How do I report businesses, abusing reviews system?

Google Maps tips & tricks
1

Hi, Local Guides and Team.

I see a lot of businesses, having absolutely fake ratings, reached with both aggressive removals of bad reviews (plus outright threats in answers) and with tons of fake positive reviews (including “bought” for customer’s bonuses etc. in some cases).

So my question is simple as can be - what can be done to make a team of mods look at it and either remove fake reviews (or/and unblock true negative ones) or maybe even suspend their accounts at all.

Of course, it’s possible to just flag reviews which are obviously spammy, but it doesn’t lead to any action most of the time, and after that, reporting them one on one isn’t the most effective method - they can get new reviews and that’s it.

So, does Google provide any possible effective ways of fighting it? In my country it seems to be an epidemic - two-digit percentage of business does it not even trying to hide.

1 Like
2

Hello @LexaZ2009 ,

Welcome to Local Guides Connect.

It’s against Google’s policies for business owners to incentivize customers to leave reviews. You should flag reviews that you believe are derived from the incentive so Google can investigate and take them down accordingly.

Business owners aren’t able to remove reviews, but they can flag them. Google won’t take down a review unless it violates the Google Maps Content Policy or the images attached aren’t following these guidelines.

If a business owner replies with a threat like you mentioned, you should post in the Google Maps Community, where a Google Product Expert will be able to escalate the response for review and have it taken down.

Regards,

Ethan