How to report false reviews about your practice.

Your first thought after reading a negative review about your practice on a popular site like Google will be to look for ways to have it removed from the site. Unfortunately, as with other websites, removing a review from Google is not easy. Only reviewers have the ability to remove them from the site.

That does not mean you should disregard negative feedback about your practice. You should also consider the following review removal strategies:

1. Contact the reviewer or respond to the review in the following ways:

You can contact the reviewer to discuss his or her concerns and request that the review be removed. However, if the reviewer was persuaded enough to post the review, he or she may become defensive if contacted about it. In some cases, the reviewer may post the review anonymously, making identification impossible. In such cases, you can ask the website for the name of the anonymous reviewer and then take the appropriate action.

Google has guidelines for responding to negative and fake reviews, just as there are for posting a review. Your response should not be defensive, should be brief, and should be delivered as quickly and professionally as possible.

2. Flag the inappropriate review:

Flagging is the first step in disputing what you believe to be a fake negative review. Open the reviews panel for your practice in Google or Google Maps to flag a specific review. When you hover your mouse over the review, a flag icon will appear. When you click this icon, you will be taken to the Report a Policy Violation page, where you will see four options:

How to Report and Remove Fake Google Reviews Concerning Your Practice

• This review contains content that is violent, hateful, or inappropriate.
• The review is either advertisement or spam.
• Off-topic.
• There are conflicts of interest in the review.

Simply enter your practice email address and choose the Violation Type on this page. After you finish, you will hear from a Google team member if more information is needed or if there are any updates to share with you.

3. If the flagging fails, notify Google Small Business.

While flagging the review and/or responding to the inappropriate comments may be enough to get the review removed in most cases, the review may still remain in some cases. In such cases, you may want to contact Google Small Business Support. Typically, someone from Google Small Business Support will respond within 48 hours.

You can also send a tweet from your practices Twitter account to this team. A member of the Google Small Business Support team may contact you, and you can proceed from there.

4. Taking the legal route

Suing the reviewer and requesting a court order compelling the reviewer to remove or modify the review is the most extreme and least preferred option. Because of the First Amendments free speech rights, winning a legal battle is difficult. Suing the reviewer, on the other hand, may result in the review being intentionally removed. Furthermore, if you file a lawsuit, the reviewer may offer to settle the case to avoid the burden of a legal battle. The reviewer may agree to permanently remove the review or change the tone. From the standpoint of a medical practitioner, removing the negative review is worth foregoing the possibility of financial damages, especially if the negative review has the potential to harm your practice.

How to Report and Remove Fake Google Reviews Concerning Your Practice

A strong reputation management strategy is the best defence. The best way to ensure that a fake review does not harm your practice is to implement a solid online reputation management strategy. Positive reviews can be built up by encouraging loyal patients to post positive reviews. This is an easy way to mitigate negative reviews. However, keep in mind that negative reviews are not the same as fake reviews and should be handled as such. When you notice a fake review of your practice, act quickly and work with the Google support team to resolve the issue.