I post at SearchCommander.com now, and this post was published 13 years 1 month 22 days ago. This industry changes FAST, so blindly following the advice here *may not* be a good idea! If you're at all unsure, feel free to hit me up on Twitter and ask.
You MUST know that Google can instantly tell whether a certain Google user who just left a review is a “real” user or not, right?
Google has access to everything a user does from their web browsing history to their Gmail habits, and they have for years. They even know where you live, so creating a completely fake / new user to leave a single review is stupid.
Even what Google doesn’t inherently know already from your computer use, they can get access to anything, so don’t think for a minute that they can’t spot a “fake user”.
Have they done anything about it yet? You bet that have. While Google had appeared to take no action forever, they recently revised their official policy, and even started deleting fake accounts last month, and that’s generated some controversy .
Fake Reviews Fool Nobody
Okay, that’s a lie, and you know it, but hear me out…
Yes it’s true that despite what Google says you should do fake reviews often still seem to be working for your competitors. And sadly, the fake negative review problem remains too, and you can have a daunting task ahead of you trying get one removed, but I don’t think that can last.
Although some people seem to have trouble singling out the fake reviews, I’ve found that it’s pretty easy to spot the “illegitimate” ones. Â How? Just by looking at the reviewer profile and taking note of one missing characteristic which legitimate ones will almost always have – multiple and logically associated reviews.
A legitimate review is usually not the only review someone makes for their entire account history. Any account with only one review is a suspect account, in my book. I’m not saying all are fake, but it’s unlikely that a user is going to create a new Places account just for the purpose of leaving one review.
Yes it’s true that SOME review has to be the first one in a Google account, but that number should naturally grow over time, shouldn’t it?
If a user has multiple Google reviews, and leaves reviews and star ratings over time for other businesses, and those businesses are geographically located near where they live and travel, then that helps add to their legitimacy as a reviewer, because that’s how a real person uses Google.
Could someone actually fake the Google profile and put up fake reviews that look credible and stand up to scrutiny?
Well sure, by assuming the personality of that Google profile, and participating regularly in rating other local businesses, but in trying to “fake it” they essentially become a second (or third, or fourth…) person, and who has time for that? Is it even worth the effort?
Well some people seem to think it is, and the fake review business is growing like wildfire.
Google Verifies People
That person leaving the review is supposed to be a real person, and Google has already begun verifying celebrities and deleting fake Google Plus accounts.
Who’s to say that someday the only reviews that will ever show are those of Google plus users that you have verified as human and “legitimate? Isn’t that what you might not do if you were Google? I’ll bet that someday the only reviews that show will be verified through Google Plus or something similar.
Even a legitimate profile can potentially lose Googles trust by star rating and reviewing businesses scattered all over the country, unless they’re a frequent traveller, which Google would probably know too.
If someone has multiple reviews in the same industry, or they review only businesses which all have multiple reviews by the same reviewers, then that’s another dead giveaway too, that is easy to spot if you dig in.
As of last month, Google is officially asking you to use your real name for your Google profile, and in this short video they clearly let us know that your days are numbered if you’re a phony.
I predict that someday soon, maybe even this year, Google reviews and star ratings might only show up when they’re from verified users.
Fake Review Services are Illegal
To me, the HUGE difference between paid links and fake reviews, and why I feel they cross a line that Google MUST react to, is that since 2009, the FTC had said that leaving fake reviews is actually illegal, whereas there IS no law against paid links, and probably never will be until Google buys the entire United States.
Businesses have sprung up already offering Google Places reviews by “real” Google users, and I have no doubt that Google will spot them fairly quickly, Â as those that sell their votes abuse their accounts.
Those Google accounts will either get shut down, or worse, those businesses which they have reviewed will actually be penalized though guilt by association.
Even though it seems to be working for now, perhaps Google is just letting some businesses run with the ball on the fake review thing to build a history – sort of, a long term pattern of misbehavior – as some suspect might be the case going on with paid links.
Faking reviews cannot possibly lead to anything good long term, and just like backlinks from a bad neighborhood can (supposedly) come back to haunt you, reviews left by shady reviewer accounts are likely to do the same thing.
I believe that reporting a competing business for “buying links” is a chickenshit act of a desperate internet marketer, whereas reporting fake reviews is a completely different story, and I would encourage reporting them to not only Google, but the FTC as well. I just wish that the two issues weren’t on the same report form at Google because they have nothing in common.
Get Reviews From Real and Active Reviewer Accounts
There’s nothing wrong with asking your customers to leave you a review, but ask them to leave you one somewhere that they already have an account, not just Google.
Sure you want Google places reviews, but you ONLY want them from Google users that will continue to leave reviews at multiple businesses for the rest of the immediate future.
