Getting, answering, reporting and understanding Google reviews. Every article answers one question, checked against Google’s own help pages, with the date.
Yes, by Google and by nobody else: every review is checked against Google’s content policies before it settles on a profile, and Google says that check can take a few days. The business owner cannot approve, reject or hold a review; the only things an owner can do are reply, or report it for a policy violation.
Because Google removed the review for a policy violation, the customer deleted it, or your whole profile’s reviews were unpublished, suspended or paused. Google says removed reviews are not restored, but it also admits its automated spam detection occasionally removes legitimate reviews by mistake and tells you to contact support when that happens.
Usually because Google is still checking it: the help page says that check can take a few days. Otherwise the review broke Google’s content policy and was removed, the customer never actually posted it, or reviews on your whole profile are switched off for a while (unverified, restricted or suspended profile, or a paused category).
Yes. Google’s own advice is to reply to reviews, and the reason is practical rather than technical: a reply is posted publicly under the review, the reviewer is notified, and every future customer who reads the review reads your answer with it.
Respond to a fake Google review in two moves: report it from your Business Profile (“Read reviews”, “Report”, the reason, “Send report”), then post one calm reply saying you have no record of this visit and inviting contact. Google removes a review only if it breaks a content policy, so the reply is for the next reader.
Reply to a positive Google review with a short, relevant thank-you instead of copying the same response across reviews. Do not attach an incentive, turn the reply into an advert, or add private details. For clinics and other sensitive services, personalize only with neutral information and do not publicly confirm a customer, patient or client relationship or repeat medical or case details.
Google’s help pages describe no widget for showing your Google reviews on your own website; what they give you is a link to your reviews on Maps, an embeddable map, and two developer interfaces with attribution rules. In the other direction, your website can collect Google reviews by carrying the review link from “Read Reviews” and “Get more reviews”.
A new business gets Google reviews the way any business does: create and verify the Business Profile, take the review link from “Read Reviews” and “Get more reviews”, and give it to every customer after the visit. Reviews from an older Google profile move only in the cases Google lists, and Google’s pages describe no import from other sites.
You get 5 star Google reviews from customers who choose the fifth star themselves, and the only tools Google gives you are the review link, the QR code and the reply button. Paying for stars, filtering out unhappy customers or pressing people on the spot breaks Google’s rules, and the profile pays for it, not whoever sold the idea.
Review gating is when a business asks customers how they feel first and sends only the happy ones to Google, so the unhappy ones never write a review. Google’s review rules forbid a business to “Discourage or prohibit negative reviews, or selectively solicit positive reviews from customers”, and reviews gathered this way can be removed.