🔍 Google Review Removal Checker, Audit & ORM Intelligence Tracker

Did Google delete that fake 1-star review? Did a reviewer update their rating? Or did your client's 5-star review disappear? Verify instantly with lightning-fast accuracy.

The only tool on Apify purpose-built to audit, track, and verify specific Google Maps review URLs. Extracts full review metadata, detects post-publication edits, generates 1-click Google policy dispute links, verifies business owner responses, and captures high-resolution reviewer photos.

[!TIP] How to copy any review link in Google Maps (2 clicks):
On any review card, click the Three Dots (⋮) → Share review → Copy link. Supports mobile share shortlinks (maps.app.goo.gl/...), direct review permalinks (/maps/reviews/data=...), and contributor profile links!

⚡ Ultra-Fast & Cost-Effective: Verifies 50–100 reviews per minute at fractions of a cent per check with instant start times and zero heavy compute waste.

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⚡ UnitBytes · Google Maps & Local Business Reputation Ecosystem
🔍 Reviews Change Tracker 📍 You are here Detect deleted & edited reviews	🗺️ Contributor Profiles Local Guide Audits Full review history & levels	📸 Contributor Photos High-Res Media Original =s0 images & views

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🎯 6 High-Value Use Cases & Business Applications

1. 🏢 Online Reputation Management (ORM) & 1-Click Takedown Portals

• For: ORM Agencies, Digital PR Consultants, Local SEO Firms.
• The Problem: ORM agencies charge $500–$2,500/month to dispute and remove defamatory reviews. Account managers waste hours hunting through 2,000+ reviews to click the "Report" button, and struggle to prove deletions to clients.
• How This Actor Solves It:
  • 1-Click Dispute Links (review_report_url): Generates direct Google policy violation report URLs pre-filled with the review's postId. Build an internal ticketing sheet where staff click once per row to dispute negative reviews directly.
  • Automated Proof of Removal for Invoicing: When Google removes a review, the Actor outputs is_removed: true while preserving the business name, address, and Place CID. Use this timestamped record as indisputable proof for client billing.

2. 🔄 Review Edit & Retraction Tracking (is_edited)

• For: Customer Success Teams, Dealerships, Clinics, Hospitality Managers.
• The Problem: After resolving a customer complaint, you ask them to update their 1-star review. Did they change it to 5 stars, or did they edit the complaint to be even harsher?
• How This Actor Solves It:
  • Automatically compares Google's created vs modified microsecond timestamps.
  • Returns is_edited: true and the exact UTC review_modified_timestamp whenever an author edits their rating or text.

3. ⏱️ Franchise Owner Response SLA Auditing

• For: Multi-Location Brands, Franchise Headquarters, Corporate CX Directors.
• The Problem: Corporate standards require store managers to respond to negative reviews within 24–48 hours. Monitoring hundreds of franchise stores manually is impossible.
• How This Actor Solves It:
  • Extracts has_owner_reply, owner_reply, owner_reply_date, and exact owner_reply_timestamp.
  • Calculate response latency (owner_reply_timestamp - review_timestamp) to audit franchisee compliance and flag unaddressed customer complaints.

4. 🕵️ Fake Review & "Burner Account" Fraud Detection

• For: Businesses experiencing review bombing, extortion, or competitor sabotage.
• The Problem: Competitors hire click farms or create brand-new burner accounts to leave 1-star attacks.
• How This Actor Solves It:
  • Burner Spotting: Reviews authored by profiles with reviewer_number_of_reviews <= 1 and missing avatars are immediately flagged for human review.
  • Serial Reviewer Tracking (reviewer_id): Extracts the permanent numeric Google Contributor ID to identify if the same individual is targeting multiple locations across your brand.

5. 🔗 Universal Review Link Normalizer & Mobile Shortlink ETL

• For: Developers, Data Engineers, Zapier/Make Automation Builders.
• The Problem: Customers and team members paste links copied from mobile apps (maps.app.goo.gl/...), which traditional scrapers and Google Places APIs cannot query.
• How This Actor Solves It:
  • Automatically resolves mobile shortlinks and contributor URLs into canonical place_cid (ChIJ...), exact GPS latitude/longitude coordinates, business address, and industry categories.
  • Enables clean database joins in Google Sheets, Airtable, Snowflake, or PostgreSQL.

