Emma,

Here are some personal answers:

"Is there a way to get rid of bad google places reviews" - nop, the only thing that could be done is to report them as inappropriate but this works in less than 1% of the cases + as you state the reviews seem to be real and appropriate, so this would not really work

"they should run some kind of promotion and ask for reviews on google places?" - good idea, but I'd suggest not to focus simply on Google Places, as urbanspoon, truelocal, menulog, menufeast would also be a good choice for an Australia-based business. Of course Google reviews would be very important, but from holistic reputation management POV the others I mentioned + a few more could also be valuable.

"they need some kind of process in place to receive complaints as opposed to the customers just posted on google places" - also true, easier feedback opportunities would work great, either in the restaurant itself (surveys, complaint book, etc), or on their website (feedback form, survey form, etc)

In addition to the these, I'd recommend that appropriate answers are being given to all the negative reviews. Facing the problem and trying to resolve it, while showing concern publicly is a great way to deal with the possible negative impact.

Cheers,
Nyagoslav

HI Emma

First of all you want to find out if the business actually knows they have bad reviews on Google, then offer to help them get pushed down onto the second page where most people wouldn't look.

I agree with rbrShorty that you should get reviews on the other sites he mentioned but as the maps listing is normally the first thing they see it's important to sort that out first.

I would advise the shop owner to ask for reviews by giving out review cards maybe offering some sort of intensive to fill the reviews in and place in a box.

This will do two things..

1. The shop owner will get an idea of where he is going wrong and be able to rectify them

2. He will have good reviews from real people you could post to Google using different user accounts.

Keith

First thing I'd look at is the owners attitude towards the negative reviews. I'd also look at WHY the reviews are negative and can the business make changes to address and fix the reason for the reviews.

If the owner is unwilling or doesn't care then don't bother as you'll never prevent negative reviews from showing up on Google, and you'd have to ask yourself if you want to be associated with a business who doesn't care. Some do, some don't believe it or not.

For example Google Maps there are a few things you can do:
1. Report the review as inappropriate it if is
2. Click on the reviewers user name to see if their is a pattern of negative reviews only and if so report the user
3. If it is a genuine bad review report the review as not helpful and have the business owner respond directly to the review as soon as possible
4. After the business owner has responded find a way to get more positive reviews

My company provides an application that automatically emails them every time someone posts a review for rapid response and these are the steps we encourage them to take.

The same principle works with just about any review website.

Its a bad idea to "bribe" people to give reviews. They should come naturally. A company with bad reviews who suddenly gets great reviews will throw up a flag and a sudden increase in the number of reviews will also.

You may get lucky and the owner doesn't have a clue what is online and hires you on the spot. If so you can utilize some of the great recommendations given here.

Bottom line: The way to get rid of a bad review is with about 10 good ones.

SpankinNewbie

I agree with Russ that gauging the company's attitude/response to bad reviews is important.

I know you're asking for feedback on if fixing it is even possible, but if you decide to set up a business around it then keep that in the back of your mind and incorporate how to deal with that in your business plan. I watch a lot of Gordon Ramsey's Kitchen Nightmares and half the time when the restaurant owner is confronted with a slew of bad reviews on Yelp/google places/citysearch/urban spoon, etc, instead of seeing it as an opportunity to change/get better, they think it's people out to get them and don't see it as important or don't understand that people actually read those, so educating them should be part of your strategy as well.

(check you tube for the Kitchen Nightmares Burger Kitchen episode for a great owner in denial YouTube - Broadcast Yourself.)

Also, just as an aside, most restaurants with lots of bad reviews are usually on their way out and not being run well and may not have the money to hire you for your services - so that is also something else to consider.

I actually run a service/interface which gets the clients good reviews on Google Places, Trip Advisor and any other sites (all legitimate) without the need for bribery or faking reviews. It covers up bad reviews, improves rankings and my clients are happy.

Best of all, depending on the client, I can get up to $1k/month from each client. Small clients get charged much less for obvious reasons.

I half considered coaching a small number of people the creation of these systems but I'm on the fence...

Many owners don't understand what these bad reviews do until you give them a free trial which brings in good reviews and they go :O
Older business owners (the ones who think the internet is some kind of voodoo) are the hardest to persuade but they soon come to their senses. Places like hotels and restaurants always have people checking reviews. I don't stay or eat anywhere without checking reviews - a couple of bad reviews and they've lost my business.

not sure about getting them removed...but you can always ask customers to leave good reviews

Tee

One of the businesses I own is a florist and a large percentage of my orders come from people saying that we have the best Google reviews in the city. I just wish I could figure out a way to solicit more reviews and make it easy for my customers to leave those reviews. Anyone have any ideas on that?

Why not create such an outstanding experience for the customer that they actually "think" to leave a review all on their own.

u cannot have them removed unless they decide the comment is abusive etc... but u can have ur customers leave good ones or better yet hire someone from sites like fiverr to leave positive one for you

[DELETED]

customers leaving bad reviews want to be heard and validated. If you don't catch them early or give them an opportunity to vent, they'll do it online somewhere.

Biz owners should really encourage feedback on the spot or make it really easy for customers to give anonymous feedback direct to the establishment rather than 3rd party sites.

Biz owners should also be happy for negative feedback so they have an oppty to fix things. Most people don't say a word and just never come back, as well as tell 10 friends about their bad experience.

An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, applies here.

Make it easy and anonymous for your customers to complain to YOU and not on 3rd party sites.