Can you delete a Google review? And how to report fake ones

You can't delete a Google review of your business. Only the customer who wrote it can take it down, or Google can remove it if it breaks Google's content rules. What you can do is flag it, appeal once if Google says no, and reply in public. This post covers all three.

Who can delete a Google review

Two parties can make a review disappear:

• The reviewer. They can edit or delete their own review from the contributions section of their Google Maps account.
• Google, if the review breaks its policies.

Nobody else has a delete button, including you as the profile owner. That is true even when the review is unfair, wrong about the job, or from someone you've never worked for. The only lever you hold is the flag.

What Google will remove

Google's policy says reviews and ratings must reflect a genuine experience. The categories that matter for a tradesman:

• Fake engagement. Content not based on a real visit or job, paid reviews, one person posting from several accounts.
• Conflict of interest. A review from a competitor, a former employee, or someone with a personal tie to you or to a rival.
• Incentivised reviews. Anything posted in return for payment, discounts or freebies.
• Content that breaks the other rules. Abuse, threats, hate speech, off-topic rants and the like.

What does not get removed is a review that is merely negative. Google's help page for business owners says only reviews that violate policy are eligible and tells owners not to report a review because they disagree with it. Google also says it doesn't step into disputes between a business and a customer.

So the test is simple. Ask whether the review breaks a rule, not whether it hurts.

How to report a Google review

The exact wording of the menus changes, so go by the shape of it.

Google says evaluation typically takes several days. If you flag it and nothing has happened for a while, check the status in the tool before you flag again.

Making your report stronger

Pick the reason that fits. A review from someone who plainly never used your firm is fake engagement. A review from the plumber down the road is a conflict of interest. A review that threatens you or names your family breaks the harassment rules. Choosing "other" for all three gives Google less to work with.

Keep your own evidence handy: the job sheet, invoice or message history showing the reviewer isn't a customer. The report form gives you little room to explain, but the paper trail helps if the matter escalates to the appeal step.

A worked example. Dale's Roofing in Leeds gets a one-star review from a name nobody recognises, claiming a leak repair was never finished. Dale checks his job book and finds no one by that name and no job at that address. He flags it as fake engagement, notes the check in his own records, and replies in public in the meantime (see below).

If the review stays up

Plenty of bad reviews are genuine and legitimate, and they stay. Google's reasoning is that the review reflects what the customer experienced, even if you saw it differently.

Your reply is then the only part of that exchange you control, and other customers read it. A calm, factual reply that offers to put it right does more for you than the review does against you. Our post on how to respond to a bad review has wording you can copy.

A short example that works when you suspect it isn't a real customer:

Keep it civil. Whoever reads it later is judging you, not the reviewer.

What the law says in the UK

UK consumer law now has something to say about this. Under the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024, submitting or commissioning a fake review is a banned practice, as is a review that hides that it was incentivised. The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) published its guidance on fake reviews in April 2025, and the ban took effect on 6 April 2025. The CMA's guidance also notes that a review isn't fake just because the business dislikes it, as long as it reflects the reviewer's genuine experience.

That cuts both ways for you. Fake reviews written about you may break the law, and fake reviews written for you do too. If someone has been posting a campaign of false statements about you and the platform has done nothing, take advice from a solicitor. This is general information, not legal advice.

Make bad reviews matter less

You can't delete a review, but you can dilute it with real ones. A steady run of reviews from actual customers, asked for soon after each job, pushes a single bad review down the list and gives your average room to recover. The pillar guide to getting more Google reviews sets out how to do that without nagging anyone. If you want to send customers straight to your review page, the free review link tool generates the link and a QR code.

A related read: why buying Google reviews backfires.

Sources

• Google Business Profile Help: Flag or report reviews
• Google Maps contributor policy: fake engagement and conflicts of interest
• Google Maps Help: edit or delete your reviews
• CMA fake reviews guidance (CMA208), GOV.UK
• Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024, Schedule 20 (unfair in all circumstances), legislation.gov.uk
• Commencement No. 2 Regulations 2025 (in force 6 April 2025), legislation.gov.uk