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Have you noticed that your Google reviews have been disappearing?- You’re not alone! As of Friday, 7 February 2025, businesses worldwide began to notice and report that their reviews were ‘vanishing‘ from Google Search, Maps, and local listings.
Unfortunately, the number of drops in reviews (both positive and negative) varies from customer to customer.
Barry Shwartz, CEO of RustyBrick and news editor at Search Engine Land, reviewed reports and uncovered that reviews are not necessarily being deleted but obscured or reflecting an incorrect count.
Here’s an example of a local business, Bay Stump Removal, whose actual review count is 76 and reflected correctly on their Google Ad, but their GBP shows only 73, meaning a drop in 3 reviews-upon manually counting these, the proper number, is, in fact, 76 and not 73 as highlighted.
This information is further supported by JC Wilkins, a forum contributor who analysed data from Google’s API (an interface that allows developers to integrate Google’s features and services into their applications) that highlighted that it’s a case of the reviews not being displayed correctly and that they still exist.
In a recent statement by Victoria Kroll, a Google representative acknowledged the issue on a Google Business Profile forum.
Will the Reviews Return?
Despite recognition by Google, there is no definitive timeline for the fix or when reviews will be reinstated.
Is There Anything I Can Do Now?
While Google is actively working to resolve the problem, businesses should expect a wait time before reviews begin to appear again.
In the meantime, you can…
- Monitor your profile and note any changes to review counts.
- Note that these are not review removals but a technical glitch.
- Reviews are still being added, so continue to encourage customers to leave them.
- Stay patient.
Keeping You Informed
The Digital Pie team are closely monitoring the Google reviews disappearance issue in New Zealand and actively tracking updates. We hope to report back as soon as we have more information.
