How to deal with fake online reviews of your business?

Do you think you are a victim of fake reviews on your company profile and would like to know how to protect your business and online reputation? Find out below what you need to do with a step-by-step tutorial.

How to recognise fake reviews? 

Fake reviews can be irritating, infuriating, and damaging not only to your online reputation but also to your company’s profits. But how can you be sure that a review is fake? 

Let’s start by remembering that fake reviews do not necessarily have to be negative reviews, but can also be positive opinions. A review is defined as fake when it does not reflect the experience of a consumer and therefore aims to mislead users and potential customers. 

In both cases, unfortunately, to date, there are no tools that can determine with certainty the accuracy of a review. However, some reviews may be more suspicious than others: 

• Lack of detail 

It is difficult to describe a product or experience if it didn’t happen. Fake reviews often offer general praise or criticism, rather than focusing on the details. Because they don’t know the product in question, reviews are often lacking in commentary, limited to a simple one to five-star review rating. 

• Suspicious account

By clicking on the user’s photo, you can see their profile, their stock history, and the reviews they have left. If the profile in question was opened a few hours earlier, contains no other reviews, or only contains reviews that are very similar to each other, then these could be fake reviews. 

• Praising the competition 

Suppose a review focuses excessively on one of your competitors and their excellent services, rather than a real judgement of their business. In that case, you may be looking at an unreliable review or a case of unfair competition. 

• Out-of-context commentary

If the review is completely out of context and not relevant to the category of products or services you offer, it is most likely a case of spam. For example, if you are a restaurateur and a review on your Google account talks about a travel agency.

How to deal with fake reviews? 

If you spot a fake customer review on your company profile or social media, it is important to react calmly so as not to damage your reputation further.

If you are sure you are dealing with a fake review, the first thing is to report it as such. Most review platforms offer the possibility to report posted reviews. If the review is deemed inappropriate or defamatory, it can be removed from the search engine.

Secondly, while you wait for your report to be evaluated, it is in your best interest to respond publicly. Write a polite response and do not openly accuse them of having posted a false review – you may upset other users. Instead, ask for an explanation and leave a contact number to get more details about what caused the dissatisfaction.

Finally, try to get more positive reviews so that the fake ones are put on the back burner. Don’t hesitate to ask your real customers to leave a review on your Google listing or social networks such as Facebook.

Can false online reviews be removed? 

Removing the fake Google review before anyone can see it is the ideal scenario. Unfortunately, the business owner can’t remove reviews from other users. 

What is possible is to report the review and ask the platform to remove it, but there is no guarantee that a fake review will be removed. Unless a review violates the website’s guidelines. It is your word against the reviewers and review platforms that cannot remove all posts that the business owner does not like.

What impact do fake reviews have on your business? 

Unfortunately, all major referral platforms, such as Tripadvisor, Google My Business, or Facebook, are affected by the publication of fake reviews. For this reason, fake reviews can seriously damage a company’s reputation and cause it to lose many customers.

In addition to this, a bad online reputation also negatively affects the online visibility of a business. Google, for example, prefers to show businesses with a good reputation on the first page of Google search results and Google Maps.

Therefore, tracking and reporting fake reviews allows a business not only to protect itself, but also to optimise its Google My Business profile and improve its online visibility.