You can't delete someone else's Google review. Not from your Business Profile, not by asking nicely. What you can do is report it to Google, and Google removes it only if it breaks the content policies. If you wrote the review yourself, you can delete it any time.
The rest of this post covers how to report a review properly, what gets taken down, what to do when it stays, and why trying to scrub genuine bad reviews is a worse idea than it looks.
If it's your own review, delete it from Google Maps
Open Google Maps, go to your profile, and look for your contributions. Find the review, choose the edit or delete option, and confirm. Google changes the menu layout now and then, but it always sits under the reviewer's own profile.
If it's a customer's review, you can only report it
Reporting is called flagging. Menus change, so go by the shape of it: open your reviews, use the report icon next to the review, pick the reason closest to what is wrong with it, and send it. Google's Reviews Management Tool lets you follow up on reports you've already made.
Google says reviews are evaluated over several days. In the tool the status shows as "Decision pending", "Report reviewed - no policy violation", or "Escalated" with a note to check your email.
Open the review in your Business Profile
Sign in with the Google account that manages your profile, open your reviews, and find the one in question.
Flag it with the closest reason
Choose the reason that actually fits, such as spam or off-topic. Don't pick a reason just because it sounds serious.
Check the status after a few days
Use the Reviews Management Tool to see where the report is. If a flagged review isn't removed, the tool offers a one-time appeal, and Google's help page says you can select up to 10 reviews for it.
What Google actually removes
Google removes reviews that break its content policies. It does not remove reviews because a business disagrees with them. The policies cover things like:
- Fake engagement. Reviews have to reflect a real experience. Paid reviews, one person posting from several accounts, and reviews posted on a competitor's listing to damage it are all out.
- Conflicts of interest. A current or former employee, or a competitor, can't review you.
- Incentivised reviews. Offering money, discounts or free goods in exchange for a review is banned, and so is offering a reward to have a negative one taken down.
- Review gating. Businesses can't discourage negative reviews or only ask happy customers.
So a review from a bloke who never hired you, a review from your ex-apprentice's mate, or a review that is plainly a competitor's work has a decent case. A review from a real customer who thinks your quote was too high does not.
What to do if it stays
Appeal if the tool offers it. The appeal is one-time, so make sure your reason is the right one. If that fails, reply. A calm, specific public reply tells the next reader how you handle problems. We cover the wording in how to respond to a bad review.
Keep the reply short:
Reply to a review you believe is not from a customer
That wording asks for details without accusing anyone, which matters because a review that looks fake isn't always fake.
The better long-term fix is volume. One bad review sits differently among 15 reviews than among 150. See how to get more Google reviews for the system.
What the ACCC says about removing reviews
The ACCC, which enforces the Australian Consumer Law, publishes a guide to online reviews for businesses and review platforms. It says businesses should not write or commission misleading reviews, and that removing or editing genuine negative reviews to give a misleading picture can breach the law, because leaving out the bad ones can mislead consumers as much as adding fake good ones. The ACCC also ran an internet sweep of online reviews in 2022-23, so it does look at this.
The practical line for a tradie: reporting a review that genuinely breaks Google's rules is fine. Pressuring a customer to take down a real complaint, or paying someone to make bad reviews disappear, is the kind of thing the ACCC looks at. If you're unsure, get advice from a lawyer. This is general information, not legal advice.
Warning: Don't offer a refund for a deleted review
Google bans offering payment, discounts or free work in exchange for removing a negative review. Sort the complaint out, and you can let the customer know it's been fixed. It's their choice whether to update their review. Don't attach a deal or any pressure to it.
What about defamation or legal action?
If a review makes false statements of fact that are damaging your business, that is a legal question rather than a Google one. Talk to a lawyer before you reply or threaten anything. A threatening reply tends to do more harm than the review did.
Save yourself the stress
Most trade owners only find a bad review days after it lands. On Local and Complete, Mitch drafts replies to the reviews on your Google profile and nothing posts until you approve it, so you can see it, edit it and send it from the ute.
Plan: More good reviews to balance it
Local sends review requests 24 to 72 hours after each job, so a steady run of genuine reviews builds up behind the bad one. See [pricing](/au/pricing) or the [reviews page](/au/platform/reviews).
More in the Google reviews hub. If a review isn't showing at all, read why isn't my Google review showing up.
Find out about every review the day it lands
Try Mitch free for 14 days. No card needed.
Sources
- Flag or report a review - Google Business Profile Help
- Prohibited and restricted content - Google Contribution Policy
- Online reviews: a guide for business and review platforms - ACCC
- Scrutiny of influencers and businesses for misleading advertising and online reviews continues - ACCC
- Google Maps Help: Edit or delete your reviews