Fake Reviews: How to Spot, Remove, and Protect Your Business Reputation

Customers rely on reviews to help them decide between different product options and businesses. However, those reviews are only useful when they’re genuine — and there’s a growing problem of fake reviews.

For local and service-based businesses that tend to have fewer reviews overall, these fake reviews can have a huge impact. Your online reviews impact customer trust, digital rankings, and, ultimately, revenue. A few negative sham reviews could be the difference between making and losing sales with new customers.

But if you’ve noticed fake reviews on your business listings, don’t worry. You can protect your business and get them removed with these tips.

What Are Fake Reviews, and Why Are They a Serious Risk?

Fake reviews are deceptive online reviews that don’t reflect a person’s genuine customer experience with a business. They can be either positive or negative, though negative fake reviews are likely more common.

But why would anyone take the time to post a fake review? The people posting these fake negative reviews could be competitors of the business they’re reviewing, disgruntled non-customers who want to hurt the business, or simply bots. Online feedback affects the customer journey, so people want to manipulate it.

Fake reviews are more common than you might think. Estimates show around 10% of Google reviews are fake, followed by 7.1% on TripAdvisor and around 5% on Facebook. That many sham reviews have a real impact on both customers and businesses. About three-quarters of customers are worried about fake reviews and possibly being misled during purchasing decisions. For businesses, illegitimate negative reviews can damage their reputation and trust with potential customers.

How Fake Reviews Damage Trust, SEO, and Revenue

Fake reviews are bad for businesses, period. They can:

• Hurt customer confidence and trust
• Persuade customers away from conversions after seeing your marketing materials
• Damage your local SEO visibility and rankings

It doesn’t take many fake negative reviews to make an impact, either. Since customers rely on reviews for social proof and bad feedback stands out, even a few fake reviews can significantly influence perception. That’s why it’s important to manage your online reputation, so take action on reviews that seem suspicious.

According to Yelp internal data, customers have left 308 million cumulative reviews for businesses as of December 2024. And 87% of searches on the platform are for a product or service, not a specific business. That means customers are searching “auto shop near me” and likely filtering the results by rating. If fake one-star reviews are dragging down your rating, you could be losing out on business.

How Can You Tell if It’s a Fake Review?

Fake reviews won’t label themselves as fake, so you have to be able to identify them yourself. Look out for red flags, such as:

• Suspicious review timing and frequency: If you get a sudden spike in reviews over a short period that doesn’t fit with your usual pattern, they could be fake.
• Minimal reviewer history: A reviewer who has only posted one or two reviews, has a generic username, and doesn’t have a profile picture could be a false account to post fake reviews. Reviewing a wide range of unrelated products in different locations in a short time is also a red flag.
• Dramatic language and detail: Be suspicious of reviews that are over-the-top in either direction, since real reviews are typically more balanced.
• Generic descriptions: Fake reviewers may not be able to include real, specific details about your business’s products or services, so look out for vague feedback.

You can always use a fake review checker to help you determine which are real and which are not.

Reporting and Removing Fake Reviews

Each review platform has its own policies for the types of reviews it will remove and what steps businesses need to follow for the removal.

You will typically need to remove each fake view individually, which can be time-consuming. Follow these processes to remove reviews from top platforms like Yelp and Google Business Profile to protect your business.

Google Business Profile

Remove a fake review from Google reviews by selecting the feedback you find suspicious. Click “Flag as inappropriate,” and give a reason why you’re flagging the review. The reason could be “profanity,” “misrepresentation,” or “spam,” among other types of content prohibited or restricted by Google. 

You can submit a one-time appeal if Google reviews your report and doesn’t find a policy violation in the review you want removed. Try to be patient as the platform processes your requests about removing negative Google reviews.

While you’re on the platform, improve your Google Business Profile and respond to negative reviews from actual customers. 

Yelp

On Yelp, you can get a review removed for three main reasons:

• The review includes inappropriate material.
• The review isn’t related to the reviewer’s personal experience.
• The review seems to have a conflict of interest.

If one of these situations applies, find the review in your business account. Select Report Review from under more options next to the review.

Focus on ethical ways of getting Yelp reviews to help improve your reputation on the platform, too.

Facebook

If a review violates Facebook’s community standards, moderators may remove it from your account. Find the review on your Facebook Business Page, then choose “Find support or report recommendation.” Facebook will prompt you to share why you’re reporting the review before submitting the report.

TrustPilot

Trustpilot lists five reasons businesses can flag reviews, including harmful or illegal content and feedback that isn’t based on a genuine experience. If a review meets one of these guidelines, go to “Manage reviews” in your Trustpilot Business account. Click the flag icon next to the review, and select the reason for your report. 

If reporting the review to the platform doesn’t work, there are still steps you can take. Businesses and consumers can file complaints with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) at ReportFraud.ftc.gov to report deceptive practices.

For reviews that you believe are false and genuinely damaging your business’s success, you may want to pursue legal action, like a defamation lawsuit or tortious interference claim. Just keep in mind that these legal processes can be time-consuming and expensive, so they may not be worthwhile except in extreme cases.

The Risks of Using Fake Reviews For Your Business

Online reviews can be the difference between closing sales to bring in new customers and losing out on those customers to competitors. As a result, you may be tempted to “invest” in your business by buying fake positive reviews to boost your reputation. Never do that.

It is illegal to buy or sell fake reviews and testimonials under Federal Trade Commission rules. You can face significant civil penalties for violating this rule. Even if you don’t, though, you can lose the trust and respect of your customer base for engaging in fake reviews. It’s just not worth it.

Manage Your Online Reputation From Professionals

With so many different review sites, each with its own guidelines and policies, online reputation management can get overwhelming. That’s what the experts are for.

At Optimize Digital Marketing, our team knows how to protect your business and elevate your online presence across platforms. Use our reputation management services to build customer trust and strengthen relationships — all while you focus on running your business.