be a welcomed change, of course. But is it too little, too late? Will these new policies actually help? And will innocent merchants suffer too?

Considering merchants are already suffering from weak policy enforcement and seemingly automated appeal tools, you definitely won’t find me celebrating quite yet.

And that’s just the first reason I’m skeptical! In this article, we’ll take a look at the state of restricted content policies, Google’s years-long enablement of harmful third-party reputation services, and why you might want to consider precautions to prevent any headaches to come.

Google’s New Review Policies

Earlier this year, I started hearing reports from folks in the EU that their Google Business Profile reviews had been disabled for 30 days due to fake engagement. This was the first quiet sign Google was ramping up new tests to fight fake positive reviews.

Now, Google has gone public with new policies and a list of punishments for merchants who are caught engaging in fake engagement violations:

Aside from losing the fake reviews, Google might:

• Disable new reviews temporarily
• Hide existing reviews—even genuine ones
• Display a public “shame banner” on their listing to warn consumers of fake reviews

If you’re wondering what this “shame banner” looks like, local marketing advisor Mike Blumenthal shared an example of one in the wild from the UK.

While this could be cool, if you’re like me, you may already be wondering about “false positives” and if adequate recourse will be in place.

Will you now be targeted with fake positive reviews from competitors and black hat SEOs trying to sabotage your business? To be frank, yeah, probably.

Though fairly uncommon, I have already seen “positive review attack” complaints on the GBP Help Community. Here’s what I mean:

While these more serious punishments will hopefully discourage merchants from buying fake reviews, they will also entice some to attack their competition.

For that reason, it would probably be wise to start:

1. Monitoring 5-star review activity for unrecognized reviews
2. Reporting suspicious 5-star reviews immediately
3. Contacting Google support if the reviews are not removed

Fortunately, it does appear merchants will be warned before punishments are placed, allowing time to submit an appeal of the decision.

That’s good… however, if history proves anything, Google doesn’t have the best track record of processing appeals and protecting merchants.

In my years of experience consulting business owners and communicating with Google Support about review violations, I’m not exactly confident the appeal form will be user-friendly.

In fact, reporting review violations is currently so difficult that merchants often turn to consultants or shady reputation management services to help remove reviews…

…reviews that violate Google’s own policies, mind you.

And where do they find these services? On Google, of course!

What’s worse? Google enables and profits from Google review removal services by means of Google Ads—and these ads are ripe with deceptive marketing, manipulative sales tactics, and false pretenses that prey on desperate business owners. Let’s take a deep dive into that.

Reputation Rackets Alive and Thriving

Online Reputation Management, or ORM, has had many shady actors for quite some time. Forbes wrote an exposé in 2013 highlighting manipulative and even illegal practices throughout the industry, from outright extortion to reputation service price gouging.

I’ve seen countless examples of individuals getting random negative reviews only to be immediately contacted with a cold offer to remove their negative reviews for a fee. Some of these scammers flatly admit it’s blackmail!

These tactics predate the current Google review gold mine, such as the notorious mugshot removal scams (article only available in USA) that acquire and post mugshots online, and then contact the individuals with an extortion fee to remove it. In this case, you aren’t paying for reputation management—you are just paying a ransom.

And just like kidnapping, paying the ransom encourages copycat antics.

While these blackmail tactics are obvious abuse, an even more successful racket has been operating in the open for years: “Guaranteed” review removal services.

Beware Ads For “Guaranteed” Review Removal

Have you ever been desperate to remove a bad review?

Countless “reputation management” companies know you have – or will be, and are ready to profit from that desperation.

GUARANTEED REVIEW REMOVAL

ONLY PAY IF IT’S REMOVED

Maybe you’ve seen these ads on Google, LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook, and so on.

Just search “remove Google reviews” and you’ll see as many ads as if you were searching for a personal injury lawyer.

These ads have been shown for years above Google’s free review management tool—a tool that many don’t even know exists, let alone how to use it.

And these ads aren’t cheap. Some keywords related to Google review removals are fetching a staggering $40 per click or more in Google Ads. At those prices, Google review removal is quickly earning itself a spot among the most expensive paid search categories like loans, insurance, mortgages, and attorneys!

That’s because it’s a wildly profitable industry that relies on desperate merchants who will pay (possibly anything) to have a negative review removed.

For example, I once helped a small business owner, a dog trainer, who had a review from a bitter romantic partner who accused him of abusing animals. For those who love animals, that’s an instant dealbreaker and a possible death sentence for this business.

He risked a lot of money to companies that promised to remove the review, yet none were successful (despite obvious violations in the review).

I knew the review broke GBP guidelines and there was a path of recourse. I gave the business owner some advice which subsequently had the review taken down successfully (and no, I didn’t charge a “guaranteed removal fee”).

With keyword planner reporting over 250,000 searches per month related to removing Google reviews, I know many are falling for a gimmick – or else no business in their right mind would pay up to $40 to win a single click.

I’ve reported thousands of Google reviews that were successfully removed. As a GBP Product Expert, you can find me volunteering on the Google Help Community regularly helping merchants with bugs, suspensions, and yes, many review violations. I know firsthand that no reputation company, no matter how high their fees, can be better at reporting Google reviews than any average person who really understands the process and Google policies.

For one, reviews are only removed when they violate Google’s restricted content policies. No company can delete the review, nor can you pay Google to remove it.

There is no proprietary secret or backdoor to get reviews removed. The real challenge is actually getting a Google Support representative who is aware of and understands the guidelines (in your native language). That’s it.

So, at best, any paid service is just good at communicating with Google Support and informing them of their own guidelines.

And that’s at best. What’s actually happening is often worse.

Why You Shouldn’t Pay “Only if it’s Removed”

I get it, it’s enticing. Especially if you’re a civil trial lawyer, for example, who works on a similar basis.

Why should you pay unless the desired outcome is achieved? Seems like a no-brainer, but isn’t that simple.

How do these reputation companies do it, exactly? Is it a backdoor connection at Google? An algorithm? Do they have a team of super lawyers to threaten legal action against the official monopoly of search?

What’s the secret!?

*drumroll*

… nothing.

The real secret sauce is not their reporting tactics, it’s their business model.

Here it goes: They click the flag button, and then they bill you $1,000 if the review disappears.

And yes, I have seen agreements for much more than $1,000 per review. Do this at scale, and we’re talking some serious dough. No wonder they are paying $40 per click for the ads!

Now, some of these companies may be more sophisticated in their tactics than just clicking the report button. And by “sophisticated”, I mean using Google’s free review management tool that I mentioned above.

Even then, no one can guarantee or promise your review is coming down. Only Google, and Google alone, has the authority to remove a review.

The other issue is that there is absolutely no reliable way to attribute who or what event triggered a review to finally get removed. Google does not send a certificate that says “Congratulations Generic Reputation Company LLC—you removed this review! Go ahead and bill your customer now!”

That’s because Google removed the review, because it already violated their guidelines. It wasn’t because of Generic Reputation Company LLC, you, me, or anyone else.

It was because Google didn’t notice the violation, but now they do… oops!

How Reviews Are Actually Removed

No ORM company can claim or even prove that they were responsible for a Google review being removed. 

Despite reporting thousands of reviews myself, I have never once been informed that I was responsible in any way, nor can I truly take credit for the results.

Let me explain: Reviews can come down at any time. It can be the result of:

• Flagging from the business owner or other users
• Appeals in the Review Tool
• Escalations on the GBP Help Community
• The user removed it themselves
• The reviewer’s account was suspended
• Possibly a combination of reports
• Or even just automatically from a Google algorithm update

Just like the search algorithm, Google periodically pushes updates to their review filter algo.

