The Filter Update Playbook

When the wave hits your market

Filter updates arrive without announcement. The first sign is usually a competitor's cliff, or a thread in a trade forum. When you hear about one, audit your own profile the same day: count, recency, and any missing reviews.

Do nothing rash. Most honest profiles lose zero reviews in a wave. The panicked move — replacing anything that vanished — is how clean profiles become dirty ones.

If you lose real reviews

Verify the missing reviews came from actual customers, gather simple evidence — a receipt, an appointment record, a dated exchange — and appeal through your Business Profile. Appeals with documentation resolve in days; appeals without them join a long queue.

If the reviews were purchased, the wave did you a favor it charged you for. Stop the practice before the next pass; the penalties compound.

Keep reading

• retention data
• velocity safety
• FAQ

Further reading from the sources cited above: Online reputation overview and FTC on fake reviews and deceptive endorsements and Word of mouth.