Google Maps introduced a tool designed for identify fake reviews more easily which can sweeten the judgment on a company and to punish with restrictions companies that exploit this practice. This system alerts users when it detects suspicious behavior in company profiles, such as posting fake reviews or using “incentives” to gain positive ratings. How? By applying a banners on suspicious company profiles. With this tool, the Google maps service wants to combat the unfair practices that are perpetrated online by some companies. While this feature is currently only available in the UK, Google may soon extend it globally in order to make its platform more transparent and trustworthy. In addition to relying on this “help” made available directly by the Mountain View giant, we also suggest being smart by learning to read the reviews as a whole, contextualizing them in order to understand their truthfulness.
A banner on Google Maps will flag fake reviews
A special person will report companies that present fake reviews on their company profile on Google Maps bannermarked by the icon triangle with exclamation mark in the centerwhich will contain the following message:
Suspected fake reviews were recently removed from this site.
The banner in question is the result of the “war” that Google Maps has waged against company pages that publish fake reviews. In addition to reporting this behavior to users, Google will impose restrictions on business profiles that violate the policy Fake Engagement of the “search giant” by temporarily removing reviews and even blocking the publication of new ratings for the company that was suspected of the aforementioned violations.
These restrictions, for the record, were introduced in United Kingdom at the beginning of 2024 and only users resident in the UK will see notices on company profiles. Since the Business Profile Restrictions for Policy Violations support page was updated in mid-September with the aforementioned changes, we can reasonably assume that these may soon be applied to business profiles worldwide as well.
Among other things, Google’s policy on prohibited and restricted content states that contributions to Maps should «help consumers choose a business based on their needs» and it is for this reason that «Activities that violate the (…) Fake Engagement Policy may be subject to certain limitations».
Google has not made public details about how its fake review detection system works. The fact is that the mere “threat” of being publicly humiliated by “Big G” on Maps could dissuade some companies from trying to artificially inflate the ratings on their profile. At least, that’s what we all hope.
How to recognize fake reviews on Google Maps (and beyond)
While we’re at it, let’s wrap up the article by providing you with useful tips for recognizing fake reviews on Google Maps and, more generally, on the profiles of companies reviewed on the Internet.
- Pay attention to the frequency and content of reviews: If you notice a company receiving a lot of reviews in a short amount of time, there may be something fishy going on.
- Analyze the content of positive reviews: If reviews are too general or repetitive, are not accurate in detail, do not contain photos, or do not reference specific aspects of the reviewed experience, they may be fake.
- Analyze the profile of the reviewers: anyone who writes multiple reviews in different cities in the same period may not be a genuine user.
- Watch out for extremely positive or extremely negative ratings: taking only 5-star reviews or only 1-star reviews into consideration could be misleading and not allow you to actually understand the quality of the company you are considering. Always remember that extremely positive reviews may have been bought or created by the company; very negative or overly critical reviews could come from competitors or malicious users.
- Compare the reviews with those on other rating services: this could be a smart way to get a more truthful and realistic idea of the company you are considering.
It’s possible report fake reviews by pressing the three dots next to the review and selecting the “Report as inappropriate” option.
