Google Maps: How to spot fake reviews

“I don’t even go to a restaurant with less than 4.5 stars.” You hear this phrase over and over again. Google reviews are Especially during the holidays very important. You don’t want to go to a restaurant where the reviews are poor. But can you always be sure if a restaurant, hotel or bar has great ratings? No – you can’t! Because Google rankings can also be faked.

Because reviews are not always written by people who have actually been on the site in the area. try it Around a few restaurants It offers its guests a discount if they give a 5-star rating after visiting the restaurant, writes Futurezone.at. Even bolder: ‘original’ and ‘personal’ ratings can be reserved online for between five and twelve francs. Whether it is positive for your business or negative for the competition.

How to spot fake reviews

For example, if a restaurant has many 1 or 5 star reviews, that is the first indication that you should take a closer look. If ratings are also given within a short period of time, this is an indication that it could have been bought. Most of the time, details are also missing in fake reviews. Fake reviews usually only contain keywords like “unfriendly,” “long waiting times,” or “bad food.” You will search in vain for detailed reviews.

The people who write fake reviews are mostly non-native speakers. You are using translation assistance. This sometimes results in descriptions that one wouldn’t write that way, such as “warm ambience” or “we were at peace.” It can also reveal a look at the profile of the person who submitted the review.

If the reviews are geographically scattered and written over short periods of time, such as a restaurant in Hamburg, and then shortly thereafter a hotel in the US and another review of a bank or a doctor’s office in Madrid, then it makes sense for the person to accept money for the reviews.

Google knows the tricks

Google knows the tricks of scammers, but they are hard to come by. The tech giant says it is constantly dealing with scammers’ tactics. Compared to Futurezone.at, Google says: “We check posts carefully and around the clock for fraudulent reviews, based on our guidelines.”

“We review posts carefully and around the clock.”

Google fake reviews

This verification is done using machine learning, which is a subset of artificial intelligence, so millions of posts are scanned every day. Explicit or incorrect accounts are automatically deleted or closely checked by staff. If you still want to rely on Google reviews before visiting a restaurant, you should read the average reviews closely.

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