Reviews and time to publish

Google Maps tips & tricks
1

Hi there!

I’m new here and this has probably been asked a thousand times…

I left four reviews that I have been expecting to publish for several days (if you are interested in them, you will find them following my account):

In doing so, I rate a company that has not yet received a review, and I rate another company positively in Corona times, which otherwise (incorrectly) only receives negative reviews. Two other reviews concern companies that have already received reviews.

Two or three arlier reviews of mine were activated faster.

I also want to get in touch with the supplier with my reviews - so that’s pretty important to me.

Why is it that it takes so long here?

Thanks for your help and kind regards

Michael

4 Likes
2

Hi @Kleinschmiede

I see that three of your reviews are publicly visible on your profile. When did you posted the missing ones?

Google may take down reviews that are flagged as inaccurate or do not comply with Google’s review policies. They also do so to comply with a legal obligation.

For more information please read Write reviews and add ratings of places

Most of the times a review is taken down by a filter.

The filter can be triggered by keywords, or a review can also be reported by the business or a user. In any case every reported review is taken down only after a check.

If the reviews are removed by the filter, you can edit them, removing the words who may trigger the filter, and submit the reviews again

1 Like
3

Hello Ermest and thank you very much for your answer.

Unfortunately, the answer is very general and actually only describes what can be found everywhere else on this topic.

The reviews are about as old as the published ones. +/- a day or two.

The question would now be:

  • why does Google filter a review for a company that has not yet been rated (Refflinghaus - a real traditional company!)

  • why does Google filter a good rating for a good steel trader (stahlshop.de)

  • Why is Google filtering a rating for a company (Hygi) that has gotten into delivery bottlenecks for disinfectants due to Corona, but otherwise delivers great?

The reviews can still be seen in my profile, but not without my registration.

Kind regards

Michael

4

Hello @Kleinschmiede and thank you for reaching out to us.

I just wanted to let you know that I am going to move your post to the “How-tos” board because there Local Guides ask their question, share tips and more.

Please take a look at @ErmesT answer to learn more about your question.

Thank you @ErmesT for helping.

1 Like
5

Ah - perfect!

Many thanks for your help!

Hope, that my questions will be answered there…

6

You are welcome, @Ivi_Ge

When a review is made private, it is visible only by you, @Kleinschmiede , so we cannot comment about what we can’t see other than giving you an answer that recall the rules.

A lot of people think that only a negative review can be taken down, this because they think that a review is taken down when reported by the business owner.

This is not correct, as a review is most of the time flagged as private by the filter, based on the contents (keywords).

A good :star2: :star2: :star2: :star2: :star2: review can be made private is you are sharing contents that may appear to be promotional, like prices or links, or if seems to be made to alter the rating of a place, just to give you an example.

That’s the reason why we invited you to check the rules, and eventually try to edit your review, removing words of sentences that may appear not appropriate according to the mentioned rules.

In addition, I would like to invite you to tag the person you are responding to by using @. This will make easy to follow the conversation

1 Like
7

Thank you for your further explanations and for your patience with me.

My reviews contain nothing but general and benevolent text.

Of course, a review is always a piece of advertising (what else should they be good for ??), but no clear products are advertised, prices are given or links are set.

I also believe that I have no way of setting a review to “public” or “private” …

How long (at worst) do you usually have to wait until a review is published?

It just seems to me for so long because the other reviews were published within two days and I would have expected the same with these reviews.

Kind regards

Michael

1 Like
8

I just took a test and my review was posted immediately, @Kleinschmiede .

Let say that in some case it can takes up to 24 hours to be visible for everyone, due to the synchronization of the servers, but no longer.

We do not have a way to make the review “private”. A review is made private (taken down) by the system. As I said already, most of the time this action is taken directly by the algorithm, and can be reverted by editing your review.

Have you already tried to edit the reviews that are not publicly visible?

9

Hello @ErmesT ,

unfortunately I can only find general information, no explicit keywords that Google would filter for.

German is quite a complex language. We have many words that express something similar, but contain further attributes in their subtlety.

Further: If I would now actually write my reviews according to Google guidelines, it would be possible that what I actually wanted to express would be distorted in the deeper sense.

In this respect I find it difficult to write according to Google filters - which probably means that I will not write reviews at all.

I’ll look at this for a while, but reconsider my further actions.

Anyway, many thanks for your efforts, a few peaceful days to you all and best regards

Michael

2 Likes
10

@Kleinschmiede

With only 6 contributions, I think the spam filter is keeping a more strict eye on you compared to local guides with hundreds of reviews.

You could consider to write more good reviews and I think it will become a lot easier with tone and more experience.

Cheers

Morten

11

Hello Morten and thank you very much for your contribution.
In my spare time I forge and it is my desire to do something for this craft that is being forgotten.

Within my unpublished reviews now lies one for an old company that makes anvils. I recently ordered a swage block from them and got it delivered quickly, the quality is excellent, the price was totally ok.

Here is the original text of my review:

Bei der Amboss-Schmiede Ernst Refflinghaus in Ennepetal spürt man die Nähe zum Handwerk und die mittlerweile vier Generationen währende Erfahrung.