6. ⚖️ Defamation & Legal Evidence Archiving (Pre-Deletion)

• For: Corporate Counsel, Litigation Attorneys, Compliance Officers.
• The Problem: If a defamatory review is deleted by the author or hidden by Google before court proceedings, critical digital evidence is lost.
• How This Actor Solves It:
  • Preserves an immutable JSON snapshot including original language text, translated text, reviewer user ID, high-resolution photo URLs (review_photos), and microsecond creation timestamps.

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⚡ Why This Actor Over Others?

Feature	This Actor	Other Scrapers & Legacy Tools
Speed	50-100 reviews/minute	5-10 reviews/minute
Cost	Fractions of a cent per run	10-50x more expensive
Checks specific review URLs	✅ Yes	❌ No (scrape all reviews)
Detects removed reviews	✅ REMOVED status	❌ No way to tell
Extracts full review data	✅ Stars, text, replies, dates	⚠️ Varies
Handles server errors safely	✅ Returns UNKNOWN	❌ Crashes or gives false results
Auto-retries on CAPTCHA/403	✅ Smart proxy rotation	❌ Manual intervention
Survives Apify restarts	✅ Resumes from checkpoint	❌ Starts over

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🔗 Supported URL Formats

Paste any of these URL types and the Actor handles everything automatically:

1. Review Data URLs — /maps/reviews/data=... The direct permalink to a specific review on a business profile.

2. Contributor Profile URLs — /maps/contrib/.../place/... The link to a review from a user's public contribution page.

3. Share Shortlinks — maps.app.goo.gl/... The shortlink generated by the Google Maps app's "Share" button.

🚫 Unsupported URL Formats (Fails Fast)

To save your run credits and prevent confusion, the Actor explicitly rejects these non-review links immediately with a clear error message:

• Google Search "All Reviews" Links (google.com/search?...#lrd=...) — These point to a business's general reviews panel, not a specific review.
• Google Business Profile dashboard links (business.google.com/...) — Requires merchant login and cannot be accessed publicly.
• "Write a review" prompt links (g.page/r/.../review, writereview) — These are solicitations for new reviews, not permalinks to existing ones.
• General contributor profile links (/maps/contrib/.../reviews) — These link to a user's entire profile without targeting a specific review to verify.

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📊 Output Fields

For every URL you provide, the Actor returns a clean, rich JSON object designed for easy Excel/Google Sheets VLOOKUP joins, Zapier/Make automations, and ORM auditing:

Field	Type	Description
input_url	string	The exact original URL you provided (perfect for VLOOKUP / CRM spreadsheet joins)
resolved_url	string	The canonical resolved Google Maps review permalink
status	string	"ACTIVE" = live, "REMOVED" = deleted/hidden, "UNSUPPORTED" = invalid link format, "UNKNOWN" = temporary error
is_active	boolean | null	true if live, false if removed, null if unknown/unsupported (ideal for Zapier filters)
is_removed	boolean | null	true if removed, false if live, null if unknown/unsupported
review_id	string | null	Internal Google Review ID token (crucial for legal/takedown dispute appeals)
place_id	string | null	Google Maps Place ID / Feature ID
place_cid	string | null	Standard Google Place CID / Place ID (ChIJ...)
review_url	string | null	Google's direct canonical permalink to this specific review
review_report_url	string | null	1-Click direct takedown URL to flag or dispute the review for policy violations
is_edited	boolean | null	true if review was edited post-creation, false if untouched, null if removed
review_modified_timestamp	string | null	Exact ISO 8601 timestamp of when the review was last edited
business_name	string | null	Name of the Google Business Profile (preserved even on deleted reviews)
business_address	string | null	Full address of the business
business_categories	list[string]	List of categories assigned to the business profile
business_primary_category	string | null	Primary category of the business
business_city	string | null	City where the business is located
business_country	string | null	Country where the business is located
business_country_code	string | null	2-letter ISO country code (e.g. "US")
business_latitude	float | null	Geolocation latitude coordinate
business_longitude	float | null	Geolocation longitude coordinate
business_timezone	string | null	IANA timezone (e.g. "America/New_York")
business_cover_image_url	string | null	Featured cover photo URL of the business listing
reviewer_name	string | null	The public name of the reviewer
reviewer_id	string | null	Unique Google Contributor user ID string
reviewer_url	string | null	Direct link to reviewer's Google Maps contributor profile
reviewer_avatar_url	string | null	Reviewer profile photo URL
reviewer_number_of_reviews	integer | null	Total review count authored by reviewer (helps identify burner accounts)
review_stars	integer | null	Star rating (1 to 5)
review_text	string | null	Full review text (auto-translated to English if needed)
review_text_original	string | null	Original review text before translation
review_photos	list[string]	High-resolution image URLs attached to the review
review_photos_count	integer	Total count of photos attached by reviewer
review_timestamp	string | null	Exact ISO 8601 creation timestamp (e.g. 2024-03-29T16:56:56Z)
review_date	string | null	Relative date posted (e.g. "6 months ago")
review_language	string | null	Detected language code (e.g. "en", "es")
has_owner_reply	boolean | null	true if business owner replied, false otherwise
owner_reply	string | null	Business owner's response text
owner_reply_date	string | null	Relative date of the owner's response
owner_reply_timestamp	string | null	Exact ISO 8601 UTC timestamp of owner's reply
owner_reply_language	string | null	Language code of owner's reply
text_snippet	string | null	Human-readable status summary
check_timestamp	string	ISO 8601 timestamp of when this check was performed
error	string | null	Error details (only if status is "UNKNOWN" or "UNSUPPORTED")

Example Output (Active Review)

{
  "input_url": "https://maps.app.goo.gl/wSLNNUnwRAwg1T4W9",
  "resolved_url": "https://www.google.com/maps/reviews/data=!4m8!14m7...",
  "status": "ACTIVE",
  "is_active": true,
  "is_removed": false,
  "review_id": "Ci9DQUlRQUNvZENodHljRjlvT2tWaWExOUlkRFIwWVhFemJFa3pTekZVTlVjeGNHYxAB",
  "place_id": "0x0:0x84e51f23e8c0a75c",
  "place_cid": "ChIJ2_VLfRdawokRXKfA6CMf5YQ",
  "review_url": "https://www.google.com/maps/reviews/data=!4m8!14m7!1m6!2m5!1sCi9DQUlRQ...",
  "review_report_url": "https://www.google.com/local/content/rap/report?postId=Ci9DQUlRQ...",
  "is_edited": false,
  "review_modified_timestamp": null,
  "reviewer_name": "RoRo",
  "reviewer_id": "107907612947498246994",
  "reviewer_url": "https://www.google.com/maps/contrib/107907612947498246994",
  "reviewer_avatar_url": "https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/a-/...",
  "reviewer_number_of_reviews": 3,
  "review_stars": 1,
  "review_text": "I visited this location during my first trip to New York...",
  "review_photos": [
    "https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/grass-cs/ACvplmOY0OUAUEn8J7yYHd1cCpWZ..."
  ],
  "review_photos_count": 1,
  "review_timestamp": "2024-03-29T16:56:56.125874+00:00",
  "review_date": "6 months ago",
  "review_language": "en",
  "business_name": "McDonald's",
  "business_address": "160 Broadway, New York, NY 10038, United States",
  "business_categories": ["Fast food restaurant", "Coffee shop", "Breakfast restaurant"],
  "business_primary_category": "Fast food restaurant",
  "business_city": "New York",
  "business_country": "United States",
  "business_country_code": "US",
  "business_latitude": 40.7094789,
  "business_longitude": -74.0100364,
  "business_timezone": "America/New_York",
  "business_cover_image_url": "https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/grass-cs/ACvplmMYk...",
  "has_owner_reply": true,
  "owner_reply": "Thank you for bringing this to our attention. We have addressed this with our local team.",
  "owner_reply_date": "5 months ago",
  "owner_reply_timestamp": "2024-04-02T14:22:10.000000+00:00",
  "owner_reply_language": "en",
  "check_timestamp": "2026-10-01T21:08:28.579696+00:00"
}