If you have a computer or kiosk in your office open to your Google places page, and someone says “but I don’t have a Google account – I use Yahoo” Â then don’t ask them to open a Google account that they’re not going to use. Â Happily accept their review at Yahoo.
Just because Google has stopped showing the review snippits from all of the other review services doesn’t mean they’re not still indexing, watching, and factoring them in for rankings…
If you send out an email to customers asking them for a review, don’t just send them a link to your Google places page. Send them links to anywhere you’re listed that THEY might want to leave you feedback, and let them do what’s easiest for them.
Is that at CitySearch? Facebook? Superpages? Merchant Circle? Somewhere else? That’s where you should ask them to leave your review – wherever they are ALREADY a user.
To Be Fake – Be Real
The easiest way to get fake reviews is to trick your customers into leaving you one, by giving them “fake” great customer service.
Give them a fake smile as you happily move  them to a window seat.  Make believe you care when they tell you their problem. Offer them a solution, discount, refund, or any other concession that will not only pacify them, but might even make them happy!
In short, the way to get fake reviews is to make believe you’re a good business by BEING a good business!
If a business can trick real people into leaving good reviews by actually BEING good, then Google won’t mind that you’re gaming the system. Fake it ’till you make it…
That’s very good that Google started not only to monitor the situation with fake reviews but also deleting fake Google accounts. It’s always better to get a review from an acoount that is in use than to create one-time fake account in Google.
Hi Scott,
While I really like your ideas and I think they are truly optimistic, I believe you overestimate Google too much.
The problem with fake reviews is staying there for quite some time and there are literally thousands of accounts with 50+ reviews of businesses from the same kind in different cities across a country. All these reviews are fake and I can assure you that currently on Google Places more than 50% of the users that have left more than 20 reviews, are completely fake.
At the same time, there are thousands and thousands of reviews from ACTUAL REAL users that left only 1 review, because they were asked to by the business owner. So I\\\’d not agree with the one review = illegitimate user theory, which is quite yelp-ish.
Talking about Yelp, I know of a business owner, who has overall 25+ reviews on Yelp, with 21 four or five-star ones, 1 two-star and 3 one-star. 2 of these one-star reviews are left by competitors with almost no text in them. The users have 1-2 more reviews IN THE SAME DAY they left these 1-star reviews. At the same time all but two of the good reviews are filtered. The current rating of the business is 2. So system based on number of reviews as a reputation signal definitely does not work.
Currently Google DOES NOT spot spam reviews across different Google Places listings. In fact, the only sure antispam filter in place is the following:
when multiple reviews are left from the same IP/location and then from this same IP/location the verified business owner logs in to their Google account, the reviews will automatically be deleted
This is the only filter currently in place.
Thanks for the feedback, and I don’t disagree that there are thousands of examples of bad practices actually “winning the war” not only on Google, but at Yelp and others – and it’s the same thing with paid links and spammy sites in organic rankings, but I do believe the days are numbered.
The way it sits right now, when you follow the rules, Google and others do an incredibly poor job enforcing things – until someone complains, or they get embarrassed / called out publicly – Sadly, that means you’re likely going to get beaten by a cheater – However, this cant last, and I think Google Plus is going to have to rely on human verification more and more.
Just like the Yelp examples you site, things aren’t sustainable the way they are now – Review services want users to trust them, and the only way they’ll be able to do that is to clean up their acts, and require verification.
As far as your contention that the only antispam filter in place is the IP / location, again, that may be the case now, but i don’t think it’s going to last… it just can’t!
Have you guys tried http://karmareviews.com? It’s an review exchange site. I don’t think people give fake reviews tho. I got some great reviews there.
Fake never wins only the original wins in long run 🙂
Problem isn’t that Google knows if its fake or not. Its when your potential customers read a fake review – negative or positive- and believe it 100% – good and bad
As google evolves and becomes smarter and smarter,i think that if you are proud of your business and you think that most of yuor customers are happy . . .then it shouldnt be a problem to ask your customers to write a review about your business.
Hi I too think that Google is trying to halt the fakes like have new users verify by a telephone call or text. But I think it is still going to be a long haul to halt everything.
Your article is more an alert than just a script about fake reviews. Giving knowledge about google’s filtering fake reviews is great.Though spammers have to be tackled. Its more a moral responsibility. A great script. Thank you.
I was just reminded about this article by an email notification. Quite a lot of things have changed since it was written, but it seems the majority of the problems persist. An interesting retrospective view 🙂
What happens when a company goes and buys fake reviews for your site?
You can report those reviews to Google, AND as the owner, you can respond to each of them from your Places page.
All my real reviews got zapped for no apparent reason. Not sure if google’s algorithm confused them with fake reviews.
Now that correlation studies are strongly showing that Google is actually ranking sites off of their Google+ social standing. The steaks are higher for both black hat marketers and Google to spot them.