Estimated reading time: 5 minutes
Google just updated its review policy, and the SEO world is doing what it does best: catastrophizing on Reddit.
Before you panic-delete your review request templates or start yelling into the void about Big Tech overreach, let me offer my unasked-for advice: a take from someone who’s watched Google break things, fix things, and occasionally just…do nothing for years.
What the updated “Fake & Misleading Content & Reviews” policy says
Ok, look at this gem below:
In plain English: you, the business owner, are not supposed to ask customers to mention your employees by name in reviews.
Yes, I understand why that’s making people furious. You walk into a local knife store, and the guy behind the counter is so sharp (pun intended, moving on) that you want his boss to know. You leave a review. You mention his name. Because that’s what decent people do.
That’s common courtesy. Nobody’s manipulating jack.
The part Google isn’t saying out loud (at least that’s how I see it)
Here’s where I’m going to defend Google, briefly, and I know that’s going to make some of you roll your eyes.
Google updated this policy for those service companies out there running on review-generation machines, the companies that task their front desk ladies to literally stand next to customers to make sure they add reviews.
They are likely targeting companies such as law firms, cosmetic surgery practices, dentists, or orthodontists that are aggressively pressuring customers to leave reviews. Some are buying five-star reviews wholesale from who-knows-where.
The home services, legal verticals, and private healthcare in particular have been quite aggressively soliciting for years. Some are even cooking the books on Google reviews. Not everyone. But enough that it’s a documented, widespread problem.
I went to an orthodontist. After I paid, within an hour, I got a link to leave a review. And then I got multiple reminders to leave a review. Who’s behind the system? Who sold the orthodontist on the idea that he needs to solicit reviews this aggressively? The more reviews, the better ranking, right? And look where we are now.
The FTC has a word for what some of these businesses are doing: deceptive. Google’s word for it, apparently, is “against policy.”
Wait, is putting a name on Google reviews being enforced broadly?
I have a few anecdotes. And if you go by Jeff Bezos’ famous statement, “When the data and the anecdotes disagree, the anecdotes are usually right,” then you know I’m right (haha).
My clients are still getting reviews. Some reviewers mentioned employees or my client by name. No reviews have been filtered. Their reviews are coming in the same random, sporadic way they always have, meaning naturally. Don’t laugh, many of my clients have an abysmal number of reviews. But they are real reviews.
So I don’t think Google’s engineers or Gemini are confusing genuine for gaming.
What I think is happening is more surgical. Accounts with high manipulation signals, meaning businesses that show clear patterns of solicitation, sudden review spikes, suspiciously uniform language, or third-party review services, are the ones getting axed.
If your reviews look like a PR campaign, they’ll get treated like one.
And as usual, when Google throws a net, it’s so freaking large it catches the innocents as well. I’m hoping and praying this won’t happen to the good ones.
The uncomfortable truth about getting legit reviews
Feeling awkward when asking for a review is completely natural. It’s hard. There’s no elegant way to say “Hey, loved having you as a customer. Can you review us on Google?” It’s awkward, breaking the natural rhythm of a transaction.
The irony of all ironies, I think, is that Google created this problem. When one of the local ranking factors is number of reviews and allegedly, review velocity — yes, I have my doubts on this — what do you think SEOs will tell their clients? That’s a bit like teaching everyone in the class that grades are everything, then being shocked when someone cheats on the exam.
So what should you actually do?
If your reviews come from your customers, and they mention you or your employee by name, by all means, pick up the phone, call that dang customer, and tell them to remove that review now.
NO! I’m just messing with you. Please don’t do that, for the love of everything holy. Leave it alone. You have real customers who took the time to write you reviews, loving your service without you having to even ask — that’s one of the best things happening to you right now.
BUT, if you’ve been asking staff to hit a certain review quota or they don’t get a bonus, or using scripts that tell customers what to say, who to thank, you may want to quietly revisit that approach. Not because Google will necessarily catch you tomorrow, but because the policy now gives them clear grounds to act when they do.
The word for that is contingent liability: a risk that doesn’t hurt you today but can materialize fast when conditions change.
Come to think of it, in a world where AI is moving this fast, many of the digital marketing techniques are contingent liability right now.
If you’re a small business owner who never solicited a review in your life and you’re still worried, that’s also a sign of something: Google has done an abysmal job communicating who this policy targets. Panic is the logical response when you don’t have the context.
Let’s end on a positive note, shall we?
Google has updated its policy, yes, but it’s not a broadside against every business that ever asked a happy customer to leave feedback. It’s aimed at a specific kind of manipulation that’s been polluting local search for years.
Will Google implement this across all types of businesses? Nobody knows. Will it make mistakes? Oh, for sure. Should you be worried? Yes, but what can you do, really? Let’s just hope the businesses that are worrying right now are those that have been heavily manipulating their review numbers to game local rankings.
If that’s not you, keep doing what you’re doing. If it is you, now would be a good time to stop.
