How to Deal with Fake Reviews on Google?

According to a research, “About 80% of consumers trust reviews online as much as a personal recommendation from a colleague or friend”. Without any doubt, the popularity of online reviews has added a key attribute to the web. But, what about fake reviews from your jealous competitors or spammers?

Negative reviews are not only bad for your business but also frustrating and annoying if they’re fake. They can damage your reputation, so it’s vital to address fake reviews by attempting to remove them, responding and building a great reputation.

Google reviews policy seems to be very stick against businesses. It’s very easy to speed bad words against any business and post them. It’s very easy as anyone can create fake accounts on Google and review other business.  However, in this informative post, we are going to look at how to deal with fake reviews.

How to Deal with Fake Reviews on Google

1.    Quick Respond to The Fake Review
If you have received a fake review, then you cannot get it removed, but you surely can do something about it. For example- Google lets you respond to reviews. Responding in a positive way can show the customer just how professional you are. Keep in mind that apply the “Customer Is Always Right” mindset, and provide a genuine apology. Also, respond to the fake review will put the reviewer on notice that you know it’s bogus. If you are able to show that you offer excellent customer service, more people will trust you – will lead to more conversion.

The chart below exemplifies this.

Make sure that your responses to negative online reviews are prompt.

2.    Flag the Review
If you find a review that violates Google review policies, then you can flag it for removal. Click the Flag icon and you will be taken to the page where you can report the review as a violation of Google’s Terms of Service. Just fill out the form and use your company’s email address for the contact information. You will only hear from a Google team member if they if they have information to share with you or they need additional details from you. Once a fake review is flagged try to wait for some days for a response or wait for it to be removed.

3.    Contact Google My Business (GMB)
here are plenty of ways to get in touch with Google, such as phone support, email support, Facebook, and Twitter etc. Google forum is also one of common place where webmaster places their inquiries. However, it’s very difficult to judge that a comment is real or fake but we assume that Google will make their algorithm smarter to judge a comment as they recently did with fact check option enable in Google Search for News around the world   If you have all your evidence at hand that proves this review is a fake, then you can succeed in getting them removed. If you’ve come across content on Google that violate the law, let Google know about it, Google will review the material and consider blocking, removing or restricting access to it. Google comment policy says –

• Don’t spam or post fake reviews intended to boost or lower ratings.
• Don’t post or link to content that is sexually explicit or contains profanity.
• Don’t post or link to content that is abusive or hateful or threatens or harasses others.
• Read more- https://goo.gl/nXMeoH

90% of customers say that their buying decisions are influenced by online reviews. Online reputation management is an on-going process as you have to keep sharp sight to each review where they are on Google, Facebook or any review website. You must agree that Google is not at all a single platform where you may lose your valuable customers but also many social media like Trip Advisor, Google, Angie’s List, yelp, Glassdoor, Facebook, Twitter etc, where your competitors may damage your reputation and you may lose your customers. These days, businesses are more and more turning to online reputation management services, often to bury fake reviews posted on the web.