Earlier this year, Google said they removed 45% more reviews in 2023 thanks to their new review algorithm.

Google also does not inform anyone of the precise source of removal or if they were affected by this algorithm, likely to prevent review manipulation.

So what happens if your review gets taken down by one of these algorithms after you sign a guaranteed review removal contract?

How “Guaranteed” Removal Works

Those willing to pay anything to remove a review usually don’t care who removes the review. So what if an ORM company can’t prove they really did it? The review is gone, hallelujah!

Well, not so fast. Aside from the ethics concerns of their marketing strategy, the reason you should care is because you can do it for free, and may even be paying for nothing.

Without naming names, here’s a shot directly from the website of one of the biggest advertisers in this space:

Ehem, “we”? you mean when Google removes it?

Over the past year, this company’s ad spend has skyrocketed, estimated at over 4,000 paid search users per month.

Not to mention, this is actually ‘helpful content’ too, by the way, because ironically they seem to be one of the lucky ones to benefit from the March core algorithm update!

In the August update, they saw even greater gains.

Meanwhile, other businesses suffered or were even forced to file for bankruptcy as the result of the controversial March “Helpful Content” Update, like in this example reported by Barry Schwartz.

It’s not just one offender either. Here’s another popular “content removal” service:

Or this one, another Google Ad buyer, with this on their Google Ads landing page:

(Google reviews reappear after removal all the time, by the way.)

The consistent pattern I find with merchants is that many seem to genuinely believe these ORM companies must have a super-secret connection or black hat tactic.

So how could they get away with selling bupkis?

To illustrate why that can be so, consider civil trial lawyers again, many of whom also use this same payment model: except their work is evident. There’s no question which firm represented you, who showed up on trial day, or who negotiated the settlement. “No Win – No Fee” agreements seem perfectly fair in this case, since there’s no question who did the work and won.

But when it comes to ORM, they actually don’t have to do any work to get paid under this model. Sure, the more work they do, the more money—so it’s in their best interest to try. And maybe some do work.

But my point is that this “removal guarantee” marketing model is deceptive and unethical, even if they do work. That’s because “success” is not based upon their work. It’s based upon an event that can occur unrelated to their work, and is often accompanied by lies about how the process really works.

With this model, money can still be made without a deliverable or accountability. Sign enough contracts and some will pay off. It’s just a numbers game.

In the same vein, I could guarantee your favorite NFL team will win the Superbowl: only pay if they win! With at least one customer per team, I’m guaranteed a payday.

And hence the doubling, tripling, and quadrupling down on Google Ad allocation from review removal services. And because customers are only billed after their desired outcome, few will complain!

I have reviewed contracts from some of these companies. Generally, the agreement is if the review disappears within 3 months, 6 months, etc., for any reason: you pay up. With no option to back out, there isn’t actually a deliverable. It’s really just a guarantee from you to owe someone else money in the event your review suddenly disappears…

…wait, what?

Note the exclusivity clause. The client is prohibited from reporting the review or merely contacting anyone in relation to review removal; but oh, by the way, you still get billed anyway even if you don’t breach this clause.

Huh? So why follow the exclusivity clause if there is no incentive?

An exclusivity clause usually protects one or both parties from being undermined. Ironically, in the case of Google reviews, this exclusivity agreement actually works against the vendor’s own definition of “successful removal.”

So the true purpose of this “clause” is just more deception. It appears to be an acknowledgment disguised in legalize that they can’t prove a deliverable, nor will they know themselves how a review got removed and if there was even a breach—so they ask you kindly not to report the review in the meantime (to avoid objections they cannot counter).

To me, this agreement sounds like a dentist who, looking at a clearly rotten tooth, asks that you promise to pay him when the tooth is removed. Sounds fair, right?

Except he didn’t say he would remove it. Check the fine print. He’s just going to send a bill when that bad boy falls out!

And if the tooth never comes out? Meh, whatever. No loss for him anyway. He’s got 100 other customers with poor flossing habits just waiting to pay off.

