Why Are My School’s Google Reviews Not Showing Up?
Apr 29, 2023Does this sound familiar? You ask a family to review you on Google and they happily agree. Yet when you check your Google Business Profile no reviews show up. You’re stuck with your out-of-date 2019 reviews.
This can be incredibly frustrating to school leaders because reviews - especially on your Google Business Profile- are one of the first things parents see when searching your school (or schools in your area) online.
As we’re working with schools and talking with colleagues about this issue, we’re finding out some interesting things about Google reviews for schools.
First, some schools are still able to post reviews. Others have had their reviews frozen since Covid and never had them reactivated.
Second, when we reached out to Google, they seemed unwilling to un-freeze reviews. In addition, some school leaders have been told that Google plans to phase out school reviews altogether. Here’s a great article on SchoolMint that talks more about this.
What can schools do if Google freezes school reviews permanently?
As disappointing as this is (and frankly a bit devastating to schools with negative reviews they can’t negate), there is still a bit of good news.
Several review sites feed into the Google Business Profile:
Why is this good news? It means that schools can ask parents to post reviews on these sites and those positive reviews will load into your school’s Google Business Profile.
This still leaves a lot of problems for schools though. If Google keeps reviews frozen then some schools will have an unfair advantage because they will show up clearly in the Google three-pack listing (you know, that listing you get when you search “restaurant near you” and you see the top three restaurants along with their star reviews?).
But nothing with Google is certain. Just like when they turned off reviews for schools during Covid with no warning, Google isn’t the best about communicating their intentions.
Stay tuned for an episode about this topic on the Mindful School Marketing podcast
If you're in need of extra marketing strategy & development support, retention & enrollment help, or just someone to see the big picture and evaluate what you're lacking right now, we are here to help. Use this link to learn more and see if it's a good fit! http://www.easyschoolmarketing.com/work
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