Google Review Issue: Numbers Dropping Across the Board for Small Businesses
You might have heard… reports have emerged of Google Business Profiles showing incorrect review counts, causing concern across the small business community. Over this past weekend, February 8th and 9th, 2025, numerous businesses, including many we work with, began noticing apparent discrepancies in their review numbers. Nolan Consulting Group was no exception!
Official Google Response
On February 10th, Google addressed these concerns in the Google Business Profiles Forums with an important clarification:
“We’re aware of an issue affecting some Google Business Profiles, causing some profiles to show lower-than-actual review counts due to a display issue. The reviews themselves have not actually been removed. We’re working hard to resolve this and restore accurate review counts as quickly as possible. We appreciate your patience and will share updates on this thread as they become available.
Before reporting missing reviews, please note that there are several reasons why reviews may be removed from maps. Usually, missing reviews are removed for policy violations like spam or inappropriate content. Read more about our Review policy guidelines here before proceeding. You can also refer to the Help Center Article for more information”
Understanding Review Policies
While Google emphasized this current situation is a display issue, there are legitimate reasons why reviews might be removed from Maps. Typically, reviews are removed when they violate Google’s policy guidelines, such as:
- Spam content
- Inappropriate material
- Violation of review policies
That being said, we’ve also seen reviews removed for no reason at all. Just two months ago, we went through the process of filing a ticket after noticing at least 7 of our recent Google Reviews were no longer active. After a complaint was filed and a couple weeks gone by, they were actively reinstated with no explanation as to why they were removed in the first place. All reviews met the policy guidelines.
Why This Matters
Google Reviews remain a cornerstone of local business engagement and your company’s SEO success. They:
- Build customer trust and credibility
- Influence potential customers’ purchasing decisions
- Impact your local search rankings
- Provide valuable feedback from your customer base
- What Business Owners Should Do Now
While Google claims this to be (only) a display issue and they are “actively working” to restore review counts, we would encourage you to still file a ticket reporting your lost reviews just in case.
Follow These Steps
- Don’t panic. Google says this is a display issue and there are ways to resolve the problem.
- Document your current review numbers on a regular basis and take screenshots for reference.
- If you receive email notifications each time you get a NEW Google Review, consider saving them to a folder for future auditing purposes. This helped us!
- File a ticket reporting your missing reviews.
- Stay informed through the Google Business Profiles forums.
Moving Forward
While Google works to resolve this display issue, consider this an opportunity to strengthen your overall review strategy:
- Familiarize yourself with Google’s review policies
- Stay aware of your weekly Google counts so you can quickly notice when things look off
- Respond to all reviews – good and bad – as this will help with legitimacy
While Google actively works to resolve the issue and reinstate your reviews, don’t let that stop you from continuing to request reviews and maintaining the high standards that earned those reviews in the first place.
Helpful Resources