Yeah. That’s the shtick. If the company actually does nothing, and the review comes down anyway, expect a bill.

(The same contract shown above also requires a credit card on file for automatic billing and includes a credit bureau reporting agreement if you fail to pay.)

Unfortunately, unlike the dentist, you can’t prove the ORM company didn’t do any work. The agreed terms were indeed met, and you’re left holding the bag. They, on the other hand, get to safely hide behind apparent “proprietary industry secrets” and a clever contract.

So, really, this isn’t guaranteed review removal at all. It’s professional gambling with guaranteed stakes… and you’re the banker!

I’m no lawyer, but the legality of these contracts is questionable to me. At a minimum, they are super lame. I know I wouldn’t sign one.

Google should know better than anyone that guaranteed review removal offers are bogus. The least they could do is show their free review management tool more prominently—or maybe just ban false advertisements?

Summing Up: Take Contol of Your Reputation Management

Google is finally getting tougher on fake reviews, but who knows if it’s the action many were hoping for. I’ve explained the sad state of review removal, deceptive reputation services, and how Google profits as a result.

Because these shady review services are only possible due to Google’s weak enforcement of its own policies, merchants may want to follow the track record and take measures to prevent any possible implications. By taking the time to understand Google policies and the new guidelines for fake engagement, you can mitigate the risk of falling victim to any new black hat tactics on the horizon.

Be sure to warn other business owners, too. The more that are aware, the more likely there is to be meaningful action to prevent online review abuse that consistently hurts businesses and consumers alike.

“Guaranteed” review removal scams thrive as a result, and many frustrated merchants and agencies fall victim to egregiously expensive “reputation defense” services, hoping they’ll have another trick up their sleeve. 

Here’s the good news: you don’t need to. Any business owner or agency can add a trick up their own sleeve and achieve better success than any reputation service. 

Why? Because Google’s review management tool and appeal form is free – you just have to know how to use it. 

As someone who has reported thousands of Google reviews that were successfully removed, I’m going to help you avoid the fees and double your success by sharing tips for:

1. Understanding which reviews can be removed.
2. The types of evidence you need.
3. Using the appeal form, common mistakes, and how to frame your argument.

Report Reviews Like a Pro

The first thing you need to be aware of is this review reporting tool and the appeal form found in the tool. It’s the first organic result when you search ‘how to remove a Google review’ (if you can make it past the ads).

Don’t report reviews directly from the review itself. Always report reviews from the tool instead. Though the appeal form is a lesser-known GBP feature, there are already many helpful walk-through guides and videos about the tool and appeal form, so I won’t get into that in this article.

Instead, I’m going to share some of my best advice on how to be most successful when using the review tool, the common mistakes I encounter, and the best kind of evidence to look for. If you want a simple walkthrough of using the tool, check out this helpful video from GBP Platinum Product Expert Joy Hawkins

Step 1: Understand Prohibited and Restricted Content Policies

Before we get into anything, you first need to be familiar with Google’s policies on prohibited and restricted content. The only reviews that can ever be removed are reviews that violate these policies. You can’t beg or pay Google to remove a review. The secret to successfully removing reviews is using these policies against Google, like a lawyer in court. The stronger case you can make (based on these policies), the better success you will have.

Step 2: Report the Review in the Review Tool

Technically, you can just report the review from GBP, Search, or Maps, but it is better to just go straight to the tool. When you first flag a review, you’ll be prompted to pick a category. You may notice not all violation categories are listed. This is a major reason you need to be familiar with the appeal form and all of the policies – some violations you can’t even report until you have the opportunity to appeal. 

If you aren’t sure which policy your report falls under, just pick the closest one.

For example, the policy prohibiting ‘unsubstantiated allegations of unethical behavior or criminal wrongdoing’ doesn’t fit into any of these categories. So just pick the closest, such as ‘Off-topic’ or ‘Harassment’.

