Review Management
How to Delete a Google Review (2026 Complete Guide)
What you can actually delete, what only Google can remove, and what to do when Google refuses your request. The distinction between these three paths trips up most business owners.
Can you actually delete a Google review?
Quick answer
If you wrote the review: Yes. You can delete it anytime, immediately, with no approval needed.
If someone else wrote it about your business: No. You cannot delete it. You can only flag it for policy violations and hope Google agrees it violates their guidelines. If it doesn't violate policy, it stays — regardless of how unfair, inaccurate, or harmful you believe it to be.
This distinction is the source of enormous frustration for business owners. Many assume that because it's their business being reviewed, they have some authority over what reviews appear. They don't. Google controls the review system, and their policy is deliberately weighted toward reviewers, not businesses.
The reasoning is straightforward: if businesses could delete any review they didn't like, the entire trust signal of Google reviews collapses. Google needs the system to feel credible to consumers, which means businesses get limited removal power. Understanding this upfront saves you significant time and frustration.
Three paths to Google review removal
There are exactly three mechanisms for getting a Google review removed. Each has a different success rate, timeline, and cost.
Path 01
Self-deletion
For reviews you wrote yourself. Delete anytime from Google Maps.
✓ 100% success rate
✓ Immediate
✓ No cost
Path 02
Policy violation flagging
Report the review to Google as a business owner. Requires a policy violation to succeed.
~ 30–70% success
~ 3–14 business days
✓ No cost
Path 03
Legal action
Court order or cease-and-desist for provably false, defamatory statements.
~ 85% with court order
~ Weeks to months
✗ $1,500–$10,000+
How to delete your own Google review
If you're trying to remove a review you personally left for a business, the process is straightforward and fully within your control. Note that deletion is permanent — you can't undo it.
Open Google Maps
On mobile, open the Google Maps app. On desktop, go to maps.google.com. You must be signed in to the Google account that left the review.
Tap your profile icon
In the top-right corner, tap your profile photo or initial to open the account menu.
Go to Your contributions
Select "Your contributions" from the menu, then tap the "Reviews" tab. This shows every review you've ever left on Google.
Find the review and open the menu
Scroll to the review you want to delete. Tap the three-dot menu (···) in the top-right corner of that review card.
Select "Delete review"
Tap "Delete review" and confirm. The review is removed immediately and permanently. The business's star rating updates within a few hours to reflect the deletion.
Note: You can also edit a review instead of deleting it. If your experience improved or you left the review in error, editing is often better than deletion — it preserves the review history and lets you update the star rating without starting from scratch.
How to flag a review as a business owner
As a business owner, your only formal channel for removing a review you didn't write is flagging it for policy violations. There are two methods — the Business Profile dashboard is faster and gives you more context.
Method A: Flag from Google Maps
- 1. Search for your business on Google Maps
- 2. Open your listing and navigate to the Reviews section
- 3. Find the review you want to flag
- 4. Click the three-dot menu on the review
- 5. Select "Flag as inappropriate"
- 6. Choose the most accurate policy violation category
- 7. Submit and wait for Google's decision (3–14 business days)
Method B: Report from Google Business Profile dashboard (recommended)
- 1. Go to business.google.com and sign in
- 2. Select your business location if you manage multiple
- 3. Click "Reviews" in the left navigation
- 4. Find the review and click the three-dot menu
- 5. Select "Report review"
- 6. Select the violation type and add any supporting context
- 7. Submit the report
Pro tip
Flag the review before responding to it publicly. Responding signals to Google — and to other readers — that you've acknowledged the review. This doesn't disqualify the review from removal, but it's cleaner to submit the flag first. If the review is eventually removed, there's no lingering public response attached to a deleted review.
What Google will (and won't) remove
Google's review policies are specific. Knowing exactly what qualifies dramatically improves your flagging success rate — and saves you from wasting time on reviews that will never come down.
✓ Google WILL remove
- ✓Spam or fake reviews — clearly not from a genuine customer
- ✓Conflict of interest — reviewer has a financial connection or is a competitor
- ✓Hate speech, harassment, or personal attacks
- ✓Off-topic content with no relevance to the actual business experience
- ✓Illegal content — extortion, threats, doxxing
- ✓Explicit sexual content or profanity
✗ Google will NOT remove
- ✗Legitimate negative reviews from real customers, no matter how harsh
- ✗Opinion-based criticism ("the food was terrible," "staff was rude")
- ✗Low star ratings with no text content
- ✗Reviews you believe are exaggerated or factually inaccurate (without legal action)
- ✗Reviews from customers whose experience you dispute
- ✗Reviews you simply disagree with or find unfair
When Google denies your removal request
Google denies a significant portion of removal requests. When they say no, you have four substantive options.
