I hope this is the right place to ask - I have only recently joined and am still figuring things out.
Apologies also if this has been solved in other threads - I have had a search and can see this has been an issue for others but not how it was solved.
My issue is that my review is not showing up when I am not logged into google. I.e if I search for the business on google / google maps when not logged in, I see all the other reviews except mine, including ones that have been given since mine. This is the same regardless of device.
My settings should allow for it to be viewed publicly (unless there is something I’m missing). Is it possible the business has had my review hidden?
Hello @L_Oconnor . Welcome to Local Guides Connect.
This issue can be caused by several factors. First, it can take several days for a review to be displayed for public. Second, your review has been marked as “private” by the system because it violates one or more of the rules. I also suggest you to remove an email address, URL or currency signs, symbol @ if you have included any of them.
Is it possible the business has had my review hidden?
No, the business can not hide review(s). The business (and also Google Local Guides) only can flag/report content(s) that violates Google Maps policies and then the team will decide to remove or not.
Hi @L_Oconnor it is true what @AdriansyahPutera has mentioned. I hope moderators will be able to take you to the next step trying to solve your problem.
Welcome to local guide connect, a home for local guides. Since you are new here I would like you to introduce yourself by following this link, read other’s comments to see how others introduce them selves then you do the same Introduce Yourself — June 2019 once you are done with this you can follow this to learn the most important things about local guide connect which may be how to create posts, important tips, how to use connect and more New to Connect? Start here!. Please make sure to read all the information here which will help you become a better local guide you would like to be. I hope this will be useful, and see you around!
I posted my review two weeks ago. Is it possible that it would take that long to show?
Other than that, I can see no part of my review that would violate the rules, or any of the other symbols/characters you mentioned, so I am still a bit stumped!
If my review has been flagged by the company, would I be able to tell and then edit it?
Any other ideas or pointers you have are greatly appreciated.
Hi @L_Oconnor from us as local guides there is nothing else we can help you with for now, lets just wait for our moderators to respond to you, I am tagging a moderator to assist you. Hi @FelipePK can you please help us here. Thank you.
I posted my review two weeks ago. Is it possible that it would take that long to show?
Based on my experience, normally it takes up to 24 hours (rarely 2 days).
If my review has been flagged by the company, would I be able to tell and then edit it?
If you think that your review has been flagged by the company or other people, you can fix your review by editing it to follow Google review policies. Below I quote a statement from Flag and fix inappropriate content page to support my answer,
"Fix a review that was flagged by someone else
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."
My thought is perhaps the business has flagged my review, despite it not breaking any rules as far as I can see, in order to delay it showing.
If this is this case, would it eventually show once checked? And would I receive a notification that it has been flagged / need editing? (Or is there a different way to tell?)
Perhaps it is just a technical issue though!
Thank you for tagging @FelipePK (Hi Felipe!) Hopefully he will have some further insights.
A review can’t instantly disappear once it’s flagged, it takes time. A review that has been flagged inappropriate by people will be still available on the Google Maps until it is permanently taken down by Google.
Unfortunately, we won’t get any notification that our review has been flagged or marked as private. I do hope that in the future Google Maps will notify us if our review/s violate the rule so that we can fix our mistakes.
If it is ok for you, you can provide the link of your review here on Connect so moderators and other LGs can give further insights, or send me the link through the private message feature if you don’t want to provide it openly. No pressure.
Thanks again @AdriansyahPutera for the clarification. In that case, it would seem that for some reason, it just never appeared rather than being flagged. Hopefully a google moderator will be able to help. Until I know my reviews will show up, there seems little point in writing any more.
Thanks also for your offer to check over my review, that is much appreciated. Just in case there is an issue I am not seeing, I will send you screenshots via direct message.
Hi, @AdriansyahPutera .Thank you for giving @L_Oconnor a handy answer. Just for your information, I hope it’s helpful. Let us know if you need any further assistance.
Hi @IrrPavlova
Perhaps, as I am new to Local Guides, I am misunderstanding the solution function, forgive me if so. However, if you scroll further down the thread you will see that although this advice is correct, in this instance this hasn’t solved the issue as my review was posted 2 weeks ago and does not contravene any rules. I mention this in case future users with this issue find this thread and are in the same situation as me. @AdriansyahPutera has been incredibly helpful, and after seeing my review he has suggested that perhaps the spam filters may have misidentified it as such and advised me to try editing it to be shorter. I will do this and report back on here.
Hi @IrrPavlova Thank you so much for getting back to me.
I attach screen shots below of my review (after editing). I have checked today and it is still not showing.
As mentioned above, as far as I can see it should not be marked as private (Unless there are some settings I have missed?)
Many thanks and hope your weekend is good
Thank you for reaching out and providing information explaining your issue.
The automatic rules marked your review as private because of policy violation and you can read more related to this topic in this article Prohibited and Restricted Content.
In addition to that, I am marking this reply as solution, so other Local Guides can refer to it.
Hi @AngieYC and @IrrPavlova Thank you very much for looking into this and giving an answer.
I have read the article you linked and cannot see anywhere where my review violates any policy. Also, another user here @AdriansyahPutera also looked over my review on DM and also could not see anything wrong, so I am assuming that this was automatically marked in error? If this is the case, will you be able to now make it publicly viewable?
If it was not in error, please can you let me know in what way my review has broken any rules? I will gladly amend accordingly.
As a new local guide, there seems little point in posting further reviews until I know they will show.
As @ErmesT mentioned, the automatic rules may mark your review as private because of policy violation and you can read more related to this topic in this article Prohibited and Restricted Content.
P.S.: I merged your post with the relevant thread Review not showing publicly, in order to keep the community organized.
Buongiorno a tutti. Ho notato che a distanza di parecchi mesi le mie recensioni e i relativi punteggi non vengono aggiornati e o conteggiati. Questo anche per ogni’mi piace’ e per numero di recensioni. Sapete darmi indicazioni? Grazie a tutti
