The big Google review count bug, that we first reported on Friday and that later Google confirmed on Monday afternoon, is now being fixed. We can now see review counts climbing again and many small business owners and local SEOs are reporting improvements.
Initially, many thought Google had a bug where tons of reviews were disappearing. It turned out that the reviews didn't go anywhere, but the review count showed a lower number than what was really appearing.
When I look at my company's Google Business Profile, I can see that yesterday, I had 59 reviews and now it is showing 62 reviews. So the count is now improving and going in the right direction:
Also, many small businesses and local SEOs are starting to also see their reviews start to come back. Here are some comments from a large thread in the Google Business Profile Forums:
The issue has been resolved for us and our review count is (nearly) back to where it was.
I got back 11 out of the 30 on the tally count
Finally, a slow trickle on the up! About 1-2 added every few minutes.
Yes, I got a few back but not all of them. Hopefully they will all be back by tomorrow.
Hello Everyone. They are starting count it back. At every few minutes they show up 2 or 3 reviews back !
We got some count back, but not to original number yet. Things looking up :)
So give it a bit more time and hopefully within the next day or so, all your reviews will be accurately counted by Google.
As a reminder, Victoria Kroll from Google posted a statement in the Google Business Profiles Forum saying:
We’re aware of an issue affecting some Google Business Profiles, causing some profiles to show lower-than-actual review counts due to a display issue. The reviews themselves have not actually been removed. We’re working hard to resolve this and restore accurate review counts as quickly as possible. We appreciate your patience and will share updates on this thread as they become available.Before reporting missing reviews, please note that there are several reasons why reviews may be removed from maps. Usually, missing reviews are removed for policy violations like spam or inappropriate content. Read more about our Review policy guidelines here before proceeding. You can also refer to the Help Center Article for more information.
Forum discussion at Google Business Profile Forums.
