How to find out who left a Google review

Find out who left a Google review from their profile

Can you see who left a Google review? Partly, and it is the place to start. Every Google review is tied to a Google account, and that account has a contributor profile anyone can open. This is how to see who left a Google review without asking anyone.

1. Open your business on Google Maps or Google Search and go to the reviews.
2. Select the reviewer's name or profile photo. This opens their contributor profile.
3. Look through what they have shared publicly, listed below.
4. Screenshot the review and the profile with the date showing, and copy the review link. Names, photos and reviews can all be changed later.

Google's help page lists what anyone can find on a contributor profile: the "Name, photo and bio", plus "Reviews, photos, published lists and ratings" they have added, and their Local Guide status. In practice, that tells you a lot:

• The name and photoOften a real first name and surname, sometimes a nickname or initials.
• Their other reviewsWhere they live and travel, which businesses they use, and whether they have reviewed your competitors.
• Their photosPictures taken at other places, sometimes including their own car, pet or workplace.
• How active they areA long history across many places reads very differently from a new account with one review.
• Local Guide levelGoogle's points scheme runs from Level 1 to Level 10, and the badge appears in Maps from Level 4.

Some profiles show very little. Google lets people restrict their published contributions through their profile settings, so a reviewer may appear with a name and nothing else.

Are Google reviews anonymous?

Not in the sense most people mean. Google's help page is plain: "You're unable to add an anonymous review." It also says: "Reviews, photos and ratings are public in Google Maps. You can't post reviews, photos or ratings privately on Maps."

But the name on a Google account is whatever the account holder typed in. So an anonymous Google review, in practice, is a review from an account with a made-up name, no photo and no history. That pattern is also one of the signs of a fake review. If a review comes from someone you have no record of, our page on removing fake Google reviews explains how to evidence it.

Matching a review to your own records

For a genuine customer, the answer is usually in your own systems. Check the review against:

• The date and detailsA review that mentions a Saturday lunch for six, a boiler service or a specific product can often be matched to one booking or order.
• The nameSearch your bookings, invoices and emails for the name on the profile.
• Photos they attachedA receipt, a dish or a room can pin down the visit.

Keep what you find private: it is for deciding whether to report the review or get in touch. If you find no record at all and the review describes something that never happened, that is useful evidence for a report. If the review turns out to be from a former member of staff, see our guide to ex-employee Google reviews.

What Google will not tell you

Google will not give a business the reviewer's email address, phone number, IP address, location data or real name, whatever the review says. Its privacy policy says it does not share personal information outside Google except in listed cases, and the legal one covers disclosure it believes is reasonably necessary to "Respond to any applicable law, regulation, legal process or enforceable governmental request".

A report, a support ticket or a solicitor's letter is not legal process in that sense. The good news is that you rarely need a name to get a review removed. Google judges the content and the account's behaviour against its policy, and a fake or abusive review can come down without anyone learning who wrote it.

Norwich Pharmacal orders: making Google name the reviewer

A Norwich Pharmacal order is a High Court order that makes a third party, such as Google, disclose the identity of a wrongdoer. It is the main route in England and Wales when you need to know who is behind a review in order to take legal action against them.

How it works

1. You instruct a solicitor, and usually a barrister, who deal with online defamation or harassment.
2. They apply to the High Court for an order that Google disclose the information it holds about the account.
3. Google's services in the UK are provided by Google LLC, a US company. Practice Direction 6B, paragraph 3.1(25), of the Civil Procedure Rules allows a claim or application for disclosure regarding "the true identity of a defendant or a potential defendant" to be served outside the jurisdiction with the court's permission.
4. If the order is made, Google discloses what it holds. If the account used a false name, that may mean an email address and IP records, which can need a further application to an internet provider.
5. Only then can you bring your claim against the author.

What it costs

The court fee is the small part. From 13 July 2026, the fee to issue a High Court claim for a non-money remedy is £663. The large part is solicitor and barrister time, and the applicant usually pays the respondent's costs as well, meaning you cover Google's reasonable costs of responding. You pay all of that whether or not the name turns out to be useful.

When it makes sense

Timing matters. A defamation claim in England and Wales usually has to be brought within one year of publication, and identifying the author eats into that. Under section 10 of the Defamation Act 2013, a court cannot hear a claim against someone who is not the author, editor or publisher unless it is not reasonably practicable to sue the author, which is why identifying the author matters. Our page on defamatory Google reviews sets out the tests. We are not a law firm and do not give legal advice.

Never accuse or name a reviewer in public

Once you think you know who wrote a review, it is tempting to say so in your reply. Do not, for three reasons.

• It breaks Google's rulesGoogle's content policy bans posting personal information without consent, including a full name or surname. Google's own advice on replies is: "Never share the reviewer's private info. Do not attack them personally." Replies are checked before they appear, and one that breaks the policy is sent back for editing.
• It can break UK data protection lawBooking details, addresses and order history are personal data you hold for running your business. Under Article 5 of the UK GDPR, personal data must not be "further processed" in a way that is incompatible with the purpose you collected it for. Publishing it to win an argument is hard to justify.
• You might be wrongIf you publicly name the wrong person as the author of a fake review, you could be the one making a false and damaging statement about them.

For example, the first reply below discloses a customer's booking details and partner in public. The second says what needs saying without any of it.

How to contact someone who left a Google review

Google does not give you a private way to message a reviewer. Your options are a public reply, and, if you can match the review to a real customer, your own records.

Start with a public reply

Google's tips say "You can request the reviewer to contact you, in person, email or phone to help resolve the issue." The reviewer is notified when you reply, so a short invitation with a named contact is often enough. Our guide to responding to negative Google reviews has wording for this.

Contacting a customer you have identified

If you are confident the review is from a customer in your records, one private message through the contact details they gave you is reasonable. Following up a complaint about a service they bought sits close to the reason you hold their details in the first place. Keep it to that:

• One message, through the channel they used with youNot their personal social media, not their workplace, and no repeat chasing.
• About the problem, not the reviewOffer to put it right. Do not ask them to delete or change the review.
• Nothing conditionalGoogle bans incentives in exchange for the "revision or removal of a negative review". A refund is fine; a refund in return for deleting it is not.
• An easy way outSay you will not contact them again about it if they would rather not talk.

If the review turns out to be fake, abusive or from someone with a conflict of interest, we can get negative Google reviews removed through Google's own process, without needing the reviewer's name. The check is free, and you only pay the fee agreed in writing if Google removes it.