Google has added a section to its Business Profile help page saying that all reviews, positive and negative, are valued. It says reviews are useful for potential customers and a variety builds trust.
“Value all reviews: Reviews are useful for potential customers when they’re honest and objective. Customers find a mix of positive and negative reviews more trustworthy. You can always respond to a review to show the customers that you care and provide additional context. If the review doesn't follow our posting guidelines, you can request to remove it.”
We know Google takes reviews into account and a negative one can cause anxiety about the possible effect on rankings. This addition should alleviate some of the concern.
Things can go wrong for any business and the mark of a good organisation is how it handles complaints. A prompt response and solution where possible goes a long way to build trust and confidence with those potential customers considering your business. (See our blog post on How to handle negative complaints).
This is something most businesses know anyway, but it’s helpful to see Google acknowledging this in its documentation.
