How to Remove a Google Review: What Businesses Can Do

To remove a Google review, report it to Google from your Business Profile or the Reviews Management Tool and choose the policy it breaks. Businesses cannot delete reviews themselves. Google removes a review only if it breaks the Maps content policy, such as spam, conflict of interest or harassment; the reviewer can delete their own review at any time.

No. There is no delete button for business owners. Only Google can remove a review from your Business Profile, and only the person who wrote it can delete it themselves.

Google's help page for businesses says flagged reviews that violate its content policies are removed from Maps and Search. It also says plainly: do not report a review just because you disagree with it or dislike it. Google does not step in to settle disputes between a business and a customer, so an honest one-star review about a real visit will normally stay up.

That leaves three routes, each with a different owner: a policy report to Google, a legal request to Google for content that breaks the law, and a request to the customer to edit or delete their own review. The sections below cover each one, plus what to do when none of them works.

Reviews that break Google Maps' user-contributed content policy can be removed. The policy lists the categories, and choosing the closest one when you report helps Google check the review against the right rule.

A review that is negative, unfair in tone or one-sided is not on that list. If the reviewer describes a real experience, even one you remember differently, the better response is a calm public reply, covered in our guide on how to respond to Google reviews.

Report it from your verified Business Profile, or through Google's Reviews Management Tool, and pick the reason that matches the policy it breaks. Both routes send the review to Google for evaluation.

The Reviews Management Tool does the same job and lets you track reports. Open the tool, confirm the account, select your business, choose Report a new review for removal, select Report next to the review, pick a reason and submit. Google says evaluation typically takes several days.

Before reporting, take screenshots of the review, the reviewer's profile and any pattern you have noticed, such as several reviews arriving on the same day. Google does not ask for this evidence when you flag a review, but you will want it for an appeal, a legal request or an extortion report.

Google checks the review against its policies and shows the result in the Reviews Management Tool. If no violation is found, you get one appeal.

To appeal, open the Reviews Management Tool, choose the option to check the status of reviews you reported, then Appeal eligible reviews. You can select up to 10 reviews in one appeal. Explain briefly which policy each review breaks and what your evidence shows. Reviews found to break the policy are removed; the rest stay live.

Use Google's legal removal route, not the policy report. Google's Report Content on Google troubleshooter lets you choose Maps, select a legal reason and report content that defames you or your business.

The two routes work differently. Google says content removed under its policies is typically removed globally, while content removed for legal reasons is typically removed only in the country or region where it is found to be illegal. You can file both, but each must be submitted separately, and a policy report does not count as legal notice. Defamation law varies by state and country, so speak to a lawyer before you claim a review is defamatory or contact the reviewer about it.

Do not pay and do not reply to the scammer. Google describes these scams as a serious policy violation: a sudden wave of one- and two-star reviews followed by a demand for money, goods or services to stop or remove them.

Google advises against paying, as it may encourage more attempts and does not guarantee removal. Collect screenshots of the messages and reviews with dates and sender details, then use Google's merchant extortion report form linked from its Business Profile help page. Spam or off-topic reviews that are not part of a demand should still go through the normal report process.

Yes. The reviewer can edit or delete their review at any time. On a computer, they open Google Maps, select Menu, then Your contributions and Reviews, choose More next to the review and select Edit review or Delete review.

If you resolve a customer's complaint, you can let them know they are welcome to update their review. The FTC's guidance on its Consumer Reviews and Testimonials Rule confirms that contacting customers to resolve issues, and asking satisfied customers to update their reviews, is allowed. What you cannot do is make a refund, discount or gift depend on the review being changed or deleted.

Never pressure, pay or mislead anyone to make a review disappear. These tactics can break Google's policies and, in the US, federal law.

Our overview of Google's review policy for businesses covers the wider rules on asking for and handling reviews.

Reply to it publicly and keep collecting reviews from every customer. A calm, factual reply is read by everyone who sees the review, and a steady flow of new reviews means one bad review becomes a smaller part of your profile.

Write the reply for future customers: thank the reviewer, address the specific point, give an offline contact route and sign with your name. If the review looks fake but Google disagreed, a short note saying you cannot find a record of the visit is enough. Our article on fake Google reviews covers how to spot patterns worth reporting again if new evidence appears.

Fresh reviews come from asking every customer the same way, not only the ones you expect to be happy. For in-person businesses, a Google review card with an NFC chip and optional printed QR code, pre-programmed with your review link, puts the form one tap away at the counter, for a one-off price with no subscription. You can find more on replying to, reporting and tracking reviews in our managing reviews hub.