Fake online reviews are a scourge for businesses, especially small ones that find it hard to compete with the big players online. Fake reviews can have a negative impact on a company’s reputation, credibility and even sales. Fortunately, there are steps businesses can take to protect themselves against false online reviews. In this article, we’ll give you some practical advice to help you protect your business against fake online reviews.

Understanding the nature of fake online reviews

Fake online reviews can be created by malicious competitors, dissatisfied customers or even by companies that specialize in creating fake reviews. Fake reviews can be positive or negative, but they all share a common goal: to mislead potential customers into believing that the company has a better or worse reputation than it actually does.

It’s important to understand that fake reviews are not only a moral issue, but also a legal one. Companies that fall victim to fake reviews can take legal action against the authors of the reviews in question.

How to detect fake online reviews

The first step in protecting your business from fake online reviews is knowing how to detect them. Here are a few tips to help you detect fake reviews:

  • False reviews are often very complimentary or very critical, without detailed explanation.
  • Fake reviews often contain spelling mistakes or grammatical errors.
  • Fake reviews are often posted by newly created accounts or by accounts with very few comments.
  • False reviews often share similarities in the choice of words and phrases used.

If you detect fake reviews on your own or third-party websites, you can report them to the relevant platforms for removal.

How can you prevent fake online reviews?

Preventing fake reviews is the best defense against fake online reviews. Here are a few tips to help you prevent fake reviews:

  • Offer excellent customer service. Satisfied customers are less likely to leave false reviews.
  • Encourage customers to leave honest reviews. The more comments you get, the less room there will be for false reviews.
  • Check comments regularly and report false reviews to the relevant platforms.
  • Use software to detect fake reviews
  • The more positive reviews you get, the more negative reviews will be diluted!
  • The more referrers / satisfied customers you get on the Internet (and not just on google my business), the more it will put out the fire….

Conclusion and advice

False online reviews can have a negative impact on your company’s reputation, but there are steps you can take to protect yourself. By understanding the nature of false reviews, knowing how to detect them and taking steps to prevent them, you can protect your business from false online reviews. Be vigilant, and don’t hesitate to report false reviews so that the platforms concerned can remove them.

A final word of advice: read the google review rules carefully, there are plenty of ways to get reviews removed…;-) start by analyzing the different cases and see if it’s one of Google’s typical refusal cases, then report it via the little “report” flag in the top right-hand corner of the review.

At the end of the process, Google returns: