How to Remove Google Reviews From Your Business

Answer

A business cannot delete a Google review. The pages Google writes for business owners give you three tools and none of them is a delete button. We read them on 2 November 2026.

Google will remove a review only if it breaks Google's content policy, or on a separate legal request (see Legal Route below). A review you dislike, or think is unfair, is not enough. Google's page on reporting reviews says so directly:

Do not report a review just because you disagree with it or dislike it.

Google Business Profile Help

The same page says Google does not get involved in conflict between businesses and customers.

The reviewer can change a review in two ways. They can edit or delete their own, using the steps on Google's Maps policy help. And Google says that when you reply, the reviewer is told, and customers can still change their review after reading your reply.

Reasons

Google lists what it does not allow in its Maps content policy. These are the entries a business is most likely to meet. If a review fits one, report it under that reason.

Harassment, hate speech and threats are also on Google's list. Whether a particular review meets a rule is Google's decision, not yours or ours.

Google's policy says it allows content that describes negative experiences in a respectful manner. So a polite one-star review from a real customer stays, even when it stings. The Competition and Markets Authority (the CMA, the UK's competition regulator) says the same in its fake reviews guidance: a review is not fake just because the trader does not like or agree with it, as long as it reflects the reviewer's real experience.

Before you report, check your records. Google's advice on replies is to check your records about the reviewer and their visit. A reviewer who never used you, or who works for a rival, is a stronger case than one who simply had a bad day.

Steps

You need to be signed in to the Google Account that manages your Business Profile. These are Google's steps, with Google's button names.

On a computer

1. Go to your Business Profile.
2. Select Read reviews.
3. Next to the review, select Report.
4. Select the reason, such as Spam or Profanity.
5. Select Send report.

On a phone

Google's page gives one set of steps for every device and none that are specific to a phone. It does show, on a different task, that in the Google Maps app you tap Business at the bottom right, then Reviews, to reach your review list. Separately, Google's Maps policy page gives the route anyone can use: open the app, search for the business, swipe right to Reviews, tap the review, scroll to the menu and select Report review, then complete the form and tap Submit. No Google page gives the report button's wording on the Business screen, so trust your screen if it differs.

With the Reviews Management Tool

Google also has a separate Reviews Management Tool for reporting reviews and checking their status.

1. Go to the tool. If the email address shown is the one linked to your profile, select Confirm. Otherwise select Switch account.
2. Select your business.
3. Select Continue, then Report a new review for removal, then Continue.
4. Next to the review, select Report, choose the reason and select Submit.

Google says review evaluation typically takes several days. It gives no exact figure, so we give none. Check progress in the tool.

Appeal

Come back to the Reviews Management Tool to see where your report stands. Google lists three statuses:

If Google decides there is no violation, you can make a one-time appeal. These are the steps from Google's reporting page.

1. Go to the Reviews Management Tool and confirm the email.
2. Select your business.
3. Select Continue, then Check the status of a review I reported previously and appeal options, then Continue.
4. At the bottom, select Appeal eligible reviews.
5. Select the review. You can pick up to 10 reviews in one appeal.
6. Select Continue, then Submit an appeal, fill in the form and select Submit.

Google emails the result. If the review breaks its policy it is removed. If not, it stays live. Google's tool gives you one appeal for a review, so say plainly which rule you think was broken and why.

Google's automated spam checks can also remove reviews by mistake, and its page says to contact support if a real review disappears.

Paid Services

You will see companies that promise to remove reviews for a fee. We have not read any one company's terms, so we name none. Here is what Google's and the CMA's own pages say.

Google's route is the same for everyone. The removal routes on Google's pages are the report and the one appeal above, plus a separate legal request (see Legal Route below). Those pages mention no fee, and they describe no route for a company that you cannot use yourself.

Rewards for removal are banned. Google does not allow merchants to offer payment, discounts or free goods or services in exchange for a review being posted, changed or removed. The CMA gives an example of the same thing: contacting a customer who left a negative review and offering a refund or gift card if they change it. Reviews posted from several accounts at the request of one person, or paid for, count as fake engagement.

The risk lands on your profile. Google says that a business found to break these rules can be restricted: no new reviews for a set period, existing reviews unpublished, or a public warning that fake reviews were removed.

UK law is moving the same way. Since 6 April 2025 the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 bans fake reviews and concealed paid reviews (Schedule 20, paragraph 13), and bans offering services to traders to submit, commission or facilitate them. The CMA's guidance says that suppressing genuine negative reviews is problematic, and GOV.UK says the CMA and the courts can fine up to 10% of worldwide turnover. The guidance does not name review-removal services, so whether a service breaks the law depends on what it does. A solicitor can answer that. This is general information, not legal advice.

If a company asks you to pay, ask three things: which Google page describes its method, who pays any reviewer it contacts, and what you owe if the review stays.

If someone demands money. Google has a separate page on negative review extortion scams, where a sudden run of one and two star reviews is followed by a demand for money, goods or services to remove them. Google says do not engage with them or pay them, and gather evidence at once. It has a report form that asks for screenshots, links to the reviews and the dates you first noticed the reviews and received the demand.

Legal Route

A false statement of fact that damages your business is a different matter from an opinion you dislike. In England and Wales, the Defamation Act 2013 says a statement is not defamatory unless it has caused or is likely to cause serious harm to reputation, and for a company or other body that trades for profit, serious harm means serious financial loss. A claim must normally start within one year of when it arose. Google has a separate Legal Help page for content that breaks the law, and it says reporting under its content policy does not serve as legal notice.

This is general information and not legal advice. Scotland and Northern Ireland have their own law, which we did not read. Talk to a solicitor before you send anything to a reviewer, because the CMA's guidance says traders should not interfere with a reviewer's willingness to leave a genuine negative review, including through threats of legal action.

Better Options

If a review stays, two things help more than anything else.

Reply well. Your reply is public and the reviewer is told. Google says a positive reply and follow-up may encourage them to update their review. Our post on how to respond to Google reviews has templates.

Get more reviews from real customers. Google says a mix of positive and negative feedback often feels more trustworthy. Our post on the Google review link shows how to ask every customer, within Google's rules.

Tunewell

We cannot remove a review. Only Google or the reviewer can. What we can set up is the asking. More Reviews is one of the jobs on our Menu: a request goes out after every job. Google's policy says you must not ask only the customers you expect to be happy.

Our Check-Up includes one Quick Win, chosen from More Reviews, Invoices Chased or Weekly Numbers, set up and working by the time your report arrives. The Check-Up is £495 for up to 10 staff, we are not VAT registered so that is the price, and we take no commission from any tool. See Pricing. The free steps above work without us.