A couple of days ago, Google sent out an email to owners of Google Business Profile listings. The email was a reminder about the Google Business Profile policies, and it highlighted policies around reviews.
I received the email myself and the subject line read, “Important reminder about Business Profile policies.”
The email goes on to say that you should “Make sure everything you publish accurately represents your business and what it offers.”
The email then lists these three policies, specifically:
- Accept all reviews, positive and negative. Don’t selectively solicit positive reviews or pressure customers to leave a particular review.
- Don’t pay for reviews or offer incentives like discounts or freebies for reviews.
- Don’t solicit positive reviews from employees or anyone affiliated with your company, and never post negative content intended to harm the reputation of your competitors.
Here is a screenshot of the full email:
My guess, most business owners never read the policies and don’t know what is and what is not allowed. So this is Google making sure to email them out, so owners can be aware.
Forum discussion at X.