Here’s how to tell if a Google review is fake

It is not officially allowed, but of course it happens all the time: fake reviews on Google. You will run a restaurant that is not doing well, or that simply cannot compete with all those restaurants that have four or five stars: if you are deep enough, you sometimes do things that are not allowed. But how do you spot such a fake review as a potential customer?

If you just buy a game on Bol.com, you won’t be so quick to read a review on Google, but when you are abroad and are looking for a restaurant in the area, it is often faster to grab Google than to search blogs for what happens to be nearby. Then you depend on those reviews to help you decide whether a restaurant is worth it. But whether a review is positive or negative, how do you know it’s genuine? There are a number of things that you can tell.

1. Read the review critically

When people leave fake reviews on commission, they often have very little detail to give and the review is very general. These are often fake reviews. So look for reviews that contain more details. Also beware of superlatives such as fantastic, breathtaking, world class, and so on. Especially in combination with a very general chat, it is often a fake. Also check whether there are many spelling errors: just like with phishing emails, this is often a sign that it is fake.

2. Watch out for competitors

If many positive reviews about a restaurant contain a negative reference to another restaurant, you may be dealing with fakes. After all, why would you mention other restaurants: you’re talking about that one, right? Often this is the sign of a fierce competition that is being waged and in which Google’s review section is also used as a weapon. And: watch out for too much name-dropping: it’s nice to mention who your tour guide was, but if it all sounds a bit too ‘familiar’, then it often is.

3. Check the profile

Look at someone’s profile to get a better idea of ​​who someone is. Click on the dot with someone’s photo or initials. Then see which reviews someone else has left and what the average score is. If someone is leaving reviews in too many different places too quickly and they’re not even close together, then you’re probably looking at an account from a disingenuous person. Also look at the photos that someone posts with their reviews: are they homemade, do you think?

4. Check the date of the reviews

Of course, if a restaurant has just opened, it cannot already have 50 reviews. If you see a lot of reviews very soon after opening, or maybe even before opening, you know that you are dealing with fake reviews to give the restaurant a boost. Incidentally, many restaurants are not that successful at all when they have just opened: they are busy, because they are new, but at the same time they often need a little time to get the team attuned to each other.

5. Pay particular attention to 3 and 4 star reviews

It sounds weird, looking for a certain rating on purpose, but fake reviewers often give a 5 or a 1. Usually people who leave a three or four star review are genuine.

If you – hopefully thanks to this article – become a true fake spotter, please report these reviews to Google. You can tap the three dots next to the review and tap ‘Report review’ to indicate the reason for reporting and to send this report.

Do you often look at reviews and check whether they are genuine? Leave it now in the comments.