How To Spot a Fake Review
Stay One Step Ahead and Keep Your Brand Name Protected
Some businesses think trashing the competition using Google fake reviews is the quickest way to the top. But that does NOT work. Learn how to tell if Google reviews are fake and add a touch of transparency to your marketing strategy.
What Makes a Google Review ‘Fake?’
Fake Google reviews are deceptive or manipulated reviews about a business, product or service. These may include false statements or baseless allegations that some companies use to get an unfair advantage over their rivals.
Negative reviews, particularly those from disgruntled customers, employees or business partners, can appear slanderous. However, they cannot be considered fake if based on real interaction. So the question remains: How to spot a fake review?
Common Fake Review Signals:
- A reviewer with an anonymous or generic name
- Impersonal avatars or photo-less profiles
- A reviewer whose name does not appear anywhere in your customer database
- Keyword stuffing or the excessive use of target keywords
- A reviewer who gives multiple businesses a string of similar negative or 1-star reviews
- Extreme positivity or negativity
- Vague negative details about the brand, product or service
- Irrelevant storyline details
- A spike in negative reviews
- Non-verified purchases
Google fake reviews aren’t always easy to spot. A Bright Local survey found that while 62 percent of U.S. consumers believe they’ve seen a fake review in the last year, 84 percent said they don’t always know how to spot a fake review.
With so much consumer uncertainty, businesses must be proactive in identifying and reporting fake Google reviews to maintain an accurate brand image.
How Fake Reviews Impact Online Businesses
Maintain Trust Among Existing and Future Customers
In today’s digital landscape, more and more consumers rely on user-generated reviews when deciding which brands to trust. And in many cases, the quantity and quality of reviews can make or break a business.
Being the fastest-growing review platform, a surge of Google fake reviews, in particular, can negatively impact four core areas of your business:
Brand Trust
The lack of transparent business reviews threatens brand authenticity and trust. A Bazaarvoice study found that 56 percent of customers won’t buy a product if they suspect fake reviews. And once consumers lose trust, a whopping 81 percent will avoid using the brand again.
Local Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
Google reviews are local search ranking factors that impact your business's search results. Companies using fake reviews violate Google’s guidelines and risk a sharp decline in local rankings. Unfortunately, the latter also applies to victims of fake reviews.
Customers’ Purchase Decisions
With 77 percent of consumers regularly reading online reviews for local businesses (Bright Local), having too many fake or malicious Google reviews can discourage prospects and existing customers from doing business with you.
Sales and Growth
In the U.S., fake reviews influence $791 billion of eCommerce spending annually (Competition and Markets Authority). This means falling victim to fake reviews can make you lose sight of real customer issues that need to be addressed and hurt your earnings.
Evidently, the proliferation of Google fake reviews can have a catastrophic effect on businesses of all sizes. That is why you must learn how to check your Google reviews and weed out fake ones.
If you need guidance on how to spot fake Google reviews, we have just the thing for you.
Rize Reviews’ AI-powered fake review checker is designed to help you distinguish between fraudulent and genuine Google reviews within minutes! Get in touch with us, and we’ll show you how to check your Google reviews effortlessly.
Rize Reviews’ Commitment to Transparency
Foster Integrity Above All Else
Given the increasing importance of online reviews in consumer purchases, some companies resort to using Google fake reviews to improve their brand image or to damage the reputation of their competitors.
Rize Reviews helps you implement the first line of defense against these bad actors and fake reviews using our advanced fake review detector. But first, let’s talk about why you should never publish or promote Google fake reviews in the first place.
The Importance of Transparency in Review Management
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC), Google and other review platforms do not take kindly to anyone abusing their algorithm or defying their guidelines. Doing so could result in:
Legal Action
The FTC actively pursues cases against companies that buy fake reviews or commission fraudulent reviews for other businesses. Fake Google reviews violate Section 5(a) of the FTC Act, which prohibits “unfair or deceptive acts or practices in or affecting commerce.”
Suspension of Google Business Profile
Google has spam detection filters that flag fake reviews and those that breach its policies. Violation of Google’s guidelines can result in the suspension of your Google Business Profile (formerly known as Google My Business).
