How to Tackle Negative or Fake Google Reviews?

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How to Tackle Negative or Fake Google Reviews?
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Are you exhausted of seeing yet another negative
review on your Google My Business Account? You
are not the only one! In the current digital
world, anyone can create a fake account and leave
a positive or negative review regardless of any
security check or prior approval. And the worse
part is that these reviews directly reflect your
companys ranking. According to a survey report,
conducted by Dimensional Research, stats indicate
that 90 of respondents buying decisions are
influenced by Google Reviews. If anyone drops a
negative or fake Google reviews, it can
dramatically lower your business ratings and
reduce brand credibility online. Therefore, it is
important to understand the process and plan your
strategy well.
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How to Tackle Fake Google Reviews? As discussed,
negative reviews can adversely affect your
business ratings in front of your online
customers. Unfortunately, you cannot remove or
hide Google reviews even if they are fake. Being
a small/mid-size business organization, you
should tackle it calmly but smartly. So, lets
follow these instructions to deal with Fake
negative reviews Step 1 Act Smart When you
see any negative review on your Google My
Business page, take these initial steps
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• Stay Cool, Stay Calm
• Dont loose your temper while reading a false
  review. Take action calmly. Dont respond at all
  if you are in anger. It will communicate a wrong
  message.
• Research the Incident
• Do your research before you reply. Talk to your
  internal team and ask about the issue.
  Communicate privately with the reviewer to find
  the complete details from his/her end.
• Respond Back To A Negative Review
• Once youve done your investigation and have all
  facts in place, respond back politely. Clearly
  state what your company is doing to resolve the
  issue, how much user satisfaction is important
  for you, and share with them steps that are being
  taken. Please note that you should always reply
  back whether positive or negative review. This
  will re-establish the reviewers trust and he may
  go back and change the review into positive.

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Step 2  Flag The Fake ReviewYou have
approached the user online and off-line still he
has not responded or you investigation reveals
that the reviewers profile is fake. What can you
do in this situation? You can now flag the
review. Notify the Google team regarding a
violation of their review policy by flagging the
review.
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• How to Flag the FAKE Review?
• Take your cursor where a user has given the
  rating. A flag icon will appear on which you can
  click to mark as flag.
• Once you click on it, it will take you to Report
  a policy violation page.
• Enter your companys e-mail address and select
  the Violation Type.
• Make sure several people of your company flag
  that specific review together. Similar action
  from multiple people may help to get recognized
  quickly and in turn, fast action.

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Step 3 What if a review is not removed using the
flagging method? You are done with the flagging
but are unable to get rid of Google My Business
Account from negative or fake Google Reviews. Now
what? Dont get disappointed. Google has certain
policies to deal with such issues. Get in touch
with Google Support associate. Follow the
instructions to get connected with them
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•  (a) Look at Google My Business Dashboard to
  Connect with Google Support Associate
• Log into your GMB page.
• Go to the Reviews section.
• Click on the home menu and select Support.
• Choose a method of Contact Phone or Email.
• Fill in the necessary contact parameters, Add a
  screenshot of the review in question, and wait
  patiently (you should hear back within 24-48
  Hours).
•  (b) Go to Your Twitter Account and Tweet the
  Google Small Business Support Team
•        The Google small business team is
  knowledgeable and authorized by Google to tackle
  such issues. They take around 24 48 hours to
  come back.
• (c) Ask the Google Community for Help
•     Use Google support form to get connected with
  the community experts
• Go to Spam Policy Forum in GMB.
• Search previous answer related to your issues or
  you can ask a question about your spammy/fake
  review problem.
• Some community experts can help you to escalate
  and report your problems, as well as community
  managers can assist you there.

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• (d) Make Your Case
• If youve received a reply from Google Small
  Business team, what do you do next. You have to
  present your case study to them so that they can
  escalate it to Google. Just like a lawyer, you
  need gather facts, information and details about
  the case and fight for justice. Ideally, your
  case should include
• Why is the review false.
• How it violates Google policies.
• Why it should be removed.
• Any images, links, or other details that backup
  your claim.
• Once those support associates review and approve
  your case, you will get a call back from the
  concerned person who will assist you throughout
  the case and get this resolved just like a lawyer
  does.

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