Google My Business has suspended reviews during the pandemic

We have had quite a few clients reach out to us since their Google reviews have not been showing up on Google [especially new ones].

Why are Google My Business reviews not showing up?

The Google My Business team has supsended reviews during the COVID-19 pandemic. You can still reply to reviews left before the change occured.

When will they start showing up again?

According to Google, over the coming weeks, new user reviews, new user photos, new sort names, and Q&A will be available. Their availability will gradually expand by country and business category. 

What can I continue to do to build my online reputation as a business?

The option to write a review still appears; however, any new review will not be published. Users that are able to submit a Google review sometimes receive a pop-up that says "Your contribution may be delayed at this time".

For now, it is not clear if any of the reviews submitted during this time will ever be published.

For that reason, we recommend the following:

• Ask your customers to leave a review on other platforms [e.g. Facebook, BBB, Yelp etc.]
• Also focus on industry specific review platforms [e.g. AVVO for lawyers. Home Advisor for Contractors, Zillow for Real Estate Agents, Healthgrades for Doctors]
• See about implementing a testimonials module on your website. Publishing reviews on your website actually helps with the content density of your website and in turn boosts your SEO score.

What about my old reviews?

All of the previously published reviews should still appear as normal. 

We hope this has been helpful to you. Feel free to reach out to us if you have any other questions!