Google review policy 2025: What multi-location businesses need to know 

Staying compliant with Google’s review policy isn’t just about following the rules—it provides a massive advantage to businesses worldwide. Businesses that align with Google’s review guidelines maintain stronger online reputation, rank higher in local searches, and build lasting customer trust.

Birdeye Studies in 2024 revealed that: 

• Google is the #1 platform for online reviews, powering over 79% of all online reviews worldwide. For location-based industries like healthcare, home services, and retail, that number surpasses 90%. (State of online reviews 2024).  
• Multi-location businesses with a verified Google Business Profile improve visibility on Google Search and Google Maps and convert more searchers into paying customers. (State of Google business profile 2024)

This blog post will walk you through Google’s review policy updates for 2025, covering everything from prohibited content to best practices that will help you stay compliant, maintain your online reputation, and protect your visibility online. 

Why does Google review policy matter? 

Navigating Google's strict review guidelines in 2025 is essential for business owners and SEO agencies. This protects businesses from issues like missing Google reviews, sudden Google business profile suspension, and low search rankings for target local keywords on Google Maps.

What is Google’s review policy?

Google’s review policy governs how customers and businesses can post and manage online reviews across Google platforms, including Google Maps, Search, and Ads. 

These guidelines aim to:

• Promote honest Google reviews and transparent feedback.
• Detect inappropriate content like hate speech or sexually explicit material.
• Prevent fake content, such as reviews from multiple accounts.
• Ensure businesses don’t violate Google’s policies by engaging in incentivized reviews or conflicts of interest.

Google’s enforcement strategy within the Google review policy

Google operates one of the most advanced moderation systems for online reviews. It combines cutting-edge AI with teams of human analysts to maintain the integrity of reviews on Google Search, Google Maps, and other platforms.

Here’s how the platform enforces the Google review policy: 

1. AI detection at scale: Google’s machine learning models scan every review the moment it’s submitted. These AI agents look for hundreds of signals—ranging from unusual review patterns (e.g., a sudden flood of 5-star ratings) to identifying offensive language or spammy content. AI models are also trained to detect fake reviews from click farms or multiple accounts.
   
2. Human analysts for nuanced decisions: AI does the heavy lifting but doesn’t catch everything. That’s where Google’s human moderation teams step in. These analysts review edge cases, like local slang or cultural nuances that AI might miss. For example, AI could flag a phrase that’s normal in one region incorrectly as inappropriate content.
   
3. A constant feedback loop: Human moderators also help retrain and improve AI detection models, ensuring the system gets smarter over time.

Why this matters to local businesses

For multi-location businesses, this dual approach means:

• Fewer fake reviews are cluttering your Google business profile.
• Faster detection of inappropriate reviews or malicious attacks.
• A more trustworthy environment for your actual customers to leave honest reviews.

But it’s not perfect—occasional false positives happen, which is why Google allows appeals via its Reviews Management Tool.

How has the Google review policy changed recently (2021-2025)?

1. AI detection in reviews

Google has made significant strides with AI to identify and mitigate fake reviews. The AI looks at:

• Review content (detecting inappropriate content or spam).
• User behavior (e.g., is the reviewer leaving dozens of reviews from different locations in a short period?).
• Business-specific patterns include a sudden influx of reviews when the business isn’t running a marketing campaign.

What does this mean for businesses?

Even legitimate businesses can get flagged if the AI mistakenly interprets review surges as suspicious. Businesses should space out review requests and avoid sudden bulk solicitation.

➡️ How to fix it: Working with an intuitive review management tool like Birdeye can help plan drip campaigns designed to avoid triggering Google’s detection systems. This will help you gather honest reviews steadily and ethically.

2. Fake reviews detected badge in the UK

Google piloted a “fake reviews detected” badge in the UK, visibly warning customers when a business is suspected of manipulating reviews.

Why this matters

If your business is flagged, customer trust could erode quickly. 

➡️ How to fix it: Regularly audit your reviews, flag any suspicious ones promptly, and educate your staff about Google’s policies to prevent missteps.

3. Climate-specific moderation

Google’s systems now filter out reviews that comment on policies or events unrelated to customer experience, especially around sensitive topics like COVID-19 health policies or political affiliations during elections.

• During the COVID-19 pandemic, Google removed reviews criticizing businesses’ health mandates.
• Similar moderation also applied during US elections, where politically charged or polarizing social commentary unrelated to products or services was removed.

What does this mean for businesses?

You may see reviews disappear even if they weren’t inherently harmful—but were deemed off-topic.

➡️ How to fix it: Stay focused on driving reviews related to actual customer experiences, not broader issues.

4. Crackdown on bulk and incentivized reviews

Google’s updated guidelines discourage:

• Bulk review requests
• Attempts to selectively solicit positive reviews
• Prohibit negative reviews from being displayed

➡️ Pro tip: Google now evaluates reviewer location data, business media exposure, and review velocity. If you wish to run bulk campaigns, do it with drip campaigns or timed requests. 

Birdeye drip campaigns that send review request emails after individual customer interactions do not fall into the category of bulk review solicitation. Therefore, Birdeye businesses already comply with this policy and Google review guidelines.

