Google’s Review Algorithms Are Tightening — Here’s What the Data Shows with Michel van Luijtelaar

Google GBP reviews are being deleted at ever increasing scale — and it’s not random. In this episode of The Near Memo, Greg Sterling and Mike Blumenthal are joined by Michel van Luijtelaar, co-founder of GMB API, to unpack a year of data on review deletions across businesses in the U.S. and Europe. They explore why five-star and one-star reviews are disappearing, how fraud detection, incentivized reviews, and regional laws are shaping outcomes, and why reviews now matter more than ever as AI Mode and AI Overviews increasingly rely on review data to decide which businesses get shown. This conversation goes deep into: • Review fraud, false positives, and enforcement tradeoffs • Europe vs U.S. differences in review law and takedowns • Incentivized review detection using Local Guides • The legal and ethical tension around “stale” reviews • Why AI is accelerating Google’s review crackdowns 00:10 Welcome & Introductions 00:35 What GMB API Does & Why It Matters 01:23 Expanding Beyond Google: Apple, Citations & LLMs 02:01 Europe vs. U.S.: Regulation, AI Rollouts & SERP Differences 03:03 Dual Map Packs in Europe 04:09 Review Fraud, Extortion & Competitive Abuse 04:32 User Behavior Research Across European Markets 06:21 How Europeans Read Reviews Differently 07:34 Tracking Review Deletions at Scale 09:18 Which Reviews Are Being Deleted (5-Star & 1-Star) 09:53 Industry Patterns: Restaurants vs. Home Services & Medical 11:28 New Businesses, Fraud Prevention & the Review Catch-22 12:08 Visibility Without Reviews: The Small Business Trap 13:27 Making Review Fraud More Expensive to Execute 14:04 Review Solicitation: What GMB API Does (and Doesn’t) Do 14:38 Are Legitimate Reviews Being Swept Up? 15:58 Algorithm Sweeps, Sentiment Curves & Review Normalization 16:52 Forums as a Signal for False-Positive Review Removals 17:32 Google Support Bottlenecks & Review Appeals 18:11 Real-World Business Impact of Review Deletions 18:42 Market Power, Inequality & Algorithmic Reinforcement 19:09 Reviews as Inputs for AI Mode & AI Overviews 20:06 Incentivized Reviews & Local Guide Enforcement 22:22 Algorithmic Detection vs. Manual Enforcement 23:00 Abuse Risks & Competitive Review Reporting 24:03 Who Owns Reviews? Copyright, Control & AI Reuse 26:06 Europe’s Legal Landscape: Defamation & Mediation 27:38 Closing & Preview of Part Two