You get a notification, open your profile, and there's a review from "A Google User". No photo, no name, no review history. Just a rating and, if you're lucky, a sentence.

The instinctive reaction is that it must be fake. Sometimes it is. Usually it isn't. Here's how to tell the difference and what to write.

What "A Google User" actually means

Google hasn't allowed genuinely anonymous reviews for years — an account with a name is required to post. So when you see "A Google User," one of these has happened:

The account was deleted. This is by far the most common explanation. The person closed their Google account, or Google removed it, and their old reviews remain with the name stripped out.
The account has no display name set — unusual, but it happens with accounts created through certain flows.
A display or caching quirk. Occasionally the name simply fails to load and appears correctly later.

There is also the near-anonymous case: a real name field containing "J" or "K M" with no photo and no other reviews. That's a real account belonging to someone who values their privacy — treat it as a normal review.

Is it fake?

A missing name is not, by itself, evidence of anything. Plenty of genuine customers delete Google accounts. Judge by the content, not the avatar.

Signals that a review is likely genuine:

Specific details — a dish, a date, a service, a room number
A complaint that matches something you already know went wrong
Mixed feedback, praising one thing and criticising another
Natural, slightly untidy writing

Signals worth investigating:

Generic accusations with no detail at all ("terrible service, avoid")
Language that doesn't match your business type or location
Several similar anonymous reviews arriving within a short window
Claims about services you don't offer, or a location you don't operate in

If you land in the second list, report it. The evidence you need and the exact steps are in how to remove a fake Google review. But be honest with yourself first — "this criticism is unfair" is not the same as "this review is fake," and Google can tell the difference even when we'd rather it couldn't.

Can you get anonymous reviews removed just for being anonymous?

No. There is no policy against a review from a deleted account, and "we can't identify this customer" is not grounds for removal. Requests on that basis are routinely rejected.

How to reply

The rules are the same as any review, with one addition: you cannot use their name, so warmth has to come from the writing itself.

And one thing to avoid absolutely: never mention that they are anonymous. Not "we have no record of a customer by this name," not "anonymous reviews are difficult for us to investigate." It reads as an attempt to discredit the reviewer, and every future reader picks up on it instantly.

Anonymous negative review, some detail given

Thank you for taking the time to tell us. A [specific issue mentioned] isn't the experience we want anyone to have, and I'm sorry. I'd like to put it right — please email me directly at [email]. — [Name], Owner

Anonymous negative review, no detail

I'm sorry to see this. Without more information I'm not sure what went wrong, but I'd genuinely like to know so we can fix it. [email] reaches me directly, and I read everything myself.

Anonymous positive review

Thank you — really glad you enjoyed it. Whoever you are, we appreciate you taking the time. Hope to see you again.

When you strongly suspect it's fake

Thank you for the feedback. We don't have any record of the situation described, but if we've got something wrong I want to know about it — please contact me at [email] and I'll look into it straight away.

That last one is worth reading twice. It notes, factually and without accusation, that the account doesn't match anything you know — and then offers to help anyway. A reader who suspects the review is fake gets confirmation. A reader who believes it sees a business acting in good faith. You win either way, and you haven't called anyone a liar.

Why replying to anonymous reviews still matters

Owners often decide anonymous reviews aren't worth answering. "They're gone, they'll never see it."

True, and irrelevant. You're not writing to them. You're writing to the person comparing you to a competitor tomorrow morning, who sees an unanswered complaint and assumes the worst.

An unanswered review is the only kind that does full damage. The reply is for the audience, not the author.

If anonymous reviews keep arriving

A steady stream of anonymous negative reviews with vague content is worth investigating properly. Check whether they cluster around a particular date, whether they describe things you don't do, and whether a competitor started ranking near you around the same time. The approach is covered in what to do when a competitor buys fake reviews.

Meanwhile, the strongest response to reviews you can't verify is volume you can. A profile with a steady flow of detailed, named reviews makes the occasional vague anonymous one look exactly like what it is.

Reploi answers every review — named or not — in your voice, within minutes. Start free — 5 replies/month →

How to Respond to Anonymous Google Reviews ("A Google User")