"Vanishing Act" - What's Really Behind Your Dental Practice's Disappearing Google Reviews

Are your Google reviews disappearing — and do you know why?

In this episode of the Dental Marketing Mix, DentalScapes co-founder Dan Brian breaks down one of the most urgent issues affecting dental practices right now. Starting in early 2026, practices across the country began losing reviews overnight — not suspicious one-star reviews, but legitimate five-star reviews they had worked hard to earn. Dan explains what's actually driving the removals, why Google's AI moderation is now retroactively re-evaluating reviews posted years ago, and what patterns are triggering the system without practice owners even realizing it.

He also walks through Google's updated solicitation policies in plain terms — including the surprisingly common practice of review gating, which many front desk workflows and third-party software platforms are still facilitating in violation of the new rules. And he lays out exactly what a compliant, sustainable review program looks like going forward.

If your practice relies on Google reviews for new patient visibility — and it should — this episode will help you understand what's changed, what's at risk, and what to do about it.

Full show notes: https://www.dentalscapes.com/vanishing-act-whats-really-behind-your-dental-practices-disappearing-google-reviews/

Ready to find out if your review strategy holds up? Book a free strategy call with DentalScapes at https://dentalscapes.com/start — we'll take a look at where you stand and what needs to change.

Transcript

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Welcome back to the Dental Marketing Mix. I'm Dan Brian co-founder of Dentalscapes, and this is the show where we dig into real online marketing strategies for dental practice owners. No fluff, no theory, just the stuff that actually moves the needle for your practice. Today I want to talk about something that is actively affecting dental practices right now, and if it hasn't hit your practice yet, it very well might. We're talking about Google reviews, specifically why they're disappearing at record rates. what's driving it, and exactly what you need to do differently starting today. So here's the question I want you to sit with. What if the review strategy that your front desk has been running for the past two years is now working against you? It's not a hypothetical. For a lot of practices, that's the reality right now. Starting in late January and accelerating through February of this year, practices across the country started noticing their review counts dropping, sometimes overnight with no warning and no explanation from Google. Industry experts have documented thousands of businesses affected, and dental and medical practices are specifically called out as one of the categories seeing a disproportionate share of removals. We're not talking about one-star reviews getting flagged. We are talking about five-star reviews, reviews that you've earned, just gone. Around the same time, Google quietly updated the review policy section of their Google Business Profile guidelines, tightening the rules around how reviews can be solicited. No big announcement, they just changed the policy. Now, some of what happened is a technical glitch that Google is still working through, but a significant portion of its Google AI-powered moderation is getting smarter and retroactively reevaluating reviews posted months or even years ago. If those older reviews now match patterns the algorithm flags as suspicious, they get pulled. A genuine five-star review your patient left in 2023 can disappear in 2026. It's as simple as that. So what is Google flag as suspicious? Well, a few things. Sudden surges. If your practice averages five reviews a month and then gets 40 in two weeks, that volume spike looks like coordinated behavior, regardless of whether those patients are real. Thin reviewer profiles. Google looks at the person leaving the review, and if a high percentage of your reviewers have little other activity on Google, that's a signal. And shared device patterns. If you've had a tablet at your front desk where patients leave reviews on the spot, you may have inadvertently sent multiple reviews from the same IP address which looks like one entity gaming the system. Here's why this matters, beyond the obvious. Reviews aren't just a social proof tool. They're a direct ranking signal in local search. When Google decides which dental practice to show someone searching for dentist near me, the quantity, recency, and consistency of your reviews factors into that decision. When you lose reviews, you're not just losing stars. You're potentially losing ground in local rankings, which means losing visibility, which means losing new patient inquiries. And we all know what that means. And velocity matters. Google rewards practices that consistently generate reviews over time, not practices that just had a lot of reviews two years ago. A steady, ongoing review program isn't just good for reputation management, it's good for your long-term SEO health. So let's talk about what you can and can't do under Google's updated policies, because there's real confusion in the market right now. You cannot offer any incentive in exchange for a review. No discounts, no gift cards, nothing tied to the ask. The incentive itself is the violation, regardless of whether you're asking for a positive review or just any review. You cannot practice review gating. This is one of the most common mistakes I see, and a lot of practices don't even realize they're doing it. Review gating is when you pre-screen patients, routing happy patients to Google and unhappy ones to an internal feedback form. It seems like smart reputation management, and until recently, a lot of software platforms were built to do exactly this. But Google's updated policy now explicitly prohibits selectively soliciting positive reviews. Every patient needs the same opportunity to leave a review, regardless of how you think their experience went. Also, you cannot pressure patients to leave a review while they're still in the office, and you cannot coach them on what to write. The review has to reflect a genuine, unprompted experience in their own words. Now on the flip side, here's what you can and should be doing. Ask every patient, not just the ones you think are happy. The ask itself is completely fine. Google even provides free marketing materials to help you do this. Send the request after they left by email or text a few hours to a day or two after their appointment. Keep it simple, keep it warm, and include a direct link to your Google review page. Respond to every review you receive, positive and negative. This signals to prospective patients that you're engaged, and it creates a time stamped record of real engagement that works in your favor if you ever need to appeal a removal. And monitor your profile regularly. Check your review count at least weekly. If you notice a sudden drop, document it. Screenshots, dates, they all count. You can submit an appeal through the Google Business Profile Help Center, though reinstatement isn't guaranteed. But this is the bigger principle I want to leave you with today. The practices that weather these Google changes, and there will be more, are the ones that have built a consistent, policy-compliant review program. Not burst campaigns, not batch blasts, consistent asks, every patient, every time, through a clean process. Eight to 15 reviews a month, month after month, looks legitimate because it is legitimate. That's the signal Google trusts, and it's what earns you ranking stability over the long term. Reviews are one of the most powerful tools you have for local search visibility and new patient conversion. And right now, they're one of the most actively scrutinized parts of your online presence. Build the right program, and it becomes a durable asset. Take shortcuts, and you're always one algorithm update away from losing ground. If you want help building a review process that's sustainable and compliant, or you're just not sure whether what you're doing now holds up, head to dentalscapes.com slash start and schedule a free strategy call. We'll take a look at where you stand and what might need to change. Thanks for listening to the Dental Marketing Mix, and I'll see you next episode.