Google review policy, explained

Where the rules live

Google's rules for reviews are part of its policy for everything people post on Maps: reviews, ratings, photos and more. The full text sits in Google's contribution policy help center, and the page that matters most for reviews is the one on prohibited and restricted content.

What follows is our summary in plain words. It is not Google's wording and it is not legal advice. Google updates its policy from time to time, so when this page and Google's page differ, Google's page is the one that counts.

One idea runs through all of it: the policy is about content, not fairness. Google does not decide who is right about a bad meal or a late job. It checks whether the review breaks a rule.

Fake and misleading reviews

Google calls this fake engagement. It covers content that is not based on a real experience, reviews paid for with money or favors, and many accounts run by one person. A separate rule on rating manipulation covers businesses offering discounts or free items in return for reviews, and conflicts of interest, such as a competitor or a current or former employee reviewing the business. Asking only the customers you expect to be pleased, and steering unhappy ones away, is also against the rules.

The rule cuts both ways. Bought praise breaks it as surely as a fake attack, and Google can remove those reviews and put limits on the profile. Our page on fake Google reviews covers how to spot them.

Conflict of interest

A review should come from a customer, not from someone with a reason to push your rating up or down. That rules out competitors, current and former employees, and owners reviewing their own business or a rival's. A former employee can be angry for good reasons, but a review of their old job is still a conflict of interest.

The hard part is showing it, because a competitor rarely signs their name. Our pages on competitor reviews and former employee reviews go into those cases.

Harmful and offensive content

Reviews may not harass, bully or threaten anyone, and may not attack people for who they are. Hate speech, profanity, sexual content and graphic violence are not allowed. Neither is personal information: phone numbers, home addresses, health details or other private facts about a named person.

A review that calls the service terrible is allowed. A review that calls a staff member a slur, or posts where they live, is not. See offensive Google reviews for more examples.

Off topic, ads and unclear content

A review has to be about the experience with that business. Rants about the government, the news or another company are off topic. Reviews that advertise something else, or carry links and phone numbers to sell a product, count as advertising. Gibberish, and the same text posted again and again, fall under unclear and repetitive content.

What the rules allow

This is the part owners like least, and it matters most. The policy protects real customers who had a bad experience. A review can be negative, emotional, short, unfair in your view or badly written, and still follow every rule.

• A low rating with no text from a real customer
• Complaints about price, waiting, quality or staff attitude
• An opinion you disagree with, told from the customer's side

A real review from a real customer that follows the rules usually stays, and we say so before any work starts. For those, a good reply is your best tool: see how to respond to a bad Google review.