I’ve visited a few restaurants recently with extremely high ratings (4.9), but based on my experience, I believe they only deserve 3 stars at best. Both restaurants, first in Jakarta and second is in Pattaya, actively solicited positive reviews, which raises concerns for me. How is Google addressing businesses that encourage reviews in this manner, as it may distort ratings and give a misleading impression of the quality?
It’s becoming increasingly difficult to trust the ratings, and I feel like the lack of updates or action on this issue reflects negligence as my recently reported restaurant maintain its 4.9 rating. How is Google ensuring that ratings remain honest and reliable?
I’ve noticed that weigh of quality reviews from higher-level contributors seem to get drowned out by mass volume of one-liner reviews that might not accurately reflect the experience. How does Google weigh reviews from experienced contributors compared to shorter, less detailed reviews? Is there a way to ensure that the collective input from seasoned reviewers has more impact on creating a more accurate overall rating?
I was previously active on Zomato, and the ratings there felt more balanced and better reflected business performance. Now, it seems like many businesses, especially in some countries, solicit positive reviews, creating a false impression of quality. This can lead to misleading ratings, and it’s hard to trust the system.
Additionally, in certain cultures, it’s challenging enough to give honest, negative feedback, and I feel like Google isn’t doing enough to address this issue. How is Google improving the review process to make sure it reflects genuine experiences, especially in such cases?
Thank you for sharing your concern with us here on connect. Yes reviews are a good tool to help us decide on where to go on Google maps.
It’s one of our numerous roles as local guides to ensure that we given our candid reviews and ratings about a place. We can’t be abusive or negative about a place really. Nevertheless we need to give our honest reviews about a place of interest. I don’t know what much Google can do about this. We as local guides can do alot more than Google.
If you come across places of interest like restaurant shop etc and you have proof that they have been soliciting for positive reviews and ratings in exchange for a reward. Feel free to report it directly. Here is a Report a buisness conduct page here
You can also share such places here on connect,if necessary. Thanks again.
N.B I realise that your posts were similar so I merged them. Just to keep the discussion together and connect organised.
@FerdiantonoLim
This is a valid concern, and Google has mechanisms to maintain the integrity of reviews. Here’s what you can do:
Report Suspicious Reviews – Use the “Report review” option on Google Maps for reviews that seem fake or incentivized.
Encourage Genuine Reviews – Leave your own honest review detailing your experience to help balance misleading ratings.
You may follow the instructions of Mr @SholaIB Check his reply.
Engage in the Local Guides Community – Share your findings on Google’s forums or Local Guides Connect to bring attention to potential review manipulation.
Google continuously refines its review policies to filter out dishonest practices, but user reports help improve accuracy. Keep raising awareness!
Thank you for your response. To clarify, I’m not saying that reviews should be negative—I believe all reviews should be honest and have integrity. If the experience is negative, we should be able to voice it and it has to have weight too. My concern is about credibility. When businesses solicit positive reviews, it creates an unfair system where mass volumes of one-liner, possibly insincere reviews outweigh detailed and genuine feedback. That’s why I’m asking: shouldn’t higher-level contributors, who put in time and effort, have more weight in the overall rating?
From what I’ve observed, there is neglect on Google’s part. I used to have STRONG trust on Google reviews, now not so much after being tricked into visiting dishonest places with high ratings. I believe not only me but many users already lost trust and more will start to confirm what a mess we are in — even as a contributor, I don’t feel like my efforts are making a meaningful impact by how things run.
That brings me to my unanswered questions:
1. What does Google actually do after a report is made? Because from my experience, I’ve seen no action taken even after reporting.
2. How is review weight calculated? As contributors, we want to know that our effort benefits the community rather than being drowned out by misleading ratings.
Also, I noticed you mentioned being a moderator—may I know if I am speaking to the right person to get these concerns addressed?
Hello @FerdiantonoLim
Yes you are speaking to the right person. We often get the reports and concerns across one step closer than other local guides. Thank you for asking and making sure.
This is issue of Google reacting to reports and spammers and spams and other things are very sensitivity and hard to understand because Google is a big entity.
There is alot done every day that’s hard to notice. Imagine the millions of users everyday and millions. There must be thousands of edits everyday too.
Therefore patience is needed when handling these subjects.
Regarding reviews yes. Feel free to express yourself in the reveiws without crossing the border lines of aggressions and abuse and frustration that clients often want to express. Nice getting feedback from local guides like you in a verg mature and polite manner.
I’m glad you mentioned how many reports and pieces of data Google has to handle daily. It’s true—Google is used by nearly everyone on Earth, and that’s why the responsibility to ensure trustworthiness in its reviews system is so important.
While I understand the immense volume of data Google has to process, I believe this only reinforces the need for a more effective and transparent system. The neglect of certain issues—like fake reviews or solicited ratings—becomes unacceptable when you consider how many people are being misled daily by inaccurate ratings. If users are constantly tricked by inflated reviews, it undermines the very value that Google’s platform is built on.
With great power comes great responsibility, and as a global leader in providing information, I don’t think Google is doing enough to address this. I genuinely believe Google could take further steps to improve the integrity of the platform, and I hope to see more action taken to safeguard its users from misleading content.
Thanks again for taking the time to address these points, and I look forward to hearing any further insights you might have on how things are handled on Google’s end.
Report Suspicious Reviews – Use the “Report review” option on Google Maps for reviews that seem fake or incentivized.
Encourage Genuine Reviews – Leave your own honest review detailing your experience to help balance misleading ratings.
You may follow the instructions of Mr 
Engage in the Local Guides Community – Share your findings on Google’s forums or Local Guides Connect to bring attention to potential review manipulation.