After your initial report, you’ll need to wait at least three days before you can appeal, so my suggestion would be to start this process sooner rather than later.

Step 3: Identify Policy Violations and Gather Evidence

When reporting reviews, Google isn’t going just to take your word for it because you say it is a violation. You’ll need evidence. Keep in mind these important points:

• Google does not verify whether an account of an experience is true or false.
• Google doesn’t enter disputes over facts between the business owner and the review.
• You do not need to be a paying customer to leave a Google review.
• People can leave reviews for any experience with your business.
• Many people use an alias as their Google username, thereby making themselves anonymous.
• In reports, Google considers the reviewer’s public username. All evidence with the reviewer’s name must be in relation to the username that appears on the review. This may be their real name, but not always, so it’s just important to keep that in mind.
• Your report should be believable from an unbiased third-party observer. Think about it like presenting evidence to a jury.

For these reasons, it can sometimes be virtually impossible to prove an experience never occurred, even if you know it is fake. To be successful, you’ll want to draw a clear line between a specific policy and your evidence.

Here’s where I have the best success or see the most mistakes:

In Appeal, Be as Specific as Possible

I mentioned in the initial report you could “just pick the closest category.”

DO NOT do that in the appeal. It’s critical to be specific now because you are submitting an argument that humans will most likely check. Explain your argument like you are explaining it to an actual kindergartener. And I’m not exaggerating. You may need to explain things that shouldn’t even need explanation.

For example, on more than one occasion, I have seen people be unsuccessful with reports when a reviewer called the merchant a “racist” or “homophobe”.

Some people quickly report this language under the ‘Hate Speech’ category.

But calling someone a racist isn’t hate speech – saying something racist is hate speech. This is an important nuance.

It doesn’t mean it’s not a violation, though. It just means that whichever Googler reviewed the report may have had a hard time understanding the violation argument. Many Google Support staff are multilingual, and English may not be their native language.

Accusing someone of being a racist or homophobic would more accurately fall under ‘unsubstantiated allegations of unethical behavior’ in the ‘Offensive Content‘ category. 

This may seem like semantics. Shouldn’t Google know it’s still a violation? Well, yes, probably. But this article isn’t about that. This article is about being successful when reporting reviews, so pay close attention to category definitions and pick the right category before your appeal. 

Check for Multiple Violations

I seem to have more success when there is more than one violation. In my experience, there seems to be a level of subjectivity with policy enforcement. One Googler may agree something is a violation, while another may not. Be sure you aren’t missing something secondary, even if you think there is already enough evidence for an egregious violation. It will improve your case.

Pay Close Attention to the Text

In my experience, Google first looks for violations within the review text itself. That’s why “rating-only” reviews are so difficult to remove. 

The algorithm can sometimes miss language that is indeed a violation, especially regional slang. First, determine if the language in the review has a possible violation you can explain.

For example, I saw one recently that called the merchant a “crook.” Be prepared to define the word crook. It might sound silly, but again, your report may not be reviewed by a native English speaker. Don’t assume they know what a crook is. My friend and unofficial Product Expert mentor, Amy Toman, pointed out that the word crook has several definitions. 

When asked to elaborate on the review text, Amy says, “You may also want to mention any nuance specific to your area or country. Words have different connotations in different countries and regions, even in a large geographic area like the US. It’s worth it to spell out the meaning specific to your area in your appeal.”

So be ready to explain the violation category and then define the word “crook” and why that is a violation in context. It’s safer to over-explain than not enough.

Because Google’s English dictionary uses Oxford Languages, I defer to Oxford Dictionary whenever possible (for English).

Becoming familiar with the guidelines can help you tell the story more effectively on why the words in a review are a violation (calling someone a crook can be an allegation of criminal behavior, but the algorithm or a non-native speaker may not catch that unless you spell it out). 

This can also be true with hate speech.

“Fake Engagement”

The first restriction in the guidelines, Fake Engagement, is by far the most common complaint I see. “I don’t know this person! Remove this review!” – sound familiar?

This is arguably the hardest policy violation to prove and have success with. Google isn’t going to take your word for it. You’ll need evidence. If it were as easy as simply claiming a review is fake, there would probably be no bad reviews on Google.

Proof of fake engagement might be:

• Facebook posts or viral videos calling for negative reviews.
• Reviews that flatly say in the review text that they did not have an experience with your business, such as admitting it is based on hearsay or a “friend’s experience”.
• Having many 1-star reviews in a short time frame, when that is out of the ordinary for the business. If you get one review a month, then randomly get ten bad reviews in a day – Google would investigate that. Point out this pattern.
• Proof that the reviewer’s name matches a competitor’s name. You can reference their website, LinkedIn page, etc., which shows they are part of a competing business.
• Photos of fliers or social media posts offering incentives for reviews, such as raffles or prizes
• Evidence of blackmail demanding money to remove a review. But this won’t always work because people do try to forge these. 
• Check the reviewer’s history – do they leave a lot of bad reviews for the same industry?

Saying you don’t know the person, that they weren’t a customer, or even proving they weren’t a customer isn’t enough – because they don’t need to be a customer. Fake engagement policy is more about deliberate attempts to manipulate a place’s rating, so that is what you should try to prove, not necessarily whether an event occurred or not.

Check the Reviewer Username for Pranks

It’s perfectly allowed to use an alias on your Google account. However, it can’t be inappropriate, like fictitious epithets intended as a prank or insult.

Maybe you remember when a local news station gained national headlines when they were duped into reporting offensive prank names on a live broadcast covering a plane crash.

Understandably, Google can miss nuance like this, too, and I have seen it. They don’t want to look dumb or offend their audience either, so these accounts are often suspended or hidden when reported. Be sure to explain very clearly what the name means when you report this type of thing!

Conflict of Interest

Maybe a disgruntled employee left a review. That is a violation, but you’ll need to prove it. 

• Does the name match any records you have? 
• Are they still up on your website as an employee? 
• Does the review specifically say or imply they were an employee?

You may need to get creative. I recently helped a lawyer who received a scathing retaliatory review from an opposing party in a custody trial. The lawyer was able to supply court records that showed the reviewer’s name matched the opposing party’s and also showed the opposing party’s lawyer, who was also a competitor of the lawyer I was helping. 

This is all obviously a conflict of interest, and this review was successfully removed when the evidence was shown (even after hiring other reputation companies who failed in their efforts).

Misinformation

Does the review get into stating “facts” about health, finance, or law? 

Google takes this seriously. Misinformation on Google is a liability. If a reviewer says something wrong, explain how this misinformation or advice can negatively affect Google users’ health or finances. 

Personal Information and Harassment 

Does the review target a specific staff member by their full name or last name? This can often be removed.

Just keep in mind it isn’t considered personal information if your last name is part of your public-facing image or branding. Lawyers and doctors are a common example.

Doxxing and mass calls for reviews are also not allowed. I’ve seen various cases of viral TikToks calling for reviews targeting a merchant. Save that evidence! 

Obscenity 

Google encourages reviews that provide a helpful account of your experience, whether positive or negative. Using language to shock or emphasize criticism to others is often not allowed. The F-bomb or obvious obscenity is usually automatically filtered. However, some abbreviations can still be considered offensive if they portray the same meaning. 

Some words or idioms may only be considered vulgar to some people or cultures, so they can be missed at first, but Google may still remove them when they are appealed and properly explained.

If you can supply documented evidence online that explains how a phrase or abbreviation may be offensive or is offensive in your region specifically, use it as evidence in your appeal.

Gibberish, Rambling, Repetitive

Again, Google encourages reviews that actually help users. Incoherent rambling, typos, or gibberish is not desirable.

