Google has updated the Google Business Profiles Get Reviews help document to explicitly say that having a mix of positive and negative reviews are more trustworthy, than I guess just all positive reviews. Joy Hawkins spotted this and posted on Twitter saying "I know countless studies have shown this but it's nice to see Google acknowledge it too."
Here is the new line that was added to the document:
"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."
The Wayback Machine does not have that line in the October snapshot of that web page.
Google is saying it values "all reviews" both positive and negative. In fact, it is going as far as saying if there is a weird or unnatural level of positive versus negative reviews, Google might not deem it trusted?
So maybe having some negative reviews sprinkled in, isn't so bad - despite it maybe hurting the owners ego?
Forum discussion at Twitter.
