By Nazreen Daud · Published 21 Oct 2026 · Updated 21 Oct 2026
The short answer: Google reviews for schools are switched off by policy. Since 30 April 2025, Google removes and disables reviews on profiles primarily categorised as general education schools for ages 6 to 18, and it can temporarily disable reviews on other profiles too. Appeals may not fix it. Keep your profile accurate, keep appealing calmly, and build trust on channels you own: your website, permissioned parent stories and word of mouth.
A year of silence on our Google profile
For about a year now, Google has blocked every new review on the Business Profile of AtTartil Qur'anic Institute, the Qur'anic institute in Singapore where I'm marketing manager.
We've been teaching since 2008. Parents have trusted us with their children for longer than most of the apps on your phone have existed.
Google still lists us as a faith school, and our request to change that hasn't gone through yet. The support case is still open. New reviews are still blocked, and more than seven appeals in a year haven't changed that.
It's an odd feeling. Nothing bad happened. Nobody complained. The profile just went quiet, like a shop where someone quietly took down the guestbook.
I build websites and follow-up systems for service businesses for a living. So this was a lesson I'd been teaching clients for years, now delivered to my own doorstep.
What does Google's policy say about reviews for schools?
Google says it may limit or suspend user content for types of places where contributions are "consistently unhelpful, harmful, or off-topic". For schools, it goes further: reviews and ratings are removed and disabled for profiles primarily categorised as educational institutions for students aged 6 to 18.
That comes straight from Google's own help page, About missing or delayed reviews (checked 18 Oct 2026). Google gives its reason as "to protect schools and consumers", and the global change took effect on 30 April 2025. In plain words:
- Affected: profiles whose primary category is a general education school serving ages 6 to 18. Existing reviews are deleted and new ones aren't allowed.
- Not affected, per Google: places that don't provide generalised education to ages 6 to 18, with examples such as universities, day care centres and swim schools.
- The primary category matters. Google's page suggests changing your category if the guidance doesn't represent your business.
- A wider power: the same page says Google may temporarily disable reviews for certain profiles or categories "to protect business owners".
That last line is the one I'd underline. A correct category is no guarantee. Google keeps the right to switch reviews off, and it doesn't owe you a detailed reason.
Why would Google block reviews for a school at all?
Because school reviews attract the wrong crowd. Students review their own teachers, a disappointed parent posts at midnight, a class decides a one-star pile-on is funny. Google's own words point at exactly this: unhelpful, harmful, off-topic content.
To be fair to Google, I understand the logic. If I ran a platform with millions of school listings, I'd want to protect teachers and children from that too.
The problem is the net is wide. A part-time Qur'an class, a tuition centre, an enrichment programme: to a machine, they can all look like "a school". The good reviews from real families get caught along with the pranks.
Should you pick a different category just to get reviews back?
Only if the new category honestly describes what you do. Google's help page does say you can change your category if its school guidance doesn't represent your business. That is permission to be accurate, not a loophole.
Our experience shows the limit: we asked Google to change our category, and the request still hasn't gone through. And a category that misrepresents your business can create a bigger headache than missing stars. Your listing is meant to describe the place as it is.
Think of it like the signboard outside your shop. Repainting it to say "café" because cafés get more walk-ins doesn't make you a café. Customers notice, and so do the people who check signboards.
Is it worth continuing to appeal?
Yes, but treat appeals as maintenance, not a strategy. Appeal calmly, keep a simple record of what you sent and when, and then get on with building trust elsewhere. Don't pin your enrolment on a reply from a support queue.
Here's the uncomfortable truth I tell clients: Google Business Profile is rented land. It's free, it's useful, and it's very good for being found on Maps. But someone else holds the keys. They can change the rules for a whole category overnight, and your appeal is one ticket among a very large number.
One more thing. Don't try to "fix" a blocked profile by collecting reviews on a second listing or by asking families to post anyway in other ways that bend the rules. Google's prohibited and restricted content policy is strict about fake engagement and about content that doesn't reflect a genuine experience of that place. A blocked profile is annoying. A suspended one is worse.
Not sure your profile, website and enquiry flow are carrying their weight? Book a call with me and we'll look at it together.
Where else can parents see that you're trustworthy?
