Short answer
A financial advisor can get a Google or Yelp review taken down when the review breaks that platform's published content policy. Reputation Medics files the case for $397 per Google review and $697 per Yelp review. Pay upfront. If the specific Google review is not removed within 30 days of payment, or a Yelp review or other-platform item is not removed within 90 days of payment, we refund the removal fee to your original payment method. No claim or form needed. We review and issue it within 5 business days. Pay upon removal: save a card, pay $0 today, and pay $50 more per item only once each removal is documented. No refund term applies because nothing is charged before removal.
Yes, when the review breaks a published platform policy. A truthful account from a real customer stays up, however harsh it reads. Google, Yelp, and the sites we file with make the final removal decision. For upfront payments, what we guarantee is the refund of the removal fee, reviewed and issued by us, if the item remains live past the applicable 30-day or 90-day deadline.
$397 per Google review, $697 per Yelp review, and $497 per harmful link on another site. One price per item, no retainer. Pay upfront. If the specific Google review is not removed within 30 days of payment, or a Yelp review or other-platform item is not removed within 90 days of payment, we refund the removal fee to your original payment method. No claim or form needed. We review and issue it within 5 business days. Pay upon removal: save a card, pay $0 today, and pay $50 more per item only once each removal is documented. No refund term applies because nothing is charged before removal.
Reviews that map to a published policy: a reviewer who was never a customer, a competitor or former employee, off-topic content, private details about staff, prohibited language, or specific factual claims your records contradict.
Most Google removals: 7–21 days. Yelp and other platforms: typically 60–90 days. The platform decides the timing. Complex cases involving defamation, legal escalation, coordinated attacks, or many items across platforms are quoted individually through the Custom Care Plan, with their own timeline. Google, Yelp, and the sites we file with make the final removal decision. For upfront payments, what we guarantee is the refund of the removal fee, reviewed and issued by us, if the item remains live past the applicable 30-day or 90-day deadline.
An advisory client per year is worth about $2,000 in revenue. The value and basis use the cited benchmarks below.
The start form takes a few minutes if you have these four things in front of you. Nothing else is required to open the case. The full list is below.
Each value is revenue to the business. Estimates and examples show their arithmetic inline. Sourced values and margins are cited at the end of this page.
| Job | Value (revenue) | Basis |
|---|---|---|
| Advisory client, per year | $2,000 | Estimate: $200,000 average client assets × 1.00% annual fee |
Run your own numbers on the Financial Advisors revenue calculator.
Every case cites a documented policy violation. If the review maps to none of these, we say so before you pay.
Not a real customer
The reviewer never bought from you. Wrong business, a competitor, or someone repeating a story they were told.
Conflict of interest
A competitor, a former employee, or anyone with a stake in making the rating drop.
Off-topic content
A complaint about something other than the work you did, or a rant about an unrelated dispute.
Personal information
Names of staff, phone numbers, addresses, or other private details the platforms prohibit.
Hate speech, threats, profanity
Language that breaks the platform's prohibited-content rules regardless of whether the visit happened.
Defamatory or provably false claims
Specific factual assertions about the job that your records contradict.
A client choosing a financial advisor is choosing who to trust with money. They read reviews to find a reason not to, and a single accusation of dishonesty outweighs any amount of praise.
The trust check
Before a first meeting, prospects search your name and read the newest reviews on Google and SmartAsset, NerdWallet and Better Business Bureau. A one-star that uses the word "scam" or "hidden fees" ends the research, whether or not the reviewer was ever a client.
The regulator read
Sophisticated clients look for complaints alongside reviews. A complaint-site page or a review that references a regulatory issue, accurate or invented, is the item they screenshot and send to their spouse.
The rate-shopper review
Mortgage and insurance prospects who did not get the rate or approval they wanted leave reviews about it. They were never clients, and the review is about a decision rather than a service, which is why the off-topic ones are worth reporting.
Money decisions get checked twice. A financial advisor shows up on review sites, the BBB and the regulator's own lookup, and a policy filing has to name the right one. Google, BBB, WalletHub, Zillow (for mortgage) and Yelp.
Google Business Profile
Dominant driver of high-intent financial-services inquiries: sub-4.7★ firms are filtered out before the discovery call.
SmartAsset
High-intent client-matching for advisors, planners, and RIAs.
NerdWallet
Trusted comparison destination for research-stage financial-services prospects.
Better Business Bureau
Trust anchor for fiduciary, insurance, and financed engagements.
Yelp
Consumer-facing discovery for personal-financial and insurance services.
Four attempts come up over and over. None of them removes anything, and two of them make the review more visible than it was.
