How to deal with bad Google or Yelp reviews

Posted by Sanjiv Barnwal on September 10th, 2018

A bad Google or Yelp review will disturb your mind and you will feel panic immediately. It is important that you understand that every SEO company has at least one bad review in their list. According to the research, it has been found that even bad reviews will boost sales and no publicity done is actually bad for business.

How can you assess the situation?

The first thing is to check if the review posted was real. Sometimes, fake reviews are left by your competitors to hurt the reputation of your SEO company. An example of a false review received by a client has been stated below:

After getting a bad review, check your past records to find out if the person really is your customer. It was revealed that the person was not.

If they had been a previous customer, see what they had purchased. Consider the service or the time frame for it. Don’t forget to listen to the calls of customer service. The more you are aware about the present situation, the better you will be in dealing with the situation and preventing it from taking place in future.

How can you respond to false or negative reviews quickly?

Though you know that the bad review posted about your SEO agency was completely false, you will have to respond to it. Check out the reason behind doing so.

You need to keep in mind that you are pacifying the reviewer and showing other prospects how you should respond to customer negative feedback.

Despite the kind of negative review received, you have to respond to it soon. Prompt action is expected as this shows you are highly committed to customer service. Most people who go through online reviews are the ones who are really interested in what you are selling them. Your responsibility is to make the complaining customers satisfied and assure them that the new customers will not face the same issue in future.

If someone has posted a false review without using your products or services, then

• You should address the complaint and at the same time, apologize for the inconvenience caused
• Inform you cannot find them in your records as your previous customer
• Offer to solve the problem and provide your contact details
• Report or flag the posted review as false

If someone was not happy with your product or service:

• Address the complaint and try to solve it even if it is false.
• Do not give any excuses for the review made.
• If there is a valid reason why the product or service they received was bad, learn to be
• honest about it and assure that it will not happen in future.
• Offer to solve the problem as soon as possible.

What should you do to remove, dispute or flag a false Google review?

Google allows you to flag false reviews so that they can be removed. Here’s how you can do so:

• Open Google Maps and start searching for your own business.
• Click to see all the reviews posted and find the one that you want to flag
• Click on three vertical dots in the upper-right corner of the review and then click on “Flag as inappropriate.”

Well, it does not stop here and there are two more suitable options to sort out the problem.

Call Google and follow up on flagged review status – You need to visit Google My Business home page. There is an option at the bottom of the menu on the left-hand side for quick support. Click on it.
Get legal: If the review is considered to be false, you have the option to complete a Google form for legal removal request. The requirements are quite high and so, you need to contact your legal professional before taking any step.

How can you resolve the situation?

When I have to tell a business owner that they should change the way of doing things, then this can be quite stressful. If you keep posting negative reviews or have already got a lot of them, then it is actually not them but you. Yes, there are certain cases when an angry review is not actually about you or your SEO agency. It may be since the customer had an extremely bad day.

But when your products or services do not seem to work properly, then you have to put solid effort for fixing them. So, if you cannot satisfy your customers, then you might face more problems in future.

How can you remain on top with negative reviews?

Did the false review been removed or flagged? Well, staying on top even with negative reviews increases your chance of turning it into a good review. For example, if a customer was not satisfied with a product or service and you tried to fix it, then the customer might change their review from negative to positive with little grudge. Most often, people leave a bad review for their own benefit and want you to be nice to them. It is nothing uncommon for people to change from 1-star review to 4-star after the owner shows some decency.

If the review is on the platform where changes cannot be made, then they might post another one.

How can you avoid a bad review on Google, Facebook, Yelp and other directories?

Negative reviews are usually removed with positive ones. So, you should try to to get as many reviews as possible. However, the right response for a negative review is to not to get one.

If responding to negative reviews had not been your business planning, then call DubSEO experts, a leading SEO company that can help you deal with such situation. Our experts provide online marketing services and great customer service for every negative review that your company receives.