Fake Google reviews can be hard to spot if you’re a customer, but if you’re a small business, it’s easy to tell when they appear. You’d never met the person before, and their profile only has one review. That review is for your business.
Google will instantly eliminate surveys that abuse its strategies, including counterfeit ones.
Here, we’ll examine how to recognize counterfeit Google Audits, then, at that point, we’ll list the moves toward reporting them to research and eliminate them from your posting.
And since Google is a third-party site, businesses can’t just take the review down. They need to go through Google’s reviewal process to appeal the fake review.
- Pay attention to the details in the review.
- Look at the complexity of words.
- Check for repeated exclamation points.
- Examine the reviewer’s name and avatar.
- Flag reviews without comments.
- See if the reviewer has reviewed other businesses.
- Look at how frequently the reviewer leaves reviews.
1- Pay attention to the details in the review.
Fake reviews can sometimes be hard to spot, especially when the reviewer doesn’t want you to know it’s fake.
This implies they need to give explicit subtleties with regard to why their experience was negative.
Counterfeit surveys will frequently specify subtleties that don’t have anything to do with the protest. For instance, one investigation discovered that phony inn surveys frequently included more data about the commentator’s family than it did about the lodging experience.
Since the reviewer doesn’t have a real interaction to write about, the details they’ll fabricate will focus more on their personal stories.
2- Look at the complexity of the words.
To write a deceptive message, reviewers need to use more cognitive function than they would if they were telling the truth. Since they’re creating fictional details in their minds, their brains need to work harder than they would if they were recalling a recent memory.
This additional work normally brings about a message that utilizes more straightforward phrasing. As a matter of fact, research shows that when commentators attempt to be underhanded, they’re bound to utilize words that aren’t as lengthy or complex. That’s because their focus is on creating a believable story, rather than flexing their vocabulary.
3- Check for repeated exclamation points.
Another common theme of fake customer reviews is the repeated use of exclamation points. One study from MIT found that deceptive reviews often contain more exclamation points than genuine reviews.
Counterfeit analysts trust that by adding these imprints, they’ll stress the gloomy feelings behind their criticism. Nonetheless, honest surveys are bound to zero in on the genuine occasions that were pessimistic, as opposed to how the analyst is feeling at the time. After all, if a customer is sincerely upset with your company, they’ll want to provide thoughtful, actionable feedback instead of appearing like they’re overreacting to the situation.
4- Examine the reviewer’s name and avatar.
One clear giveaway can be the name and avatar associated with the review. Since Google Reviews require an email address, people who leave fake reviews will often create fake accounts.
Really look at the analyst’s name and symbol. While it’s not ensured to uncover the credibility of the survey, you could discover a contender attempting to act deceptively or an individual who didn’t wind up utilizing your administrations by any means, yet at the same time felt a sense of urgency to post a survey.
5- See if the reviewer has reviewed other businesses.
One more method for checking the record’s authenticity is to check whether they’ve audited different organizations, particularly ones in your industry. In the event that the client has no different surveys or appears to continually flaunt about a particular contender, there’s a superior opportunity the survey is phony.
To check, navigate to the review and click on the reviewer’s name. This should launch a side panel that shows you all of the reviews the person has left, similar to the image below.
In this view, you can see the businesses that the person has reviewed as well as any photos that the reviewer has uploaded. You can also assess their “contribution points” which are added as the person submits more reviews. The higher the number of points, the more likely that the review is real.
6- Look at how frequently the reviewer leaves reviews.
Using that same interface shown above, you should also check to see how frequently the person leaves reviews. People who are paid to write fake reviews often submit them in bulk, then make another record to keep away from recognition.
Fortunately, you can use the account summary to check when reviews were left. If you notice that the reviewer has left multiple reviews on the same day, the reviews are likely fake.
7- Flag reviews without comments.
This makes it simpler for tricky analysts to pass on counterfeit surveys and harder for your business to get them.
When in doubt of thumb, you ought to signal all regrettable surveys that do exclude a remark. While a portion of these might be certifiable, your most significant surveys are ones that make sense of why your business is perfect or why it missed the mark regarding assumptions. Audits without remarks don’t offer a lot to different clients or your business, so they’re worth researching on the off chance that you suspect they’re fake.
Now that you know how to spot a fake review, let’s talk about how you can remove it.