Replying with performance or client detail
Testimonial and advertising rules limit what a financial advisor may publish about results or clients. A reply that references either can create a compliance problem on top of the review.
Asking happy customers to bury it
New reviews push a bad one down the list, but the rating average keeps it in play and the map pack still shows the number. Soliciting reviews to offset a specific one also breaks the review-gating rules on Google and Yelp.
Flagging it once and waiting
The in-product flag is a single yes-or-no submission with no place to attach records or cite the policy clause. When it comes back declined there is nothing to appeal, because nothing was argued.
Sending a demand letter to the reviewer
Section 230 protects the platform, not the reviewer, so a letter can work on the author. It also frequently produces a second review about the letter, and it does nothing about the copy already indexed in search results.
Some reviews have no policy ground, and saying so is part of the job. A financial advisor should not pay for a case that cannot be argued.
A real customer's honest complaint
If the reviewer bought from you and described what happened, the review stays up. No filing changes that, and a financial advisor should not pay for a case that has no policy ground.
An opinion you disagree with
Overpriced, slow, rude, not worth it: these are opinions, and platforms protect them. A factual claim your records contradict is different, and that is what a filing argues.
A one-star with no text
A rating on its own is hard to argue unless the account itself breaks policy, for example a competitor, a former employee, or a review posted to the wrong business.
Anything already removed
If the item comes down before the case is filed there is nothing to remove, and nothing to charge for. Send the link and we check it first.
Searches combine the service and the city, then the same person checks the regulator lookup and the BBB page. A policy-violating review shapes all three impressions at once.
Google's published local ranking factors, the metro list, and what one local job is worth are on the Financial Advisors local search page.
Nothing here is a promise of removal, because that decision belongs to the platform. Most Google removals take 7–21 days; Yelp and other platforms typically take 60–90 days. Complex cases use a Custom Care Plan with their own timeline.
Day 0 · Free scan and eligibility read
We pull the live review or page from Google and SmartAsset and NerdWallet, quote it verbatim, and say which policy it breaks. If nothing breaks a rule we say so and take no fee.
Days 1-3 · Filing without account detail
Application status, balances and account facts stay out of the report. What goes in is the policy ground: no client relationship, off-topic complaint, competitor authorship or an unsupported accusation.
Platform moderation
Google evaluates reports against its prohibited and restricted content policy; most Google removals take 7–21 days. Yelp and other platforms typically take 60–90 days. The platform decides the timing.
Days 10-21 · Appeal where the first report is declined
A declined report is not the end. Google provides an appeal route for reviews it decides to keep, and a second filing that cites a different policy ground and better evidence is often what moves it.
Day 30 (Google) / Day 90 (Yelp & other platforms): refund deadline
Upfront fees are refunded after our review if a Google review is not removed within 30 days of payment, or a Yelp review or other-platform item is not removed within 90 days. No claim or form is required. Refunds are issued within 5 business days of the deadline.
The start form takes a few minutes if you have these four things in front of you. Nothing else is required to open the case.
Rule 206(4)-1
Testimonial rules limit what an adviser can publish or invite
The SEC marketing rule attaches disclosure, oversight and recordkeeping conditions to testimonials and endorsements used by registered advisers. Soliciting reviews to outweigh a false one is the option most tightly constrained for a financial advisor, which leaves the policy report.
U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, 2021 — Investment Adviser Marketing Rule, Rule 206(4)-1
Declined applications
A review about a decision, not a service, is often off topic by policy
Complaints about being declined for credit, coverage or an account describe an outcome rather than an experience of the service. Google's policy treats content that is not about the customer experience as off topic and eligible for removal.
Google Maps Help — Prohibited and restricted content policy for Maps user contributions
16 CFR Part 465
Buying reviews to bury a bad one is a federal violation, not a shortcut
Since October 21, 2024 the FTC rule on consumer reviews bans fake reviews, insider reviews presented as customer reviews, and paying for positive or negative reviews, with civil penalties available per violation. For a financial advisor that leaves two lawful moves: earn real reviews, and report the ones that break platform policy.
U.S. Federal Trade Commission, 2024 — Rule on the Use of Consumer Reviews and Testimonials (16 CFR Part 465)
Policy grounds only
Google removes reviews that break a policy, not reviews you dislike
Google's own help documentation says any review can be reported but only content that violates its policies is eligible for removal. That is why a case starts by matching the wording to a named policy: fake engagement, off topic, impersonation, harassment, personal information or conflict of interest.
