Whether you’re a home builder, a logistics company, or an industrial operation, almost every company will receive a bad Google review at some point. But what if they are fake? As a digital marketing company, we know that fake reviews can come from many sources. The most common sources of fake reviews we see are disgruntled former employees or vendors, people who disagree with your company’s practices or product, and bots/automated accounts.
In this blog, we’ll look at where fake online reviews come from and what to do about them. (We’ll get into good and bad reviews in a later blog.)
Usually when an employee is let go, there are hard feelings. I’ve actually seen a former employee complain in a review that the CEO didn’t pick up his dog’s poop on their morning walks at the office. Bad form? Yes. Bad review worthy? Of course not.
The key to dealing with this type of complaint is to point out that it is from a former employee without disclosing any employment information (e.g., the reason for termination). Do not use the words “disgruntled,” “mad”, or “angry”. Here’s an appropriate response I would recommend:
“We take feedback seriously, but we do not agree with the characterization of events presented in this review. Because this involves a confidential employment matter, it would be inappropriate to discuss personnel details publicly. We remain committed to maintaining a professional and respectful workplace.”
Then take screenshots of the review, report the violation to Google as a conflict of interest, and avoid escalating the issue.
These reviews are the most common ones we’ve encountered at Power Marketing. A member of a community doesn’t approve of a development you are building; they believe your business isn’t environmentally friendly, or the owner of the company supports a politician or cause that they do not agree with. On some occasions, these people will organize campaigns with other like-minded individuals to bomb you with bad reviews, even though they’ve never worked with your company.
Coordinated efforts can be a little thornier than other issues since there may be multiple reviewers, and you will have to discount all of them. Here is the response I recommend:
“We take customer feedback seriously, but we cannot locate any record that this reviewer purchased or used our product. The comments appear to be related to a broader disagreement rather than a firsthand customer experience. We have asked the platform to review the post under its policies concerning off-topic content and reviews not based on genuine experiences.”
Again, take screenshots and report them individually to Google. When reporting, be sure to correctly select the reason the review is fraudulent. Your choices are:
In your explanation to Google, be brief:
“The reviewer has not purchased or used our product. This review was posted as part of a coordinated response to a disagreement outside of my business and does not describe a genuine customer experience.”
The term “Bot Review” is broad. Most bot reviews are not posted by an autonomous robot that constantly churns them out. Instead, it’s typically a hybrid process in which a human sets up multiple Gmail accounts, generates mass amounts of AI-generated reviews, and then a bot or a human posts the reviews. The operator then posts the reviews across multiple websites, spaced out over time, to make them harder to detect.
Addressing bot reviews is pretty much the same process I’ve described above. Take screenshots of the review and make sure to include the image and name. Also, pull up the account’s review history for your submission to Google. Once in your Google Business Profile, report the review as SPAM or fake engagement.
Your response to the review:
“We cannot locate any customer, transaction, inquiry, or service record associated with this reviewer. The account appears to be part of coordinated activity intended to affect our rating and does not describe a genuine experience with our business.”
If you have problems removing false reviews from Google, there are platforms that can help. But the majority we have tested at Power Marketing DO NOT work. They will describe themselves as former Google employees and charge you every month without making any progress. The platform we’ve used successfully is Feedback Clarity.
Fake online reviews can damage your credibility, lower your overall rating, and make it harder for potential customers to trust your business. Power Marketing can help you:
We can also optimize your Google Business Profile to improve its visibility, accuracy, and effectiveness in local search results. If you are dealing with fake reviews or want to strengthen your company’s presence on Google, contact Power Marketing for a free evaluation.