Example Output (Removed Review)

{
  "input_url": "https://www.google.com/maps/reviews/data=!4m8!14m7...",
  "resolved_url": "https://www.google.com/maps/reviews/data=!4m8!14m7...",
  "status": "REMOVED",
  "is_active": false,
  "is_removed": true,
  "review_id": "ChZDSUhNMG9nS0VJQ0FnSUNwLWNMM2J3EAE",
  "place_id": "0x0:0x57656ffbe42744ba",
  "place_cid": "ChIJr7blnswzw4ARukQn5PtvZVc",
  "business_name": "STG Auto Group of Montclair",
  "business_address": "10477 Central Ave, Montclair, CA 91763, United States",
  "business_city": "Montclair",
  "business_country": "United States",
  "business_country_code": "US",
  "business_categories": ["Used car dealer", "Auto body shop"],
  "business_primary_category": "Used car dealer",
  "business_latitude": 34.0640219,
  "business_longitude": -117.6889961,
  "business_timezone": "America/Los_Angeles",
  "business_cover_image_url": "https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/gps-cs-s/...",
  "reviewer_name": null,
  "review_stars": null,
  "review_text": null,
  "review_photos": [],
  "review_photos_count": 0,
  "text_snippet": "Review no longer found on Google Maps. Review removed.",
  "error": null,
  "check_timestamp": "2026-10-01T21:08:27.741295+00:00"
}

Example Output (Unsupported Link)

{
  "input_url": "https://www.google.com/search?q=McDonalds+NYC#lrd=0x89c25a177d4bf5db:0x84e51f23e8c0a75c,1,,,",
  "resolved_url": "https://www.google.com/search?q=McDonalds+NYC#lrd=0x89c25a177d4bf5db:0x84e51f23e8c0a75c,1,,,",
  "status": "UNSUPPORTED",
  "is_active": null,
  "is_removed": null,
  "review_id": null,
  "place_id": null,
  "reviewer_name": null,
  "review_stars": null,
  "text_snippet": "This is a Google Search 'All Reviews' link (lrd). It does not contain a specific Review ID, so we cannot verify a single review.",
  "error": "This is a Google Search 'All Reviews' link (lrd). It does not contain a specific Review ID, so we cannot verify a single review.",
  "check_timestamp": "2026-10-01T21:08:27.741295+00:00"
}

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💡 Common Workflows & Automations

1. Spreadsheet / CRM Joins (Excel & Google Sheets)

Because the Actor outputs your original link as input_url, you can import the Apify dataset directly into your Google Sheet or Excel workbook and run a standard =VLOOKUP(A2, ApifyData!A:D, 3, FALSE) to match review statuses back to your client tracking sheets instantly!

2. No-Code Takedown Alerts (Zapier, Make.com, Airtable)

Set up a daily or weekly Apify schedule. Add a Zapier webhook filter:

• Rule: Only continue if is_removed is true
• Action: Send a Slack notification: "🎉 Takedown Confirmed: Negative review {review_id} by {reviewer_name} has been removed by Google!" (Because is_removed is null on network errors, you will never receive false alarm alerts).

