Google has a new reporting option for reviews in Google Business Profiles and Google Local. This one is called “Report owner response.” It lets you tell Google if an owner response to a review is off-topic, contains profanity, is harassing, discriminatory, hateful, or includes personal information.
This allows users on Google to report responses left by the business owner, if they feel the response has issues.
This was spotted by Vinay Toshniwal who posted on LinkedIn and later Amy Toman who also posted on LinkedIn – here are screenshots:
And here is the form you submit after you report the owner response:
The options include:
- Off topic: Owner response doesn’t pertain to an experience at or with this business
- Profanity: Owner response contains swear words, has sexually explicit language, or details graphic violence
- Bullying or harassment: Owner response personally attacks a specific individual
- Discrimination or hate speech: Owner response has harmful language about an individual or group based on identity
- Personal information: Owner response contains personal information, such as an address or phone number
You can also report legal issues with the response, if you need to.
Amy Toman wrote, “I’m so happy about this, because recently there have been a number of responses that were less-than-professional. Over the years, I’ve seen questionable responses ranging from comments about people’s appearance to bank account details (yes!), both of which had to be addressed on the forum. I’m so glad they’ve addressed this. “
Forum discussion at LinkedIn.
