Factually false claims

The hardest category to win, and the one most often attempted. A review stating something verifiably untrue — not merely unfair — can be filed, but only where a document contradicts it. Opinion is never covered.

What Google says

“Don't post content that is deliberately fake, deceptive, or designed to mislead. We remove content that misrepresents what a business offers or what happened during an experience.”

See Google's full content policy hub

Qualifies for removal

→Review states a price you can disprove with a signed estimate or invoice the reviewer agreed to
→Review claims a service you demonstrably do not offer and never have
→Review describes a visit on a date the business was verifiably closed
→Review attributes an incident to you that documented records place at another business

Does NOT qualify

→'They overcharged me' — a judgement about value, not a factual claim
→'The work was terrible' — opinion, however strongly you disagree
→A customer misremembering a detail in an otherwise genuine account
→Anything where you can only contradict the claim with your own word

Want this policy applied to your reviews?

Run the free audit and we'll score every review on your listing against this policy and the others. No card, no signup to see the report. You're billed $149 only when Google actually removes a review.

Run a free audit Email me instead

The other policy categories

Reviews from people who were never customers Harassment and hate speech Conflict of interest Advertising or promoting competitors Off-topic content Personal information in a review Impersonation and misrepresented identity Restricted and illegal content

Full breakdown: Google review policy violations explained · remove fake Google reviews · straight answers · by industry