Every week, the MSP team delivers a roundup of the most relevant news in marketing, curated for dentists.
What You’ll Learn:
- Why Google reviews are mysteriously vanishing from Business Profiles right now, and what to do about it
- How Google Analytics just got a serious local-business upgrade
- Why you should ignore anyone trying to sell you an “AI SEO file” this week
- This week’s action items, ranked by priority
Google Reviews Are Disappearing. No, You’re Not Losing Your Mind.
If you’ve logged into your Google Business Profile this week and thought “wait, didn’t I have more reviews than this?”, you’re not imagining things. Google has confirmed it’s investigating widespread reports of reviews vanishing from local listings, and in some cases, pausing the ability to collect new reviews altogether. Some businesses have reportedly gone from thousands of reviews down to a tiny fraction of that in about 24 hours. This is, understandably, a Big Freaking Deal(™).
Google’s official line is that its systems are cracking down on suspicious review activity, and that any legitimate reviews caught in the crossfire will be restored. Translation: there’s no confirmed timeline, and if your practice got caught up in it, you kind of just have to wait it out. Hooray!
What you can do in the meantime:
- Screenshot your review count now, and check back weekly, so you have proof if you need to dispute anything
- Don’t run big dental review request pushes this week. A sudden spike in requests can look like the exact spammy behavior Google is trying to catch, so give Google a chance to chill out first
- Lean on more than one platform. Facebook and Healthgrades reviews still count, and testimonials on your own website don’t disappear when Google has a bad week
Google Analytics Just Learned to Talk to Your Business Profile
Here’s some good news to balance out the bad news. Google Analytics is rolling out the ability to pull in data straight from your Google Business Profile. That means calls, direction requests, and website clicks generated from your Maps listing can now show up right alongside your regular website traffic, in one place.
This is a bigger deal for single-location practices than it sounds, trust us. Most dental practices have been stuck piecing together “how many people found us on Maps” separately from “how many people visited our website,” which makes it tough to see the full picture of where new patients are actually coming from. This update starts closing that gap.
Action item: once this rolls out to your account, check whether your GBP is linked, so your monthly reports actually reflect your full online footprint instead of just website visits. This is exactly the kind of thing we build into the reporting our dental SEO clients get every month.
No, You Do Not Need an “llms-author.txt” File
Every few months, a new “must-have AI SEO trick” makes the rounds, and this month it’s a file called llms-author.txt, sold to some business owners as a way to control how AI tools like ChatGPT or Google’s AI Overviews use their content.
Google has now directly addressed it. Aaaaand…they don’t use it. It’s not a recognized standard, and setting one up does nothing for your visibility in AI search results. If someone tries to sell you this as an add-on service, that’s a good moment to ask what it’s actually supposed to do.
The real (much less exciting) truth is that showing up well in AI-generated search results still comes down to the same fundamentals: clear, well-structured content, accurate business information across the web, and a site Google already trusts. There’s no shortcut file that changes that.
This Week’s Action Items At a Glance
| News Item | What To Do | Priority |
| Google reviews disappearing | Screenshot your review count, hold off on big review pushes | High |
| GA + Google Business Profile | Confirm your GBP is linked once it’s live in your account | Medium |
| “llms-author.txt” trend | Ignore it, don’t pay for it | Low (but satisfying) |
Frequently Asked Questions
Why are my Google reviews disappearing right now?
Google has confirmed a bug affecting Business Profiles where legitimate reviews are being removed or hidden, on top of its usual spam-detection review removals. Google says it’s investigating and will restore reviews that were removed by mistake, though there’s no confirmed timeline yet.
Will Google restore reviews that were incorrectly deleted?
Google has stated that it will restore reviews that were removed in error. In the meantime, keeping your own screenshots and records of your review history gives you something to point to if you need to escalate a support request.
What does the Google Analytics and Google Business Profile integration actually do?
It connects data from your Business Profile, like calls, direction requests, and website clicks from your Maps listing, directly into your Google Analytics reporting, so you can see your full patient acquisition picture in one dashboard instead of two separate ones.
Do I need an llms-author.txt file for AI search visibility?
No. Google has confirmed it does not use this file for anything related to AI search visibility. Skip any service or upsell built around it.
How can I protect my practice's online reputation while Google works out this review bug?
Diversify where you collect reviews (Facebook, Healthgrades, your own website testimonials), keep records of your review counts, and avoid launching large review request campaigns until the issue is resolved.
Adrian Lefler is the CEO and Co-Founder of My Social Practice and a recognized dental marketing expert with nearly two decades of experience. He is a trusted voice in dental marketing, AI in dentistry, and emerging technology, and he hosts BYTE SIZED, a podcast focused on dental AI, innovation, and technology.
