How to Respond to Fake Reviews

You notice a weird review on your business profile and are unsure what to think. Is it real? Am I getting spammed with fake reviews? This article provides you with some tips on how to tell if the review on your business profile is a fake one.

How to Know You’ve Received Any Fake Reviews.

The reviewer will leave a one-star or five-star review. Fake reviews don’t tend to leave two, three, or four-star reviews as they are typically dramatic with their review as they’re looking to increase or decrease the average rating for your business.

The review will lack detail. If the reviewer is fake, they most likely haven’t even purchased a product or service from you, so how can they leave a rating? With no experience with your business, there won’t be much to say. A real review will likely get into the detail of their experience.

The reviewer has no history. When a review is left, you can click to view the reviewer’s profile. They could be a scammer if they have no reviews themselves or tend to use the same verbiage across other reviews.

How to Remove Fake Reviews?

The problem with reporting a fake review is that Google doesn’t know if they’re a true customer, so proving that may become challenging. So what do you do?

You can try to report the review and hope for success. Check out our blog on How to Remove a Google Review for more information.

If that doesn’t work, it’s always best to treat it like a real review – be professional. Here is an example:

“Hi, [name].

We appreciate you taking the time to leave us a review. Unfortunately, we have no record or recollection of your experience with us, nor can we verify anything about your identity from your name in our records. If you have done business with us, we would like to investigate this issue further. Please contact [name] immediately at [email] so that we can resolve this issue.“

Once you respond, click the ‘flag’ icon next to the reviewer’s name. From there, you will be able to report the review. You will be asked for some information about the violation.

To help speed things up, you can also ask others to flag the review. You may also want to contact a Google support representative.

If you have any further questions about reviews, please don’t hesitate to contact us. We also offer Review Management as a service, so if you’re looking for help ramping up those online reviews, we have you covered!