Google reviews not showing up on your Business Profile

A customer left a review and you can't see it

A customer tells you they left you five stars yesterday. You open your profile and the count has not moved. Or a review you remember from last month is gone, and nobody at your end touched it.

Google does not tell you, review by review, what happened. What it does publish is a short list of reasons in its Business Profile help, spread over several pages. We read them on 6 November 2026 and put them below in the order that is quickest to check, starting with the ones that fix themselves.

If the customer could not get to the review box at all, the problem is the link, not the review; our guide to a Google review link that is not working covers that. If you mean the stars next to your website in search results, that is a different system, explained in review stars not showing in Google.

1. Is the review just new?

Google checks reviews before they appear. Its help page on missing or delayed reviews says this can take a few days. The score moves later still: Google's page on review scores says the average can take up to 2 weeks to update after a new review.

So a review from yesterday, or a star count that has not changed this week, is not a problem yet. Wait a few days before you do anything else.

While you wait, look at your profile the way a customer does: in a browser window where you are not signed in. The count in your own Business Profile and the one the public sees can differ for a while, and only the public one matters to the next customer.

Several guides on this question say Google hides reviews until your profile is verified. Google's help pages, read again on 7 November 2026, do not list that among the reasons reviews go missing. What they do tie to verification is replying: "Before you can reply to reviews, you must verify your business." Verify anyway, since you need it to answer reviews, but do not expect it to bring back a missing one.

2. Is it on the right profile?

If your business has two profiles, one you manage and an older one someone created years ago, a customer who searched for you may have reviewed the other one. It can happen after a move or a change of owner, which is why Google's help has a page on it. Search for your business name on Google Maps from a phone that is not signed in to your account, and see whether two listings come up.

Google's help page on moving reviews says that if you created a second profile by accident after a move or a change of ownership, you can contact Google to transfer the reviews to the right one. A business that moves and keeps its name gets its reviews moved automatically, although for some categories, such as hotels, they may not move. After a merge, the missing-reviews page says it can take a few days for reviews from both profiles to show.

To stop it happening again, send customers a link that goes to your exact profile instead of asking them to search.

3. Did the customer's review actually post?

Sometimes the review never went through. Google's missing-reviews page says customers on older phones or software may have trouble leaving a review and should update the Google Maps app. Also bear in mind that the reviewer can edit or delete their review at any time, and a deleted review simply disappears from your list.

If it is a customer you can contact, ask whether they can still see the review in their own Google Maps contributions. That one question tells you whether it was never posted or was taken down.

4. Did Google remove it as spam?

This is the most common reason, according to the same page, which says reviews are usually removed for policy violations "like spam or inappropriate content". Google's spam detection runs on its own. Its page on reporting reviews admits it occasionally removes legitimate reviews by mistake, and says to contact Google support if that happens.

The rating-manipulation part of Google's content policy explains some of what the filter looks for, including "unusual volumes or patterns" of reviews. Google does not say what counts as unusual. A steady flow of reviews from every customer is closer to normal than a burst from one evening's event. The same policy bans asking only the customers you expect to be happy: it lists "selectively solicit positive reviews from customers" as fake engagement. Ask everyone the same way.

Some content gets a review removed even when the customer is real. Under advertising, the policy bans "posting email addresses, phone numbers, social media links, or links to other websites in your reviews", and under personal information it bans posting someone's details without consent. A glowing review that ends with the customer's phone number, or a link to their own business, is likely to go.

Be ready for a no. Google's missing-reviews page says reviews removed for policy violations will not be restored.

5. Was it written by someone close to the business?

Reviews from staff, former staff, family or business partners break Google's conflict-of-interest rule, and the policy removes them. If the missing reviews came from people you know, this is the likely cause. There is nothing to appeal.

6. Is your profile under a restriction?

If Google decides a business has broken its fake engagement policy, its help page on restrictions says it may stop the profile from receiving new reviews for a set period, unpublish its existing reviews for a set period, or show customers a warning that fake reviews were removed. Google says it emails the owner before it applies a restriction, and the owner can appeal.

So check the inbox of the account that owns your profile. A whole profile going quiet at once, with no new reviews for anyone, points here rather than at one customer's review. Our article on buying Google reviews covers what leads to a restriction.

7. Does your category get reviews at all?

Google's help page on managing reviews says reviews are available only in certain countries or regions and for certain business categories, and that this may change over time. The missing-reviews page gives one example: reviews and ratings were removed and switched off for profiles whose main category is a school for children aged 6 to 18. It also says Google may temporarily disable reviews for some profiles or categories to protect owners.

If your main category is wrong, for example a tutoring company filed as a school, changing the category is the fix Google suggests.

One thing you will not find: a switch to turn reviews on. Some guides describe a Reviews setting in the dashboard that enables them. Google's help pages describe no such setting for owners; whether a profile gets reviews depends on its country, region and category.

8. Was your profile suspended and then reinstated?

The missing-reviews page notes that reviews are sometimes removed after a profile is reinstated, and says to contact Google support if that happens. If your profile was suspended at any point, mention the dates when you write to them.

When should you contact Google support?

Contact support when the review is older than a week, sits on the right profile, the customer can still see it, and you have ruled out a restriction. Give them the reviewer's name as it appears on Google, the date and a link to your profile. Support is also the route for duplicate profiles and for reviews that vanished after a reinstatement. For a review that is there but should not be, see our guide on how to remove a Google review.

Where does Formgong fit?

Formgong does not connect to your Google profile, so it cannot see why a Google review is missing or bring one back. Two things it does can help around the edges. The free Google review link generator builds a link from your Place ID that opens the review box on your exact profile, which deals with the wrong-profile cause before it starts. And if you want reviews on your own website that you approve and display yourself, Formgong collects those separately; they never depend on Google's filters. The reviews docs explain how.

Which one was it for you?

If your missing review turned out to be something not on this list, write to support@formgong.com. We will check it against Google's help pages and add it.