Google Business Profile Help — Report inappropriate reviews on your Business Profile
You pay the removal fee upfront so we can begin work. If a specific Google review is not removed within 30 days of payment, or a Yelp review or other-platform item is not removed within 90 days of payment, we refund that item's removal fee to your original payment method after our review. No claim or form is required. Refunds are issued within 5 business days of the applicable deadline. Google, Yelp, and other third-party sites make the final removal decision. Pay upon removal: save a card, pay $0 today, and pay $50 more per item only once each removal is documented. No refund term applies because nothing is charged before removal.
Google, Yelp, and the sites we file with make the final removal decision. For upfront payments, what we guarantee is the refund of the removal fee, reviewed and issued by us, if the item remains live past the applicable 30-day or 90-day deadline.
Often, yes. A review about not being approved describes a decision rather than a customer experience, and platforms treat many of these as off-topic. We describe the situation in the report without disclosing any application or financial information.
Most firms can post a short neutral reply that does not confirm the person was a client or discuss their account. Check with your compliance officer for your specific rules. Removal takes the false statement off the profile, which a reply never does.
An unsupported accusation of a crime against a business or a named individual is reportable as defamation and harassment on Google and Yelp. We quote the exact language in the report. The platform decides, and for upfront payment, the applicable 30-day Google or 90-day Yelp refund applies if it remains live.
Each line below is the figure as its publisher states it, with the citation beside it. Nothing here is averaged, adjusted, or restated.
Average assets of about $200,000 per non-high-net-worth client. Annual revenue per client on this page is that figure at the 1.00% fee Kitces reports for accounts under $1 million, which is arithmetic over two cited inputs. Limitation: IAA data covers SEC-registered advisers only, excluding smaller state-registered firms.
Investment Adviser Association · 2025 — Investment Adviser Industry Snapshot 2025
Investment Adviser Industry Snapshot 2025
Investment Adviser Association
Average assets of about $200,000 per non-high-net-worth client. Annual revenue per client on this page is that figure at the 1.00% fee Kitces reports for accounts under $1 million, which is arithmetic over two cited inputs. Limitation: IAA data covers SEC-registered advisers only, excluding smaller state-registered firms.
Investment Adviser Marketing Rule, Rule 206(4)-1 (2021)
U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission
Testimonials and endorsements used by registered advisers carry disclosure, oversight and recordkeeping conditions, which is why advisers cannot simply solicit or answer reviews the way a retailer can.
Prohibited and restricted content policy for Maps user contributions
Google Maps Help
The policy list a removal report has to cite: fake engagement, off-topic content, impersonation, harassment, personal information and conflicts of interest.
Rule on the Use of Consumer Reviews and Testimonials (16 CFR Part 465) (2024)
U.S. Federal Trade Commission
Federal rule effective October 21, 2024. Bans fake or AI-generated reviews, reviews by insiders presented as customers, and buying positive or negative reviews. This is why removal has to be argued on policy grounds instead of countered with bought reviews.
Report inappropriate reviews on your Business Profile
Google Business Profile Help
Google's own documentation of the report route: any review can be reported, only reviews that break a content policy are eligible for removal, and the decision is Google's.
Yelp for Business Support Center
Yelp states that reported content is evaluated by its moderators and that the evaluation may take several days, with an email sent when it is done.
Paste the review, tell us which platform, and choose upfront payment or Pay upon removal. Upfront fees are refunded after our review if a Google review is not removed within 30 days of payment, or a Yelp review or other-platform item is not removed within 90 days.
Starting with financial services. Google, BBB, WalletHub, Zillow (for mortgage) and Yelp.
Financial Services
Fiduciary trust is built, and destroyed, one review at a time.
Explore Financial Services →Mortgage Brokers
Independent mortgage brokers and mortgage-lender branches: reputation protection for a rate-competitive, high-anxiety consumer-finance segment.
Explore Mortgage Brokers →Insurance Agencies
Independent, captive, and specialty insurance agencies: reputation protection for a quote-driven, claims-sensitive segment.
Explore Insurance Agencies →CPA Firms
CPA, tax, and accounting firms: reputation protection for a referral-and-fiduciary-driven professional-services segment.
Explore CPA Firms →Healthcare
Protect provider ratings across Google, Healthgrades, WebMD, and Zocdoc.
Explore Healthcare →Plastic Surgeons
Elective-care buyers scrutinize every star. Protect your before-and-after story.
Explore Plastic Surgeons →Dental Practices
Every new-patient acquisition starts with a Google review. Own that moment.
Explore Dental Practices →Chiropractors
Wellness-buyers filter by rating first. Keep your practice above the cutoff.
Explore Chiropractors →Veterinary
Pet parents research obsessively. Your reviews decide who they trust with family.
Explore Veterinary →
