Life After Google Reviews: What Schools Need to Know
Until recently, online reviews were considered the gold standard for word-of-mouth marketing, trust building, and proof of concept among private businesses, organizations, and schools. On April 30, 2025, Google removed all reviews and star ratings from the Google Business Profiles of K-12 schools – nixing the ability to leave new reviews as well – marking a significant shift in the SEO landscape for educational institutions.
Today we examine why this change was made, the implications for private and independent school marketers, and how your school can make a seamless and strategic pivot towards new opportunities.
Dude, Where’s My Review?
Google’s removal of reviews from school profiles arose from ongoing concerns about fraudulent use and the unique context of educational environments.
Compared to traditional private businesses, schools are more likely to be targeted with harmful, unhelpful, or off-topic reviews from users who haven’t directly experienced their institution – for example, politically motivated commentators or disgruntled neighbours. In addition to muddying the decision-making waters, these reviews can cause reputational damage and even impact staff and student safety.
In taking action, Google has categorized all private and independent schools serving any of the K-12 grades as “general education.”
According to the 2024–2025 State of Independent School Marketing report from NAIS and Metric Marketing, 48% of private schools consider organic search as the most effective digital channel for driving new student leads, so it’s clear that any changes to this format may have significant ramifications for school marketers.
Why You Should Care
Previously, Google Reviews was a prominent feature that influenced both your school’s visibility in local search results and the perceptions prospective families formed of your school. It’s where families looked to see whether your promises were reliable, what your experience was really like, and if there were any frequently mentioned red flags.
In the absence of Google Reviews, it’s critical to find alternative methods for managing your school’s online reputation – such as utilizing other review platforms, updating your website testimonials, and staying sharp on social media – and develop new strategies for gathering feedback from parents, students, alumni, and staff.
What You Can Do
The shift away from Google Reviews means that people who Google your school will only see the content you’ve populated in your profile. For school marketers, that means it’s more important than ever to shift from maintaining your Google My Business Profile to proactively managing and optimizing it. A good general practice to follow is EAT: Expertise, Authoritativeness, Trustworthiness.
Demonstrate your specific knowledge, capabilities, and understanding by:
- Focusing on content and engagement: Prioritize populating your school’s blog and profiles with rich, engaging content. Regularly post updates about school events, achievements, news, and community involvement directly to your Google Business Profile.
- Highlighting credentials and experience: Use your website and Google Business Profile to highlight any relevant qualifications, certifications, years of experience, and professional achievements.
- Showcasing events and webinars: This is a great opportunity to prove your promise in action, position yourself to parents as the go-to expert, and pick up some qualified leads along the way.
Solidify your SEO authority by actively maintaining a consistent and professional presence across all your online platforms and follow best practices, such as:
- Staying relevant and up to date: Ensuring accurate and comprehensive information across all sections – including name / address / phone number (NAP), website, hours of operation, photos, and services – has never been more important.
- Setting a consistent maintenance schedule: Establish a minimum monthly cadence for your content updates — once a week is best. By taking a consistent, active approach, you can ensure your school’s profile remains dynamic, informative, and, perhaps most crucially, relevant in Google’s algorithm.
- Leveraging other ranking factors: While reviews are no longer in the mix, other factors still influence local search ranking. Focus on optimizing your website for local SEO keywords, ensuring consistent NAP citations, striving to earn backlinks from reputable websites, and maintaining a fast, mobile-friendly user experience.
Proactively monitor and manage your off-platform reputation, and demonstrate transparency, honesty and reliability in all your online interactions by:
- Keeping tabs on other review platforms: An end to Google Reviews doesn’t mean the end of reviews altogether. With this change, families will turn to other review aggregators in order to evaluate school experience and credibility. You can stay ahead of the conversation by actively monitoring and responding to conversations where possible and appropriate, such as on social media, parent forums, and education-specific sites like Niche.com.
- Engaging with parents and students online: The way you interact with existing and prospective families on public channels – think: social media comments – speaks volumes about your responsiveness, the tone you set, and the experience you offer. Reply promptly and professionally to inquiries and comments to show you value engagement and feedback.
Tip: You might want to create a policy about where, when, and how you respond (or not) to online comments, and draft a range of responses in advance to ensure consistency and remove guesswork or anxiety from these public interactions. Learn more about how to craft social media guidelines for your school’s marketing team.
Looking for more ways to optimize your online marketing?
- Level Up Your School’s Search Marketing
- 5 Ways to Market Effectively to Millennial Parents
- How to Effectively Market Your School’s Community
- A Family Decision: Why Marketing to Students Matters
At Metric Marketing, we develop measurable and practical strategies to help private and independent schools like yours to make the most of your marketing efforts. We’d love to discuss your private school’s marketing requirements with you. Contact us today to speak with our marketing professionals or use the form below to sign up and receive more marketing tips in your inbox.