Don’t let others cheat their way to the top. Cultivate transparent business reviews and guard your reputation from a fraudulent review attack using Rize Reviews’ review checker.
How Rize’s Review Checker Works
Spotting and Reporting Fake Google Reviews Made Easy
Rize’s Google review checker is a simple and smart software tool with all the features you need to spot and report fake Google reviews. Protect your brand and secure consumers’ online experience using our online review analyzer.
Our Google review checker features:
40+ Page Visual Audits
Rize’s fake review detector instantly analyzes Google reviews and generates 40+ page visual audits with pass and fail grades. We simply plug any website into the review verifier and receive a comprehensive report within two minutes.
Gmail User Profiling
Our review analyzer allows us to get a full history of a Gmail user’s review writing. We then assign a score on how likely they are to write positive or fake reviews. You can use this profile to vet your lists in advance and enhance your review generation strategy.
Unlimited Review Audits
Whether you want to verify reviews from 10 or more competitor sites, our review checker can handle large-scale transparency audits. The cost varies depending on the number of websites you want to be examined.
Don’t fall victim to fake reviews. Leverage our fake review finder and take reasonable steps to fight the pervasiveness of fake and paid Google reviews.
How Rize Handles Fake Reviews
Strengthen Your Digital Reputation
At Rize Reviews, we ensure all our clients only publish legitimate reviews that help customers make informed purchase decisions. To make this possible, we:
Screen Thousands of Google Reviews
We use an advanced website review checker to analyze Google reviews, identify those that have been overrated and quickly detect fake reviews.
Screen Thousands of Google Reviews
We use an advanced website review checker to analyze Google reviews, identify those that have been overrated and quickly detect fake reviews.
Generate a Comprehensive Visual Audit
Transparency audit using the fake review checker only takes minutes. Sign up today and expect a complete transparency audit report in as little as one day.
Report Fake Google Reviews
Once we have the report, we can take action by reporting Google reviews that violate their guidelines. We can also use the report to develop a review management strategy for your business.
Can a Google Review Be Removed?
Take Charge of Your Search Engine Presence
Learning how to check your Google reviews using a fake review spotter is just the beginning. Once you’ve identified malicious reviews, the next step is reporting Google reviews.
But let us first answer the question, “Can a Google review be removed?” Yes. Fake reviews from untruthful customers, competitors, ex-employees, bots and spam can be taken down as long as you follow the necessary steps on how to remove fake reviews on Google.
Don’t know where to begin?
Our experienced reputation managers at Rize Reviews are here to help you through all that. We leverage our expertise and deep understanding of how to spot fake Google reviews and how to remove a false Google review to mitigate any damage to your reputation.
Give us a call, and let’s talk about your review strategy.
How To Remove Fake Reviews on Google
Fight the Abuse of False Consumer Feedback
Anyone can report suspected fake reviews to Google. Once the fake review finder shows these malicious reviews, they must get flagged immediately.
Here’s how to report fake reviews on Google:
- Find the business profile in Google Maps or Google Search.
- Click View all Google Reviews and look for the rating.
- Click the three-dot menu or small flag icon next to the star rating.
- Hit Flag as inappropriate or Report review.
- You will be redirected to a page where you need to provide your email address and specify the violation type.
- Once submitted, Google will review your complaint and contact you if further information is necessary.
Now that you know how to remove false Google reviews, keep in mind that Google is more likely to take action against reviews that have been flagged more than once. There is no guarantee that your complaint will be resolved in just one attempt.
Let our reputation management experts who know how to get a review removed from Google effectively do the job. We use the review analyzer report to create a holistic review management strategy and protect your brand.
Why Choose Rize’s Online Review Analyzer Service
Get Access to Advanced Tools and Reputation Management Experts
Even large corporations are not immune to fake reviews. The best thing you can do to protect your business reputation is to have a reputable reputation management company handle your brand strategy.
Rize Reviews is a recognized leader in the reputation management industry. We work with thousands of companies to build their digital reputation and generate authentic positive reviews.
Here’s what you can expect when you sign up for our service: