I’ve been an active contributor to Google Maps, sharing honest and detailed reviews to help others make informed decisions. I focus on sharing genuine feedback—positive when I’m satisfied with the service and constructive when I’m totally dissatisfied. I understand that negative reviews can harm businesses, so I always aim to provide suggestions for improvement rather than just criticism.
Initially, I used to upload many photos, but I realized the importance of quality over quantity. Now, I carefully filter photos to avoid repetition and ensure they add value to my reviews. Despite these efforts, I’ve noticed that some of my reviews are not being displayed, which is disheartening.
For example, my most recent review for a hotel read:
“Rooms are spacious, neat, clean, with a bathtub and complimentary tea kits. The mini bar is a nice touch, though items are pricey. Decent pool and gym on the 2nd level. The hotel is known for its buffet breakfast, but the one arranged for us on the 2nd floor didn’t meet expectations, unlike the main buffet on the ground floor. Overall it was a great stay.”
I also rated it 4 stars. However, this review is not appearing on the hotel’s page, and I’m unsure why.
As Local Guides, we invest a lot of time and effort to share our experiences for no personal gain, yet it’s frustrating when reviews don’t get accepted or displayed without any clear reason.
Is anyone else experiencing similar issues? What could be the reason behind reviews being hidden or not displayed?
Looking forward to your insights and advice.
@JaseemJc تحياتي لك من الاردن.ارجو لك الهدو والنجاح.نعم صحيح اغلب المرشدين يمرون بهذه الموافف.سوف يساعدك احدى اعضاء الفريق حول مشكلتك.انا لست ملم بجمبع الامور اعذرني.
The reason why your review does not appear when you log out of Google is because your review was reported by the business owner. Once your comment is suspended, it will not reach anyone. The only solution is to edit the comment and republish it. Of course, this is not a definitive solution. My private hospital review that I published with my photos was not published. When I write a comment to the pharmacy, it is not published either. When I first started as a local guide, my pharmacy and hospital reviews were published.
Hello @JaseemJc ,
did you have one or more photos attached to your review? If so, I suggest to remove all photos and watch, if the text-only is published. If that works, add the photos again, but one by one to see, if you can get it published - or add the photos directly to the listing instead of attaching them to the review.
The SPAM filter not only checks the text of the reviews, but also all media. If only one photo is rejected, the entire review is not published.
Hope this helps.
Thanks for tagging me, @Rahul001
Hi @JaseemJc , I am sorry about your issue.
In fact I can see that 350 of your reviews are not visible in Google Maps.
A review can be made private (visible only for you) for several reasons:
Because, after someone reported it, the review was found to be against the policies
Depending of the type of issue, you can act in different ways:
Step one: There is a media attached to your review, like @WilfriedB suggests? This is very possible, as around 3500 of your photos are not visible too. If so, try to remove the media. If the review is posted, try to add all the media again, to find the one that is triggering the filter. If it is not posted, move to the next step
Step 2: check if the test is adhering to the above mentioned policies. try to edit the text. If it is not posted, move to the next step
Appeal for the reviews and photos to be reinstated: please submit a request through this form. Be aware that the check may take up to 8 weeks
Thank you, @ErmesT, for a detailed reply. How can I find which of my reviews and photos are not being displayed? Is there any option in the Google Map? I don’t think this is fair to the local guide who contributes genuinely. About me, I can say I reviewed all the visited places without any promotional content or hatred; I rated and reviewed every place only based on my experience and the service of that place. Google Map, after every review, adding points also; if they keep an option to show the unpublished reviews and photos, it would be great. Any ways I strongly think to stop my 7 years of journey with the Google Map, because I spend much time on this for no personal gains but later know that many of my posts are not being published. Thank you once again for your great insights on this.
I totally agree with you @JaseemJc, but there is no function supporting us and I am not aware of any plans to implement something to identify hidden contributions.
There is a time consuming workaround based on the idea to scroll through My Contributions, but in parallel in two sessions: One logged in with your profile, the other one anonymous (aka private) or logged in by another user. @MortenCopenhagen did write a series of articles including using this process at the desktop (highly recommended) or the mobile app, I recommend reading.
I’ll write a bit more in a moment how to fix the hidden text-only review.
@JaseemJc once you identified a hidden text-only review, I suggest to copy the text and keep in a file on your PC or Smartphone.
You can show us the text here and possibly somebody can give some hints, but I was more successful in the past with a more pragmatic, but time consuming method:
Remove half of the text and wait a minute to see if it is accepted. For places in the European Union, you should see a warning under My Contributions as long as it is hidden, for other places, open an anonymous (aka private) browser session and share the link to the place there and watch for your review. Don’t forget to wait at least some seconds and refresh the browser CtrlR.
If the reduced review is still not published, repeat step 1 to make it even shorter.
If the review is published, add the missing text again, but phrase by phrase.
After having found the compromising phrase, you either remove it again or try the same process word by word.
In one case, I wouldn’t give up after many trials and finally was able to publish after removing a hyphen ( - ). Certainly, a very extreme example, but the AI of the SPAM filter can make mistakes and is unpredictable (from our point of view).
Google will never give as any hints, besides “obey the rule” for not help really spammers and authors of fake information.
Hope this helps
CC @ErmesT