You’ll want to explain to Google that this content isn’t helpful, as the meaning is difficult to understand or just plain hard to read. Point out the specific excerpts rather than the whole review.

Keep an eye out for what appear to be AI reviews or exact copy-and-paste. Google also removes these types of reviews, especially when you are able to show evidence or a pattern.

Allegations

This is an often overlooked but quite effective violation category. I mentioned it already, but it’s under Offensive Content: ‘unsubstantiated allegations of unethical behavior or criminal wrongdoing.’

The evidence of this category would be in the review itself. 

• Did the reviewer accuse you of a crime? 
• Did they accuse you of unethical business practices? 
• Did they call you a scammer? 

There is a good chance you can have these reviews removed, but usually only after an appeal.

This category is extremely vague, and even after reporting thousands of reviews, it’s still unclear where the line is drawn with this category or how “unsubstantiated” is defined. However, many reviews with allegations of all kinds are removed when you are able to explain this policy in your appeal.

Some allegations may not be considered unethical in one industry but quite unethical in another. One industry-specific example was a law firm that was accused of accepting a gift for pro bono services. In the legal world, that would be unethical and may be defamatory because pro bono means ‘for the public good’ (and strictly without compensation). Some US states, such as New York, even require a certain number of hours of pro bono work from practicing attorneys. Be sure to explain similar industry nuance whenever applicable.

Step 4: Appeal

Once you have your evidence gathered, you are ready to submit a strong appeal. Some important tips:

1. You don’t have to wait for a decision to submit an appeal.
2. After three days, you can submit an appeal even if the decision is still pending. This can speed things up and improve your chances of removing the review because you will be able to include your evidence. There is no benefit of waiting.
3. Do not get emotional in the appeal. Stick to the facts, policies, and evidence. Pleading only distracts and will do more harm than good.
4. For review attacks (getting several negative reviews at once), you can select up to 10 in the review tool and then submit the appeal. This will allow you to submit the reviews as a batch, which will be more successful than one at a time. For larger attacks, I suggest going to the GBP Help Community. For ongoing attacks, Google may be able to block new reviews temporarily.
5. With a single 1-star rating and no text, it will be very hard to remove. It might not be worth the time chasing this one unless you have solid evidence the username matches a competitor or part of a coordinated review attack. It’s worth a try to flag it, but if it fails to come down, the appeal is less likely to help for no-text ratings.

Plan B: GBP Help Community

Another lesser-known option is that you can actually get one more shot on the GBP Help Community, even if you submitted an appeal and it was rejected. Product Experts, who are very familiar with the guidelines, can escalate reviews to Google if it looks like there was indeed a mistake and the review should be reconsidered.

How to Get the Help You Need from the Google Business Profile Help Community

Read More

Still Want to Hire an Expert? Here Are the Green Flags:

Not all paid services for review management are bad. Many merchants are too busy and prefer to hire a professional to handle it correctly. There are many reputable consultants and agencies available to assist.

The biggest green flag to look for is not “working for free” until removal – like the “guaranteed” removal shams I mentioned and recently covered.

As a local SEO consultant, I sometimes consult my clients on negative review reporting. But this is always on an hourly basis because it’s consulting. I can’t guarantee review removal; I just know a lot about review reporting. Many other reputable vendors work similarly, charging for time and experience, which is usually more valuable anyway.

Wrapping Up: Take Ownership of Your Review Management

Unscrupulous reputation services are investing heavily in deceptive marketing tactics to take advantage of desperate merchants and Google’s weak policy enforcement. I’ve outlined how Google review removal really works and which reviews can be removed. 

Even though “guaranteed” review removal isn’t possible, you can still be highly effective – without the need to hire anyone. By taking the time to understand Google policies along with the tips and common mistakes I’ve outlined in this article, any business can report reviews just as effectively as a professional service at no cost.

Save this article for the next time you need to report a Google review. I encourage every business to first try on their own before considering paid assistance. It just might save you thousands of dollars!