Why You Should Never Buy Fake Google Reviews, and How Google Catches Them

Can Google tell when reviews are fake?

Yes, most of the time. Google has an automated system for filtering out fake reviews. It looks at:

• the IP address of the person who left the review
• whether that IP address has visited your location
• whether the same Wi-Fi network was used across several reviews
• the history of the account that left the review

People who sell fake reviews have ways of trying to get around this. Sometimes the reviews stick for a while. 90% of the time they end up getting removed.

Trying to game the algorithm can also get your Google Business Profile flagged or, worse, banned. It is already happening.

Reason 1: the FTC can fine you

The FTC has said about $50,000 per instance. It is mainly going after massive companies doing this at a large scale, so a local home service business probably will not be the one fined. It still puts you at risk.

Reason 2: the reviews will not last

The Google accounts created to write fake reviews will probably be used again and again for other fake reviews. If Google catches on to any fake review that account left, not only yours, it will probably remove the account and all of its previous reviews.

So whether it takes a month, three months, a year or two years, there is a good chance the reviews you paid for will not stick.

Reason 3: it can damage your Google Business Profile

This is the biggest reason for a local business. Overseas, Google started rolling out a flag that says, “This business contains fake engagement.” It has not been pushed out to all countries, but there is a chance it will be.

That flag will kill your conversion rate. Picture someone looking for a plumber or an HVAC company who sees that a profile might contain fake engagement. They go straight to the next profile.

There is a second cost. Sometimes Google filters out real reviews from your real customers. When you go through the appeal process to get them back, Google sees the fake reviews on your account too, and that does not make you look good. It becomes harder to get your real reviews restored.

Why real reviews are worth more anyway

No matter how good an AI-written fake review is, it will not be as good as a real review from one of your customers. A real review tells a story: a technician going above and beyond, showing up in the rain, showing up in the freezing cold. Those are the reviews that turn people reading your profile into customers.

Fake reviews lack that personal touch. They will not help convert the traffic your Google Business Profile gets.

What to do instead

Build a system for getting reviews from the customers you already have. Buying 50 reviews when you are just starting out is tempting. Doing it slower and the right way pays off in the long run.

A lot of the people trying to buy fake reviews have hundreds or thousands of previous customers who love their service. It is easier to have a system that gets those customers to leave real reviews than to buy fake ones and put your profile at risk. This is the work Review Harvest does for local businesses.