Can you stop or turn off Google reviews?

No. A Google Business Profile has no setting that turns reviews off, and no business can stop a customer from posting one. Google’s Manage customer reviews page gives an owner two tools: reply to a review, or flag it when it breaks Google’s content policies. Google alone decides which countries and business categories get reviews.

Google stops new reviews on a profile only when Google acts. Its Business Profile restrictions page says a business that breaks the Fake engagement policy can lose new reviews for a set period and show a warning that fake reviews were removed. That is a penalty, not a setting. On 16 April 2026 Google announced that after a sudden spike in spam reviews it removes the fake ones, pauses new reviews, alerts the owner and shows customers a banner. Will Google remove fake reviews covers what Google catches on its own.

Bad reviews often arrive together. In TrustReviews data from 15 March to 4 October 2026, 464 of 1,304 new 1 and 2 star reviews (36%) landed within 48 hours of another on the same profile. The 406 profiles belong to businesses that came to a removal company, and busy profiles get more reviews close together anyway. Reviewers who hit several businesses were rare: of 21,500 negative reviewers, 12 reviewed more than one of our clients. If someone asks for money to stop the reviews, do not pay. Report it on Google’s extortion form and read our review extortion guide.

What you can control is how soon a bad review is reported. Review monitoring reads each connected Google profile about once a day and sends one daily email that lists new 1 and 2 star reviews. Reply “yes” and your account manager confirms the price before anything is filed. The Review Auto-filer covers the profiles connected when you turn it on and reads each one about every 6 to 7 hours. It files every new review of 2 stars or below from the last 14 days, up to a monthly limit you set from 1 to 30 paid removals. It files only recent reviews because newer reviews are easier to get removed than old ones.

Filing does not decide the outcome. Google reviews each report under its own policy, and a review that does not break the policy usually stays up. You pay for the ones that come down. For an honest bad review, your public reply is the tool you have: see how to respond to negative reviews.