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Why Is Google Highlighting 7-Year-Old Negative Reviews?
Imagine this: a 7-year-old review still haunting your business, driving customers away daily. That’s the frustrating reality of Google’s featured reviews, and if you’re a business owner, you probably know the feeling.
What Are Featured Google Reviews?
Featured reviews are the snippets of user feedback prominently displayed on Google Business Profiles. In theory, they should help consumers make informed decisions. In reality, they often showcase outdated, irrelevant, or outright misleading reviews.
For example, take a look at the review for this doctor’s office. The negative review highlighted here is over 7 years old and still front and center. How is that an accurate reflection of the business today?
Or how about this one? Why do I care that this chick waited 15 minutes for the drive-through 7 years ago? Yes, that is how old this review is.
How Often Do Featured Reviews Update?
If you’re hoping Google regularly refreshes these reviews, brace yourself. After monitoring several profiles for 3 years, we found that:
- Updates occur only once every 1-2 years.
- Older reviews are removed and replaced with the newest reviews on the listing.
Even for businesses with massive review counts, like the CN Tower in Toronto with over 75,000 reviews, updates are rare. Google still highlights a review from 5 years ago.
Does Google Favor Negative Reviews?
Surprisingly, yes. Most snippets feature two positive reviews paired with one negative. Sometimes, even positive reviews with a minor critique are flagged as negative highlights.
Can Businesses Control Featured Reviews?
The short answer: not really.
However, we discovered one workaround: get a review deleted. When a review is removed, Google is forced to refresh the featured reviews, potentially replacing outdated feedback with more relevant content.
Final Thoughts
Google’s featured reviews are long overdue for an overhaul. Leaving stale, irrelevant feedback front and center doesn’t benefit consumers or businesses.
Have outdated reviews hurt your business? Share your experience in the comments—we’d love to hear your story. And if you agree that it’s time for Google to fix this feature, let’s make some noise!
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