Everything we know, published for free. Written by Jeremy Gray for business owners who want to understand what is happening with their online reputation - and what can be done about it.
How Google reviews work, what violates their policies, and how to manage your rating.
Not every negative review can be removed - but many can. A practitioner's guide to Google's review policies, the flagging process, and when to escalate.
Fake reviews and competitor-placed reviews violate Google's policies. How to identify them, document the evidence, and submit an effective challenge.
Your response to a negative review is visible to every potential customer. The right approach turns a negative into a demonstration of professionalism.
A clear breakdown of Google's review policies. What actually qualifies for removal, what does not, and the grey areas where platform decisions can go either way.
A higher rating does not happen by accident. How to build a review capture system that generates consistent, genuine reviews from satisfied customers.
Suspensions, verification, optimisation, and everything that affects your visibility on Google.
A suspended listing means your business is invisible on Google. What causes suspension, how the appeal process works, and what to do if your first appeal fails.
Verification methods, common problems, and what to do when the standard process does not work. Covers postcard, phone, email, and video verification.
Categories, attributes, photos, posts, Q&A - every element of your profile that affects where you appear in local search results and how compelling your listing looks.
Platform-specific guides for the two most important review platforms outside Google.
Trustpilot has its own review policies and its own challenge process. How to identify violations, submit an effective challenge, and what to expect from the process.
TripAdvisor remains critical for New Zealand tourism operators. How the management centre works, how to respond effectively, and how to build your ranking.
Every platform has policies, but how they apply those policies varies. What actually gets removed, what does not, and why the same type of review gets different outcomes on different platforms.
What to do when something has gone wrong and the situation is escalating.
A coordinated attack on your reviews requires a structured response. How to identify a review bomb, document the evidence, and challenge the reviews systematically.
Reddit threads can surface in branded search results and influence potential customers. How Reddit works, what you can and cannot do, and the response framework that de-escalates.
A single unhappy customer on social media can escalate quickly. The triage process, the response framework, and how to de-escalate without making it worse.
When negative content appears in your branded search results, it shapes every potential customer's first impression. What can be addressed, what cannot, and the strategies that work.
Building your rating proactively through genuine reviews from real customers.
Most satisfied customers never leave a review unless prompted. The timing, the channel, and the phrasing that turn happy customers into public advocates.
Builders, electricians, plumbers, and landscapers live and die by their Google rating. A practical system for capturing reviews consistently, designed for how trades businesses actually work.
Understanding the psychology changes the approach. Why negative experiences produce reviews more readily than positive ones, and how to close the gap.
A 4.8 rating from two years ago tells a different story than a 4.6 rating with reviews from last week. How review recency and velocity affect visibility and trust.
Reputation management tailored to specific New Zealand industries.
Google reviews, NoCowboys, Builderscrack - the platforms that matter for trades, the problems that come up most often, and the systems that work.
Google, TripAdvisor, Facebook, and the food bloggers. How hospitality businesses manage reviews across multiple platforms where every customer has an opinion.
TripAdvisor rankings, Google reviews, booking platform ratings - the reputation ecosystem for New Zealand tourism and how to manage it effectively.
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