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Google had this really visible bug over the past week, where the number of reviews shown on a Google Business Profile, was showing fewer reviews than it should have. In short, Google was not adding up the reviews accurately but no reviews were actually removed from the business listing.

That being said, Google posted an update that it has resolved the bulk of the issues but there still may be some that are not fully restored yet. The remaining reviews count should be fixed within the coming days, Google said.

What Google said. Victoria Kroll from Google posted an updated statement last night in the forums saying:

Most affected profiles now display accurate ratings and reviews. However, while we have made significant progress, some profiles may still experience a temporary lower count. These profiles should recover to pre-issue levels over the next few days. No reviews were unpublished due to this issue. If your review count does not return to the level it was before this issue in the next few days, please contact support.

What to do next. If you notice your review count is not back to normal but Tuesday of next week, then it may be time to reach out to support. You can reach out to support over here, either in the forums or by the contact us options in the footer of that page.

More details. On Friday, I reported on the issue on the Search Engine Roundtable, not knowing if it was a bug or a feature. I noticed dozens and dozens of complaint threads popping up in the Google Business Profiles forums from concerned small businesses and local SEOs. Google began rolling out a fix for this issue this past Tuesday.

Many businesses were concerned that their hard earned reviews were gone forever. But it was just a review count issue and the reviews were still showing on their profiles.

Why we care. Reviews are an important part of your businesses online reputation and can lead to you getting a visit or phone call, or not. So having positive reviews is important.

Losing those reviews caused a lot of concern and stress for small businesses and the local SEOs who service them.

Google has fixed most of them and will continue to work to restore the rest by the weekend.

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