Ich bin hier bestens beraten worden, es entstand ein netter Kontakt.

Der Kauf war günstig, die Lieferung ging zu meiner Überraschung sehr schnell.

Hier bin ich sehr gerne Kunde!

Mein herzlicher Dank an die Amboss-Schmiede Ernst Refflinghaus!

Here’s what the Google Translator makes of it:

—#

At the anvil forge Ernst Refflinghaus in Ennepetal, you can feel the closeness to the craft and the experience that has now lasted four generations.

I received the best advice here, and a nice contact was established.

The purchase was cheap and, to my surprise, delivery was very fast.

I am very happy to be a customer here!

My heartfelt thanks to the anvil forge Ernst Refflinghaus!

—#

Now here’s how deepl.com translates it:

—#

At the anvil smithy Ernst Refflinghaus in Ennepetal, you can feel the closeness to the craft and the now four generations of experience.

I received the best advice here, a nice contact was established.

The purchase was favorable, the delivery was very fast to my surprise.

I am very happy to be a customer here!

My heartfelt thanks to the anvil forge Ernst Refflinghaus!

—#

And now I’m wondering what’s wrong with my review or would need to be improved for it to be published.

Best regards

Michael

12

Hi there!

One thought occurs to me: Could it be that the delivery of my reviews has something to do with my registration as a “Local Guide”?

That could fit together in terms of time …

Whether something still needs to be checked?

Do you have any experience of how long this can last?

Best regards

Michael

13

OK, meanwhile we are back a week and I hope that you had a few nice days.

Three of my reviews have been published within a very short time, three more are still waiting for weeks. All were given at about the same time +/- two or three days.

If the purpose of these reviews is to provide an objective testimony as possible from customers, I don’t understand why reviews are censored at all and why my reviews are withheld for so long.

There is really nothing bad in it - although there are actually reviews where one would wish for censorship!

I’ve received two reviews from people I’ve never met and never done anything for.

Apparently everyone can write what they want.

Slowly I start questioning the system.

Is there anyone I can turn to?

Best regards

Michael

14

I’m trying to think in another direction, @Kleinschmiede …

As you mentioned that you have got two reviews… (However, I can’t find them)

When did you claimed your business in Google Maps? On the same days? I see you posted your photos on there on October 30.

I’m just thinking about the possibility that for the algorithm to consider your review a conflict of interest, and in any case the one you mentioned seems to be related to a B2B (businesses to business) relationship.

This can possibly be the reason, as you should write reviews as an individual, not representing a business

Are also the other two reviews related to suppliers of your business?

15

Hi @Kleinschmiede

I think @ErmesT is on to something. Mixing business and being a Local Guide is a no go.

It would be really helpful if you would use the tagging tool when replying to someone here on Connect. Type @ followed by the username. Type slowly. Then we get an e-mail notification and you are more likely to get a prompt reply.

The texts you shared seens ok given that you were a private individual and not a business as hinted in your profile name.

Also, when reviews are not going public the spam filter blocked it. I have never seen any of my reviews go pending. Only edits go pending.

Hence, I always try to edit a review should it get hidden. No waiting is needed. The re-evaluation happens instantly. This way you can also easily test your text to find out which word or sentence triggered the filter.

All the best

Morten

16

Hi!

Please don’t let me get you confused by the two reviews I mentioned: This concerns my other business:

support-st in Saerbeck, Germany.

Here:

https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-d&q=support-st+saerbeck

These two reviews have nothing (absolutely nothing!) to do with any work of mine. They are completely made up out of thin air, but they are there anyway.

OK… I don’t think I’m really bad… But to get a good review for something I didn’t do?

Well, it’s just weird.

On the other hand, I’ve been shopping (now back as Kleinschmiede - my other business under construction, my little “escape from IT”) and I want to praise the dealers.

And that d o e s n’ t work.

I don’t understand it. Everything’s fast, everything’s “whooah!”. But if I want to tell a small, searching blacksmith: “If you really want a fucking big, fat and heavy anvil… go there!”

That doesn’t work.

And that makes me a wee bit pissed off (I wouldn’t have typed what Google just translated there like that! I’m not pissed off, just a little pissed off… (and now have to hold my stomach laughing right now! Translating is a real international problem!)).

It’s especially unfortunate from my point of view, because I want to review a company that exists for over a hundred years - and has not yet received a single Google review.

I want to be the first here - that’s somehow important for me. I really like Refflinghaus. And it’s just a small review.

1 Like
17

OK: Mixing Local Guide and Business is a no go - so then I need two accounts?

One to rate the local gyros temple and another for my anvil dealer?

Whether this is in the intended sense…

It would be helpful if someone from Google would take a stand here, otherwise this will remain a fishing in the mud.

How do I get rid of the Local Guide seal?

Best regards

Michael

18

Hi and a happy new year!

I just checked again and found that my reviews still haven’t been published. Commentless on the part of the operator.

What do I have to do?

Best regards

Michael