I wrote a review a while ago and someone else told me they can’t see it so it obviously hasn’t been published and I’m wondering why.
Is it because it’s been moderated? If so, shouldn’t I have been notified and told how to amend to get it published?
Or is it just that it takes a long time to moderate reviews? If that’s the case does anyone know how long I should expect to wait?
I’d be very grateful for any suggested explanations.
Thank you.
Generally reviews taking few minutes to publish on map @Fibonacci0
I can see your latest review published on map minutes ago.
I’ve now been reading some of the other posts and checked which reviews are and aren’t visible. I can see that it’s one specific review that isn’t visible. It’s a negative review and it’s quite long so I’m guessing it’s somehow been deemed to be violating some guidelines. Are you able to help me work out what it doesn’t like if I post it here…?
Hi, @Fibonacci0
Flagging a review as private can be an automatic operation (made by an automated filter based on keywords), or manual, if your review have been reported, and checked.
The filter is working on keywords, e.g. prices, because they can be interpreted as spam. However, this is possible to fix, as you can see here below.
A review is made private when it violates the Maps User Contributed Content Policy
A negative review is perfectly fine, but generally speaking cannot be a blackmail for the business, nor a personal rant.
Making your review visible again is indeed possible, by modifying and republishing it, as you can read here below
Fixing your issue
As you can read in Flag and fix inappropriate content "If a review you wrote has been flagged and removed, you can fix it yourself. Edit your review to follow Google review policies — for example, you might remove a phone number or URL from the review. Your review will be automatically republished.
Google uses automated spam detection measures to remove reviews that are probably spam. Although legitimate reviews are sometimes inappropriately removed, these spam prevention measures help improve people’s experiences on Google by ensuring that the reviews they see are authentic, relevant, and useful."
So please try to edit your reviews to make them public again
Thank you. Is it possible to identify whether it’s been reported and checked or whether it’s been automatically removed?
No it is not, @Fibonacci0
Do you know if the review disappeared immediately after posting or if it was live for some days?
Normally the filter act immediately, while a human check require time, and I know about businesses that are complaining because negative reviews are not removed, even if reported. A human check will verify the correct application of the rules, while a filter act based mostly on keywords
Thank you. I was wondering when it was removed too because I didn’t check straight after I wrote it whether it was published at all. I’ve now removed the name of the person - he’s a one man company although he always uses “we” - and replaced with the company name and it has been published this time. So I’ll wait and check every day to see if it’s removed in which case I’ll know it was manual. If it is removed then I’ll have to do more detective work to work out what they think contravenes the rules as I think it’s an objective, helpful review!
Thanks for your help.