As a convenience feature, the Birdeye platform alerts a business if it is trying to run instant bulk campaigns.

Google product rating policies

The Google product reviews feature can vastly benefit store-based retail businesses such as car dealerships or online e-commerce stores. It helps establish trust and improve conversion rates. Here is what Google’s review policy states for product ratings: 

• Avoid low-quality content (e.g., “Luv it!” without details).
• Ensure reviews are authentic and specific.
• Avoid boilerplate text that repeats in all reviews. 
• Review feeds must be owned by the retailer (no syndicated reviews).
• Follow the rules for user-generated images—no blurry, irrelevant, or heavily filtered photos.

Google’s prohibited content: What reviews violate Google’s policies?

Here is a look at what Google considers to be prohibited content in customer reviews: 

Note: This applies to both business reviews and product ratings.

What happens if you violate Google’s policies?

Violations can lead to:

• Google removes reviews instantly.
• Temporary or permanent suspension of your Google Business Profile reduces visibility on Google Search and Google Maps.
• A public trust issue arises when your business is labeled as engaging in manipulative practices.

Beyond SEO damage, trust is hard to regain after penalties. 

➡️ How to fix it: Work with tools like Birdeye to create review campaigns that comply fully with Google’s review removal policy and educate your staff on ethically requesting feedback.

➡️ Pro tip: If flagged unfairly, use Google’s one-time appeal process to contest removals. Follow up with customer support and contact community forums to understand how to get back up. 

How to report and remove reviews violating Google’s guidelines

Steps to report inappropriate reviews:

1. Go to Google Search or Maps.
2. Click the three-dot menu on the review.
3. Select Report review.
4. Choose the violation reason.
5. Submit and monitor via the Reviews Management Tool.

Review statuses you may encounter in the management tool 

When you report a review via Google’s Reviews Management Tool, here are the possible statuses and what to do next:

1. Decision pending:
   • Google’s moderation team (AI or human) is still reviewing your flagged review.
   • Next step: Be patient. Reviews under this status are still under assessment.
2. No policy violation found:
   • Google determined that the flagged review did not violate any of Google’s policies.
   • Next step: If you believe this is a mistake, use Google’s one-time appeal option. 
   • You can also respond to the negative/spam reviews so potential customers know not to be deterred. 
3. Escalated – check email for updates:
   • Your appeal has been escalated to Google’s internal teams for further investigation.
   • Next step: Watch your inbox for resolution updates. If the appeal is successful, the review will be removed.

How to move forward

• Always keep an internal record of problematic reviews and your actions.
• If reviews persist after appeals, focus on generating more positive reviews to outweigh non-removable ones.
• Use Birdeye’s review tracking features to monitor flagged content across review sites and ensure you’re ready to respond.

Pro tip: Regularly reviewing your profile helps spot issues early and gives you time to act before your business’s online reputation is impacted.

How to handle negative reviews while staying compliant

Negative reviews are common, but how you handle them sets you apart from your competitors. And yes, you can manage negative reviews while staying within Google’s review policy guidelines. 

Here’s what you can do:

• Respond to negative reviews professionally and promptly. Create and distribute standardized review response templates so that on-ground staff can quickly respond to all reviews. 
• Avoid defensive or aggressive responses.
• Use customer feedback to fix service gaps and invite private resolution. 
• Monitor reviews across locations to spot patterns and develop strategies to prevent such issues in the future. 

How Birdeye helps you comply and build your online reputation

As a trusted reputation management expert, Birdeye helps multi-location businesses:

• Automate review requests ethically to all customers with drip campaigns.
• Avoid review gating with templates that comply with Google’s policies.
• Manage online reputation across all major review sites.
• Leverage NPS surveys to reduce detractors.
• Improve response time and resolution via ticketing and alerts. 
• Detect fake and spam reviews for speedy action. 
• Alert users if they try to run non-compliant bulk campaigns.

Conclusion: Know Google’s review policy to outrank competitors 

Knowing the ins and outs of the Google review policy provides a distinct advantage to location-based businesses relying on Google for views, clicks, and leads. Understanding how moderation works, what they can do to safeguard their profile, and possible remedial measures ensure their presence on Google is consistent and impactful. 

Building review management systems that comply with Google policies also ensures a steady stream of reviews, boosting brand reputation significantly.

Knowing the policy directly translates to accelerated growth on Google platforms. 

FAQs on Google’s review policy

Stay ahead on Google with Birdeye

Google’s evolving policies demand ethical review generation and strict adherence to compliance standards. Birdeye, a premier Google partner, helps your business maintain a compliant and trusted presence on Google.

With Birdeye, businesses can:

1. Automate review requests, monitor, and manage online reviews across locations with Birdeye Reviews AI.
2. Track and monitor the performance of various Google business listings to spot issues with Birdeye Listings AI.
3. Understand customer sentiment with AI summaries, Reputation Scores, and performance insights with Birdeye Insights AI.

Grow your reviews ethically with Birdeye’s customer experience and review management platform. Watch a free demo to learn more.