Can I delete a Google review someone else wrote about my business?

No. You can only delete or edit a review you personally wrote. For a review someone else left about your business, your only option is to flag it and ask Google to remove it, and Google will only do that if the review violates its content policy.

How do I delete a review I left on Google?

Open Google Maps, tap your profile picture, go to Contributions, find the review under Reviews, and use the menu on it to edit or delete it. You can also manage your reviews from a desktop browser through your Google Maps contributions page while signed in.

If I can't delete someone else's review, what can I actually do?

Flag it through your Business Profile citing the specific policy it violates. That's a request for Google to review and potentially remove it, not something you control directly. Our step-by-step guide covers the full process.

Does deleting my own negative review about a business undo the damage?

If you left the review, deleting it removes it entirely and immediately, since it's your content. That's different from asking a platform to remove someone else's review, which depends on their decision, not yours.

Why do so many search results for 'delete a google review' talk about removing someone else's review?

Because most people searching that phrase are business owners dealing with a review about them, not reviewers managing their own post, even though "delete" technically only applies to your own content. Google's own interface reflects this: you edit or delete your own reviews, but you flag or report someone else's.

Can I ask friends or customers to flag a review to get it removed faster?

That's worth avoiding. Coordinated or inauthentic flagging can look like policy manipulation to Google and put your own Business Profile at risk, rather than help your case. A single, specific, well-documented flag from the business owner is a stronger approach than volume.

ReviewReclaim Guide

Can You Delete a Google Review? Here's What's Actually Possible

'Delete a Google review' hides two very different questions. Did you write the review and want to change or remove it, or did someone else write it about your business and you want it gone? Only the first one is actually a delete. Here's how to handle whichever situation you're in.

"Delete a Google review" gets searched by two very different people, and Google's own results usually blur them together. One is someone who wrote a review themselves and wants to take it down or change it, which really is a delete: their content, their control. The other is a business owner who got hit with a bad review from someone else and wants it gone, which is a removal request, not a delete: you're asking Google to act on content you don't own. The steps for each are completely different, so the first job here is figuring out which one you actually are.

If you wrote the review yourself

This is the genuinely straightforward case. Google gives you direct control over any review you've posted, and you don't need to flag anything or wait on a decision.

On mobile:open the Google Maps app, tap your profile picture in the top corner, go to "Your contributions," select Reviews, find the one you want to change, and use the menu on it to edit or delete.
On desktop: sign in to Google, go to Google Maps, open your contributions from your profile, find the review, and use the same edit or delete option.
Deleting is immediate.Once you delete your own review, it's removed from the listing right away; there's no approval process or waiting period, because it's your content and your decision.

If you'd rather correct or soften a review than remove it entirely, editing works the same way and lets you keep your star rating and text updated as your view of the experience changes.

If you can't find the review because it's old or you've forgotten which listing you reviewed, the "Your contributions" page lists every review, photo, and edit tied to your Google account in one place, so you don't need to search for the business again to locate it. If you're signed into the wrong Google account, or have more than one, double check which account you used to post the review; deleting only works from the account that originally posted it.

If someone else wrote the review about your business

This is where the word "delete" stops applying, even though it's almost certainly the phrase you searched. You cannot directly delete, edit, or otherwise control a review someone else posted about your business. What you can do is flag it and ask Google to review it against its content policy, and Google decides whether it comes down, not you.

That process, which reviews actually qualify, how to flag one correctly, realistic timelines, and what to do if Google declines, is covered in full in our step-by-step removal guide. If you suspect the reviewer was never actually a customer, our guide to spotting and removing fake reviews goes into the specific evidence Google responds to for that case.

Why the confusion happens in the first place

Google's own interface reinforces the split without explaining it: your own reviews come with literal "Edit" and "Delete" buttons, while every other review only has a flag or "Report" option. Most people searching "delete a bad google review" are business owners in the second situation, not the first, which is exactly why so much of the advice online (this guide included, in our other articles) is actually about flagging, not deleting. It's worth being precise about the distinction early, because it changes what's realistic to expect.

This also explains why a business owner can feel stuck: you can watch a damaging review sitting on your listing in full detail, know exactly who wrote it, and still have no direct way to make it disappear the way you could with your own post. That's not a gap in Google's design, it's intentional. Letting any business delete reviews about itself would make the entire review system meaningless, so the trade-off is a slower, policy-gated process instead of a delete button.

A quick decision tree

You wrote it, you want it gone or changed: use the edit or delete steps above. Done in minutes, no approval needed.
Someone else wrote it, and it's a genuine but harsh experience:it likely won't qualify for removal. Consider a calm, professional public reply instead.
Someone else wrote it, and you suspect it's fake or from a non-customer: see our fake review guide for how to build the evidence Google actually acts on.
Someone else wrote it, and you're weighing whether to pay for help: see our review removal service guide for what a paid service actually adds versus doing it yourself.
It's not just Google: our multi-platform guide covers Trustpilot, Glassdoor, Indeed, Facebook, TripAdvisor and Yelp alongside Google.

One thing not to do

Don't ask friends, employees, or customers to pile on and flag a review just to get it removed faster. Coordinated or inauthentic flagging can itself look like policy manipulation to Google, which puts your Business Profile at risk rather than helping your case. A single, specific, well-documented flag from the business owner is a far stronger approach than volume.

Where ReviewReclaim fits

If you wrote the review yourself, nothing here helps you, and nothing should, that's already fully in your control. If someone else did, ReviewReclaim watches Google, Trustpilot, Glassdoor, Indeed, Facebook and TripAdvisor, classifies each new review against the platform's actual policy, and files the specific case for you, rather than a generic flag. It doesn't change what Google will and won't remove, and nobody can honestly promise that it will.