Google Local Reviews Being Published After Being Held

There are reports from some local SEOs that Google is pushing out previously held reviews in Google Maps. Some are seeing dozens, if not over a hundred reviews being posted to local business profiles in Google Maps, some dating back a year or more.

Amy Toman posted about this first on Twitter saying “Went to sleep with 101 GBP reviews, woke up with 107. Yes, it’s going to be a good day.” She even used a Lucille Ball GIF, that is big time:

Went to sleep with 101 GBP reviews, woke up with 107. Yes, it’s going to be a good day. pic.twitter.com/tQf4jfuzt4

— Amy Toman 🏖😎 (@BubblesUp) October 11, 2022

Jason Brown also posted about this in the Local Search Forums where others are noticing this as well. Here is what some said in that thread:

I saw this tweet from @Amy Toman and when I looked at her business profile it turns out these were not new reviews but older reviews that were published. The newest one was posted 3 days ago and the oldest one was posted a year ago. Amy stated she received an email for one review that was posted 10 months ago but nothing for the other 5. She only noticed them when she click on the “haven’t replied,” tab.

I am seeing this on 1 client GBP that was having old reviews hidden suddenly over the past few months. they went from 390+ down to 380 and back to 390 recently with no intervention from me.

I just saw another business go from 154 reviews to 169 reviews. None of them are new.

It seems the email notifications of these reviews are somewhat delayed. I believe I even saw some for my business over the holiday but I do not track my reviews too closely (I know, I should).

Forum discussion at Local Search Forums.