Google Maps doesn't publish my 3-star reviews

Hello!

I’m opening this topic to discuss an issue I’m experiencing with posting reviews on Google.

I’ve been leaving reviews frequently, usually giving 4 or 5 stars. However, when I’m not fully satisfied, I sometimes leave a lower rating. Recently, I posted two 3-star reviews, but Google refuses to publish them. I reported the first one and received a response stating that nothing was wrong, yet it still couldn’t be posted.

What happened
Thank you for your contribution. Unfortunately, we’re not able to publish it at this time. In this case, there wasn’t necessarily an issue with your content. Your content couldn’t be published because of posting restrictions that Google has for this place. When this happens, some types of posting are restricted. These restrictions help keep Maps safe and reliable for everyone.

Today, I posted another 3-star review, and once again, it hasn’t appeared. I haven’t received an email or had the opportunity for Google to review it again.

Any insights or solutions would be appreciated!

Thanks!

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Hi @MiraMinkova , and welcome to Connect.
The message you shared with us is telling you that the location has “posting restrictions”.
So the issue in that case is not with your reviews, but with location.
Google may apply restrictions for several reasons, e.g. to protect a location against vandalism, or because the place is hosting fake reviews.
Regarding the other reviews (you have 4 private reviews) you are notified when a review is not published only for reviews related to locations that are inside the EU. This happens because an European Law requires it.
To identify your hidden reviews you can open this link in a web browser in incognito mode, and compare the reviews with the ones that you see under your contributions when you are logged in.
A review is blocked if one of his elements (text or media) is found to be against the policies.
Try to edit the text and remove the media to see if the review will be published

3 Likes

In addition I want to inform you that, to keep Connect organized, I am changing the category of your topic to Google Maps tips & tricks - Local Guides Connect, when it fits better

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Thank you for your quick response! I’ll make some edits and try to figure out the issue.

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It would be appropriate to write what you wrote in your 3-star comments here. If you have written about the experience you have had and how the service is, it should not be removed. I would like to know if the comment you made is about a restaurant, a factory, or a health-related place…

Hi!

My first review is about a pizza restaurant. The reviews are originally in my native language, so I translated them into English.

"I ordered an XL pepperoni pizza with sausage and stuffed crust, as well as an XL Farmhouse pizza with thin and crispy dough. They didn’t impress me much. The pepperoni pizza had no flavor at all, with a complete lack of seasoning, and the stuffed crust was barely noticeable. As for the Farmhouse pizza, the tomato sauce overpowered the other ingredients, and there was no balance in the flavors. The sauces that came with the pizzas were a nice addition.

The mozzarella sticks turned out to be the best part of the entire order. The buffalo wings were okay, but nothing special—the sauce was spicy but pretty standard. For junk food pizza, there are definitely much better alternatives.

Since I placed my order on the restaurant’s opening day, I had to wait about two hours to pick it up due to high demand, which is completely understandable. Despite the delay and what I assume was a stressful situation for the staff, everyone was very kind and smiling, both in the restaurant and over the phone. That earns them 1 out of the 3 stars I’m giving the place."

My second review is about a gourmet burger restaurant.

“Classic Smashburger** – a completely standard fast food burger – 3/5
French fries – the fries were okay, but nothing special – 4/5
Philly Cheese Sandwich – had no flavor, burnt bun, not enough cheese, a strange smell, and for some reason, there were mushrooms – 1/5
Homemade chicken nuggets – they were tasty, the meat was good, but unfortunately, they were slightly overcooked – 4/5”

I discovered that the issue was with the photos. To identify the problem, I tried removing some of them, and it worked for the first place. However, it didn’t work for the burger place. I guess there’s a system that checks whether photos are appropriate, but its detection isn’t very reliable since there was nothing inappropriate in mine.

The thing is, I took photos for both places at home - the first was a home order, and the second restaurant only offers takeout, so I had to bring the food home. My photos were solely of the food, with no background or surroundings. There are far worse photos in other reviews, yet mine got flagged. In the end, I gave up and posted the second review without any photos.

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I didn’t see anything infringing in your comment. As a local guide, I have similar comments to you. But after eating in person at the restaurant, I took photos and made comments there.

Google doesn’t have a system where you need to have gone to that location to make a comment. I don’t think Google will make this a problem, but it would be healthier to comment with the photo you took there after eating at a restaurant.

1 Like