Deleting your Google Business Profile will not remove your reviews. Google stores reviews independently of the active profile status, so they persist in Google's index and can still appear in search results and on Maps tied to your business name and address. This is intentional—reviews reflect customer experiences at a physical location, not just the existence of a claimed profile. When you delete a profile, you lose the ability to respond to reviews, update business information, or manage how your listing appears. The reviews essentially become orphaned but remain public. Anyone searching your business name in Ottawa, Toronto, or anywhere else can still see them. In some cases, Google may show a grayed-out or unclaimed listing with the review count visible. If you're considering deletion because of negative reviews, this approach backfires. You'll lose your primary tool for damage control—the owner response feature—while the negative feedback stays live. A better strategy is keeping the profile active and responding professionally to criticism, which signals accountability and often improves conversion rates despite a lower star average. The only reliable way to remove a review is through Google's flag-and-report process if it violates content policies (spam, fake, off-topic, illegal content, conflicts of interest). Legitimate negative reviews, even harsh ones, typically won't be removed. We've seen removal success rates around 15–25% for flagged reviews that genuinely break guidelines, but it requires persistence and sometimes multiple reports. At Ottawa SEO, when clients want a fresh start, we recommend addressing the root issues, earning new positive reviews to dilute old negatives, and maintaining an active profile. Deleting just makes you look like you're hiding. If you're rebranding or moving, create a new profile for the new entity, but leave the old one marked as permanently closed rather than deleted—this keeps the historical trust signals while clarifying you've moved on.