How to Remove Fake Google Reviews: Simple Instructions

How to detect a troll and persuade the website administration to delete his reviews.

Removing fake Google reviews is harder than it seems. Not every website is interested in checking the veracity of posted reviews; some of them even make money on fakes. However, mostly you can remove fake reviews without any help. We’ll tell you how to remove fake negative reviews from Google.

Table of contents

• How to understand that the reviews are fake
• Who leaves negative reviews? Detecting a troll
• Negative reviews from competitors: how to get rid of fake Google reviews
• Competitors leave negative feedback: how to react?

How to understand that the reviews are fake

There are several ways to detect the author of fake reviews. All of them are based on a client’s motivation. By leaving a review, a real client strives to solve the problem, even without realizing this fact. The author of fake reviews wants to cause maximum damage to the company’s reputation.

1. The author leaves the same review on a number of sites. This is a 99% sign of a troll. Usually, dissatisfied customers leave their opinion on those sites where it will be seen by the company and other users. Otherwise, it looks like sabotage.
2. The author doesn’t respond to messages. If a client wants to solve the problem, he will answer the company’s clarifying questions. For a troll, there’s no point in doing that. Most likely, he’ll abandon the account after getting the first message.
3. Suspicious feedback content. Real reviews are left to convey the real experience of the client. Thus, in most cases, they contain the following information:

• problem or damage description;
• product description;
• conflict description;
• time period or dates of contacting the brand.

There is no such data in negative reviews from competitors, which are often reduced to broad statements like ‘scammers,’ ‘fraudsters,’ etc.

4. A single-use account. The account was used for leaving one review only, and most of the data is not filled in or is specified just to comply with formalities.

You will need proof of fake content in the future when you proceed to removing fake Google reviews.

Who leaves negative reviews? Detecting a troll

The case is that almost all fake reviews are left either anonymously or on behalf of a false identity. But you shouldn’t worry about that. In 95% of cases, people leave digital traces when writing something on the Internet.

You can use the following methods to detect a troll:

• By nickname. If the troll used a nickname to leave feedback, the chances are high that he has used this nickname on other sites as well. Check the name in Google by typing the nickname in quotes. The troll may have left more data on other websites: a city, email, or something else.

• By review content. You should immediately find all similar reviews left by the author. For this, copy the text and check it in anti-plagiarism services and in Google.

• By user picture. Google image search will help you to find the user.

Everyone leaves traces. It’s possible to find the fake review author if you are patient and smart.

Negative reviews from competitors: how to get rid of fake Google reviews

Websites containing reviews can be divided into three categories:

•  moderated;
• non-moderated;
• sites selling removal of competitors’ negative reviews on their own platform

We will describe the ways of how to remove a false Google review on each type of website.

1. Complain about a review. This method is applicable to Amazon, TripAdvisor, Yelp, and others. Their rules clearly state that reviews must be unique and must not be left to gain benefits or for defamation of a brand.

On these websites, the administration is interested in the veracity of reviews, so it often meets users halfway. All you need is to prove your point.

Every website is unique, so we recommend that you study our information about the peculiarities of how to remove a fake Google review from competitors on any of them.

— Google

— Glassdoor

— eBay 

— TripAdvisor

— Amazon

— Yelp

2. Complain to the domain owner. This method is applicable to non-moderated websites. Such platforms maintain user activity, but don’t have enough specialists to deal with problems. Therefore, the administration is inundated with requests that they just have no time to respond to.

To get attention, you should write to the domain owner. Copy the domain name from the browser address bar. Then, use special services to check the WHOIS history: GoDaddy. Find out the email address and resend your request.

However, before writing an email, you should try contacting the administration in the usual way. Also, request additional information from the negative review author. The chances are high that he won’t respond, but you will get more proof for your point.

3. Put up with fake review websites. On the Internet, there are sites selling the removal of negative reviews from competitors from their own platforms. How it works: the site offers to buy an advanced account. Its toolkit often includes validation. Negative reviews usually fail it, then it is possible to remove them.

Paid accounts offer a number of advantages. Some fake review websites allow you to respond to review authors free of charge but for a limited period – a year, half a year, or even less.

After a company representative has registered on the website, from time to time, he’ll receive emails offering the purchase of an advanced account at a discount. Among its advantages, the validation or its equivalent will be highlighted in bold.

This is how fake review websites get companies hooked on paid removal. When the brand stops paying, negative reviews appear at once. So, it’s not a solution to the problem of how to get rid of fake Google reviews.

Competitors leave negative feedback: how to react?

• Collect evidence that feedback is fake. No response from the author, a single-use account, and the text copied on many sites – all of these prove the selfish motives of the troll.

• Try finding the author. The digital trace may lead directly to competitors or to the executor and his account on a freelance marketplace.

• Provide evidence to the administration. For removing negative reviews from competitors, you should contact the website administration. If you get no response from them, then write to the domain owner and ask them to remove them.

• Contact the Reputation America agency to solve your problem. We have removed more than 2,000 pages of negative content. We work with companies and individuals who want to solve reputation-related issues with a guarantee, confidentially, and out of court. And we know exactly how to remove fake Google reviews.

Complex websites that you can’t deal with by yourself are our bread and butter. Some may risk their reputation, while others are scared to make their competitors even angrier. We work in such a way that the authors of negative feedback do not know who the initiator of the removal is. Therefore, the client’s honest name will remain safe and sound.

Information removal is a service for those who want to solve reputational problems easily and legally.