On channels you own or that can't be switched off by one company's rule change. For a school or education centre, trust is built by people who've seen the work, so give their voices a permanent home.
Here's what I'd suggest to any school, tuition centre or education business in the same spot:
| Channel | Who controls it | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| Your own website | You | A testimonials page with real parent stories, shared with written permission, first names or initials only for children |
| Word of mouth | Your families | Ask happy parents, simply, to tell one friend who's looking |
| Google Business Profile | Keep hours, address, photos and posts accurate even without reviews | |
| Other review sites and directories | The platform | Use the ones parents in your area actually check, and follow each one's rules |
| Your follow-up after enquiries | You | Reply quickly and personally, so the first conversation does the trust-building |
The website is the anchor. When a parent searches your name, they should land on a page that answers the questions a review would have answered: who teaches, how classes run, what progress looks like, how to enrol. Clear pages like that also help AI search tools describe you properly, which I covered in AI search visibility for small businesses.
For our own example, see AtTartil's testimonials page: real reflections from our alumni and current students.
My view: stars are a shortcut, not the foundation
After more than a decade building websites for businesses, here's my honest opinion: if a business can't explain why people trust it without a star rating, the stars were carrying too much weight.
Reviews are a shortcut for strangers. They're lovely when they work. But trust in education has always been built the slow way: a parent sees their child read a little more confidently each week, and tells another parent at the mosque or the playground.
Alhamdulillah, that slow way still works for us. Word of mouth was here long before Google, and it'll be here after whatever the next policy change is. It's the same reason I keep saying relationships beat algorithms, as in lepak, profits and small business networking.
What changes is how deliberately you support it. Make it easy for a happy parent to send a link. Make sure the page they send answers the real questions. And make sure the first reply to a new enquiry is warm and fast, because that reply now does the job a five-star rating used to do. (If you want to know what a good first enquiry looks like, I wrote about the signals I watch for in a first enquiry.)
A checklist if Google has blocked your reviews
- Check your primary category. Make sure it honestly describes what you do. Don't change it just to chase reviews.
- Read Google's school review policy so you know whether you're inside or outside it.
- Appeal calmly and keep a record, then stop refreshing.
- Keep the profile alive: accurate hours, photos and updates, even with no reviews.
- Build a testimonials page on your own website, with written permission from every family.
- Ask happy families to tell a friend, and make it easy with a link to that page.
- Tighten your follow-up so every new enquiry gets a quick, personal reply.
Want a second pair of eyes on your profile and website? Book a call with me.
FAQ
Why can't parents leave Google reviews for my school?
Google removes and disables reviews for Business Profiles primarily categorised as general education schools for students aged 6 to 18. It can also temporarily disable reviews for certain profiles or categories. If your profile is affected, new reviews won't be accepted, and existing ones may be removed.
Does Google allow reviews for tuition and education centres?
Google's policy names places that don't provide generalised education to ages 6 to 18, such as universities, day care centres and swim schools, as outside the school restriction. But Google can still disable reviews on individual profiles. Our own listing, categorised as a faith school, has had new reviews blocked for about a year.
Can I change my category to get Google reviews back?
Only if the new category honestly describes your business. Google's help page says you can change your category if the school guidance doesn't represent you. A misleading category risks bigger problems, and in our experience a category change request may not go through.
How long does Google block reviews on a Business Profile?
Google doesn't publish a fixed time. Its help page describes some restrictions as temporary and the school restriction as ongoing. In our case, new reviews have been blocked for about a year despite appeals, so plan as if it could last.
How can a school build trust without Google reviews?
Use channels you control. Publish permissioned parent stories on your website, encourage word of mouth, keep your Google profile accurate, and reply to every enquiry quickly and personally. These build lasting trust that one platform's rule change can't switch off.
If Google switched off reviews for your school or centre tomorrow, would you keep appealing, or send reviews somewhere else?
About the author: Nazreen Daud is a Malay web consultant and marketer in Singapore. He has built websites for businesses since he started freelancing in 2013, registered Roquepress in 2019 and founded Mulacan. He is also marketing manager at AtTartil Qur'anic Institute. He writes practical, hype-free notes on websites, SEO and AI for service businesses.