Appeal through Google Business Profile support
After a denial, you can escalate by contacting Google Business Profile support directly. The key is being specific: cite the exact policy the review violates (e.g., "Section 2 of Google's review policies: Conflict of interest — this reviewer is an employee of our direct competitor") rather than making a general complaint. Vague appeals are almost always rejected. Specific policy citations get traction.
Respond professionally
A well-crafted response doesn't remove the review, but it limits the damage. Future customers reading the review will also read your response. The response often matters more than the review itself. Template:
"Thank you for sharing your experience. We're sorry to hear your visit didn't meet expectations. [Brief, factual context if warranted — one sentence max.] We take this seriously and would like to make it right. Please reach out to us at [email/phone] so we can address this directly."
Build positive review volume to dilute the impact
A single 1-star review in a pool of 80 reviews with a 4.6 average barely moves the needle. A single 1-star review in a pool of 12 reviews is devastating. The most durable protection against any negative review — removable or not — is a high-volume, high-quality review base. See our Google review service if you need to build that buffer.
Legal action for defamation
When a review contains provably false statements of fact — not opinions, actual fabrications — defamation law may apply. A defamation attorney can send a cease-and-desist to the reviewer and, if that fails, seek a court order requiring Google to remove the review. Google complies with valid court orders. This path is expensive (typically $1,500–$10,000+ in attorney fees) and slow, but it works when the factual bar is met. Not every negative review qualifies — the statement must be false, presented as fact, and demonstrably harmful.
When to consider professional removal help
Most business owners can handle the flagging process themselves. But there are situations where working with a professional removal service makes sense:
- ✓You're under a coordinated attack. Multiple fake reviews posted in a short window, clearly from bad-faith accounts. This requires systematic documentation and escalation that takes time most business owners don't have.
- ✓You have multiple fake or policy-violating reviews. Each review requires separate documentation and appeals. Managing 5–10 appeals simultaneously is a significant time drain.
- ✓High-stakes reputation context. If your business relies heavily on reputation (healthcare, legal, financial services, hospitality), the cost of a negative review is high enough to justify professional help.
- ✓You've already been denied and need escalation. Professional services know the escalation paths and have established relationships with Google support channels that aren't publicly accessible.
Our Google review removal service handles the documentation, flagging, and escalation process. We work on reviews that have a viable policy violation argument — we don't take cases where there's no legitimate removal path.
Frequently asked questions
Can I delete a Google review I left as a customer?
Yes. Open Google Maps, tap your profile icon, go to Your contributions > Reviews, find the review, tap the three-dot menu, and select Delete. The deletion is immediate and permanent. You can also edit the review instead of deleting it if you want to update the content or star rating.
How long does Google take to remove a flagged review?
Google typically processes flagged reviews within 3 to 14 business days. Complex cases or appeals can take longer. You'll receive an email notification when a decision is made. If you don't hear back after 14 business days, it's appropriate to follow up through Google Business Profile support.
What if I respond to the review first — can I still get it removed?
Yes, you can still flag a review after responding to it. However, responding before flagging can complicate things slightly — it signals acknowledgment of the review, which may affect how Google's content team evaluates the flag. Best practice: flag first, then respond if the review isn't removed.
Can a competitor remove my positive reviews?
No. Anyone can flag any review, but Google's content team evaluates each flag against its policies. A genuine positive review from a real customer will not be removed simply because a competitor flagged it. If you notice a pattern of your reviews being flagged and removed, contact Google Business Profile support to report potential abuse.
What's the difference between flagging and reporting?
These terms refer to the same action. From Google Maps it's labeled "Flag as inappropriate"; from the Business Profile dashboard it's labeled "Report review." Both submit the review to Google's content team for policy evaluation. The dashboard method is slightly preferred because it provides more reporting categories and context fields.
When does legal action make sense for a Google review?
Legal action is appropriate when a review contains provably false statements of fact (not opinions) and you can demonstrate actual harm. The review must assert something as fact that is demonstrably untrue — "this business committed fraud" when no fraud occurred, for example. Opinion-based statements ("worst service I've ever had") don't qualify for defamation. Costs typically start at $1,500–$5,000 for attorney fees to send a cease-and-desist, and $5,000–$20,000+ if the case proceeds to court.
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