Since 2021 we’ve removed over 1,820 reviews for Swiss businesses. Three cases show how we work, including one where deletion was the wrong strategy.

Case 1: Coordinated fake-review attack on a hair salon

Situation. A hair salon received twelve 1-star reviews within four weeks, all from profiles with no photo, no other reviews, and strikingly similar wording. The suspicion: a direct competitor.

Approach. We documented all twelve profiles: creation patterns, review history, language quirks, tight time clustering. The report went to Google as a spam pattern with full evidence, in English, referencing the exact policy section.

Result. All twelve reviews were removed within nine days. The salon has been under monitoring ever since, so a repeat attack gets flagged immediately.

Case 2: The review we didn’t remove

Situation. A dental practice in Lausanne wanted a harsh review gone: “Over an hour of waiting despite an appointment, disrespectful.”

Approach. Our audit was clear: that’s a legitimate opinion about a real experience, none of Google’s eight policies apply. We declined the removal and set up a response strategy instead: a short, factual reply to the review plus consistently asking satisfied patients for reviews.

Result. Three months later the practice stood at 4.6 stars, the weak review drowned in the volume. Honesty is part of the job: if a review can’t be removed, we say so before the engagement, not after.

Case 3: Rejected report, removed in 4 days on the second attempt

Situation. After a voting weekend, a restaurant collected several off-topic reviews: political opinions in the review field with no connection to any visit. The owner’s first report, eight sentences of reasoning in German, was rejected.

Approach. We resubmitted: three sentences in English, explicitly referencing the off-topic policy (“review discusses a political topic unrelated to the dining experience”).

Result. Removed in four days. That lesson is baked into every request we file today: English, concise, referencing the specific policy section.

What does this mean for your profile?

Every case starts the same way: with an audit of your 1-2-star reviews against Google’s eight policies. On a typical profile with 80 reviews we find 4-7 with real removal potential on average.