3. API & Python Integration

Call this Actor programmatically via the Apify API to automate reputation audits:

from apify_client import ApifyClient

client = ApifyClient("YOUR_API_TOKEN")

run = client.actor("unitbytes/google-maps-reviews-tracker").call(run_input={
    "reviewsToCheck": [
        "https://maps.app.goo.gl/wSLNNUnwRAwg1T4W9",
        "https://www.google.com/maps/reviews/data=!4m8!14m7!1m6!2m5!1sChZDSUhNMG9nS0VJQ0FnSUNwLWNMM2J3EAE!2m1!1s0x0:0x57656ffbe42744ba!3m1!1s2@1:CAIQACodChtycF9oOlJORWFGdmxEN3VmeDI1VlFXRXotRXc%7C%7C?hl=en-US"
    ]
})

for item in client.dataset(run["defaultDatasetId"]).iterate_items():
    if item.get("is_removed") is True:
        print(f"🎉 Takedown verified! Review {item['review_id']} on '{item['business_name']}' was removed.")
    elif item.get("is_active") is True:
        print(f"👀 Live review: {item['reviewer_name']} rated {item['review_stars']}★ on '{item['business_name']}'")

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📈 Speed, Performance & Cost-Efficiency

Built from the ground up for maximum speed and rock-solid cost efficiency:

• ⚡ Lightning-Fast Speed: Audits 50–100 reviews per minute with zero initialization lag or slow boot sequences.
• 💰 Ultra-Low Cost: Costs fractions of a cent per check. A standard $5 monthly Apify credit can easily handle tens of thousands of review verifications.
• 🚀 Lightweight & Highly Scalable: Operates with minimal resource usage and zero bloat, allowing high parallel concurrency without memory spikes or crashing.

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🛡️ Reliability & Error Handling

• 403/Rate Limits: Automatically retries with exponential backoff, then rotates to a fresh proxy IP.
• 500/Server Errors: Retries up to 3 times, then safely returns status: "UNKNOWN" with the error details — never a false REMOVED.
• Apify Restarts/Aborts: Checkpoints progress to Key-Value Store. Restarted runs resume exactly where they left off without re-checking already processed URLs.

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🔗 Related Google Maps Scrapers & Ecosystem

• 🗺️ Google Maps Contributor & Local Guide Reviews Scraper — Export full reviewer profiles, lifetime review histories, star ratings, and Local Guide levels (1–10) in seconds.
• 📸 Google Maps Contributor Photos Scraper — Download original high-resolution photos (=s0), verified view counts, and venue locations uploaded by Local Guides.

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👨‍💻 Support & Maintenance

This Actor is actively maintained by an expert scraping team. If Google changes their API structures, we patch the Actor within 24-48 hours. For bugs or feature requests, use the Issues tab.

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🔍 Search Keywords

Google review removal checker, check if Google review was deleted, Google Maps review tracker, monitor Google reviews, track deleted Google reviews, Google review status checker, Google Business Profile review monitor, reputation management tool, fake review detection, detect removed Google reviews, Google review scraper, verify Google review status, Google Maps contributor scraper, review removal verification, local SEO review tracking, Google review API, bulk review status check, review monitoring automation, check Google review still active, Google review disappeared, missing Google reviews, Google review filter detection, appeal removed Google review, review takedown verification, negative review removal tracker, Google review changed stars, detect review text edit, review star rating changed, monitor review updates, Google review edit detection, track review modifications, review content changed, owner reply tracker

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🔌 MCP Server Setup: Claude Code, Cursor & AI Agents

Connect this scraper directly to Claude Code, Claude Desktop, Cursor, or any MCP-compatible AI agent via the hosted Apify MCP server:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "apify": {
      "type": "http",
      "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=actors,docs,unitbytes/google-maps-reviews-tracker"
    }
  }
}

No manual API token required in configuration if your client supports Apify OAuth sign-in. Alternatively, pass your Apify API Token in the authorization header.

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🤖 Ask an AI Assistant About This Scraper

Open a ready-to-run prompt about Google Maps Reviews Tracker in your favorite AI assistant:

• 💬 ChatGPT
• 🧠 Claude
• 🔍 Perplexity

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💬 Enterprise Support & Custom Pipelines

Need custom web data feeds, high-frequency scheduled runs, private cluster deployments, or dedicated SLAs?

• 📧 Direct Email: contact@unitbytes.com
• 🌐 Enterprise Platform: https://unitbytes.com
• 💡 Data Engine Specs & Live Docs: https://unitbytes.com/actors/