Google Play removed your app's ratings & reviews? Remember these tips!

Everyone knows the importance of ratings and reviews of an app. According to our data, about 77% of people will read at least one review before downloading an app or a game, and 100% of users browsing the stores who discover an app will see the average rating.

We've also discussed how to use reviews and ratings to attract more users to your app: How to Use Rating and Reviews as An App User Acquisition Method 

But recently, a number of people have fed back that their app's ratings and reviews have been deleted by Google Play. Have you encountered this problem? What could be the cause of this? How should you solve it?

Common reasons why Google removes your reviews and ratings

Goole Play has its own policies for ratings and reviews, and we've collected Google's latest policies below. Reviews that violate these policies will be removed, and anyone who violates them repeatedly or egregiously may lose the ability to post reviews on Google Play.

Spam and fake reviews

Your reviews should reflect the experience you've had with the content or service you're reviewing.

• Don't post fake or inaccurate reviews.
• Don't post the same review multiple times.
• Don't post reviews for the same content from multiple accounts.
• Don't post reviews to mislead other users or manipulate the rating.
• Don't post reviews on behalf of others.
• Don't misrepresent your identity or your connection to the content you're reviewing.

Off-topic reviews

Keep reviews on-topic and relevant to the content, service, or experience you're reviewing.

• Don't post solicitations, political or social commentary, or anything else that is irrelevant to the content, service, or core of the consumer experience you're reviewing.

Advertising

We want reviews to be useful, and they aren't useful if they're promoting something other than the content or service you're reviewing.

• Don't post promotional or commercial content for any products or services, including affiliate or referral-based promotions.
• Don't post phone numbers, email addresses, or links to other websites.

Conflict of interest

Reviews are most valuable when they're genuine and unbiased. They should be written by people who aren't motivated by financial gain.

• Don't offer or accept money, products, or services in exchange for posting reviews.
• Don't review content, services, or experiences if you own or work for the business that created it.

Copyrighted content

Reviews should be your own and reflect your personal opinions.

●Don't post reviews that infringe on the intellectual property rights of others, including copyright.

Personal and confidential information

Reviews are meant to share experiences, and you can express the way you feel about something without revealing sensitive personal information.

• Don't post personal or confidential information, such as a physical address or driver's license number.

Illegal content

Your reviews must comply with the law and any terms or legal agreements you have agreed to.

• Don't post reviews that contain or link to illegal content.

Sexually explicit content

Google Play is intended for a broad audience, and reviews should reflect that.

• Don't post reviews that contain, promote, or solicit sexually explicit content.
• Don't post reviews that depict children in sexual situations or address them in a sexual manner.

Hate speech

Google Play is intended for all people, and reviews should reflect that.

• Don't promote violence, condone violence, or incite hatred toward an individual or group based on their race, nationality, ethnic origin, religion, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, disability, veteran status, or any other characteristic that is associated with systemic discrimination or marginalization.

Offensive reviews

Google Play is meant to entertain and inform, not attack and offend.

• Don't post obscene, profane, or offensive language.
• Don't post reviews that harass, bully, or attack others.

Solutions for deleted comments and ratings

If your app's reviews and ratings are deleted by Google Play, there could be several reasons for it, such as policy violations or spam detection. In such cases, you should take the following steps:

• Review the Google Play Developer Policy and ensure that your app complies with all the policies. If you find any violations, fix them immediately.
• Contact Google Play support and ask them for the specific reason why your app's reviews and ratings were deleted. This will help you identify the problem and take appropriate action.
• If your app was removed for violating Google Play policies, take corrective action as soon as possible and submit an appeal to have your app reinstated.
• Encourage your users to leave new reviews and ratings for your app on Google Play. You can do this by sending push notifications or running promotional campaigns to incentivize users to leave reviews.
• Make sure that you are providing a high-quality app experience for your users, and responding promptly to any negative feedback. This will help to improve your app's reputation and increase the likelihood of positive reviews and ratings in the future.

Remember that maintaining a high rating and positive reviews is crucial to the success of your app, so it's important to take action as soon as possible if your app's reviews and ratings are deleted.

What should you do to prevent reviews and ratings from being deleted?

If your app's reviews and ratings are still in normal condition, then congratulations! But you can't be careless! keep the following points in mind in case you encounter this problem.

• Keep your installation to comment ratio. Usually one comment in fifty installs is good enough. So to prevent your reviews from being deleted, you need to maintain a certain ratio of installs to reviews. Generally speaking, 1:50 for new apps and 1:20 for mature apps.
• Focus on your app's user experience. You need to always put your users first, answer every negative review about it, and take action to improve your app and user experience.
• Pay attention to the source of the reviews. You need to pay attention to whether your app is doing a competent localization job.
• Monitor your app's reviews and ratings and address all kinds of feedback in a timely manner.

For the last point, you can use Appranking as a tool to monitor the reviews and ratings of your app in real time. Of course, it's a powerful smart platform for app promotion, and you're free to explore its features! Try it now!