Dr. Len Tau Reverses Review Advice Amid Google's Crackdown on Coached Dental Reviews

Dr. Len Tau, a renowned dentist and online reputation specialist known as 'The Reviews Doctor', has reversed his previous advice on how to garner positive reviews for dental practices. This change comes after Google updated its Maps review rules in April 2026.

Tau's new book, Raving Patients Supercharged: Be Seen, Be Trusted, Be Chosen, launches at the Supercharge Your Dental Practice 2026 conference on September 25. The second edition of his book abandons tactics previously recommended by Tau, including asking patients to mention team members by name in their reviews.

According to Google's updated rules, businesses cannot ask staff to solicit a certain number of reviews or those that identify a specific team member. This change aims to prevent coached or fake reviews.

Tau analyzed six months of reviews from two practices and found that an office without coaching had around 6% of reviews mentioning a team member, while one with encouraged name mentions had over 50%. He considers this 'the signature of coaching' and something Google's systems can detect.