Google Review Management — Scope & Responsibilities

Overview

During the January 2026 scope realignment call with Adava Care, the team clarified responsibilities around Google review management. This had become a point of ambiguity as negative reviews accumulated and it was unclear who was responsible for responding, disputing, and monitoring new reviews.

The original contract scoped Asymmetric's role as consulting on how to earn more reviews and maximize them for SEO — not active review response or appeal management. The call formalized a clearer division of labor.

Defined Responsibilities

Adava Care Owns

Responding to all reviews — both positive and negative. Crafting public responses is considered a client-side responsibility because it requires knowledge of residents, staff, and operational context.
Initiating appeals/disputes — Adava Care has the standing and access to dispute reviews directly through Google Business Profile.

Asymmetric Supports

Dispute assistance — Asymmetric will go in and dispute reviews when they are spotted, even though primary ownership sits with Adava Care.
Review notifications — Asymmetric will configure Google Business Profile so that Adava Care receives email notifications whenever a new review is posted. (As of the call, notifications were not reliably reaching the Adava Care team.)
Monitoring — Asymmetric will flag negative reviews as they are seen, but will not be the primary monitor.

Key Decisions from the January 2026 Call

Notification gap identified: Neither Kurosh nor Kari were consistently receiving new review alerts. Asymmetric committed to fixing this as an immediate action item.
St. Francis 2 review removed: One disputed negative review ("gee, sure looks like employees are giving reviews... this company needs either a new owner or new staff") was successfully removed. Other disputes remained pending.
Glendale QR code non-functional: The QR code used to solicit reviews at the Glendale community was not working. Asymmetric took ownership of diagnosing and fixing it.
Google's process is a black box: Success rate on disputes is roughly 50/50. Google does not always notify when a review is removed, though in some cases an email confirmation is sent.

Practical Notes on the Dispute Process

Anyone with access to Google Business Profile can flag a review for dispute.
Google does not guarantee removal even for clearly inauthentic reviews (e.g., reviews from people with no apparent connection to the business).
If an initial dispute is ignored, re-disputing with different framing may improve chances.
When a review is removed, Google typically sends an email notification to the profile owner.

Why This Matters for SEO

Google reviews directly affect local pack rankings and conversion rates for assisted living searches. Negative reviews that go unaddressed — or uncontested — can suppress rankings and deter prospective residents and families. Prompt responses (even to negative reviews) signal an active, engaged business to both Google and searchers.

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