Don't buy Google Reviews – It's really not worth it

I think we all know by now (and if you don't you should) that Google reviews are very good for your business, when people leave positive reviews of your business those reviews can be seen in Google search results along with the "star rating" and having a good star rating gives buyers confidence.

You also get a nice boost in Google – in places like Google Maps and Local Search which is nice 🙂

So if you haven't done so already – get yourself a Google My Business account, verify your business and start collecting reviews from customers.

As with most things in this world – if there is a demand for something then there will be people willing to supply it (for a price) and reviews are amazingly no different...

With business owners wanting positive reviews for their businesses (maybe they don't have many reviews or maybe the reviews they do have are poor / negative) there are plenty of "fake review" services available – ironically you can search "Buy Google Reviews" on Google to find plenty of these services but please please don't.

Let's look at just a few of the reasons why buying Google Reviews is a bad idea...

It's Illegal (in the UK)

The UK's Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) took action against a marketing agency writing fake reviews for its clients in an effort to get them to rank more highly in Google.

By writing fake reviews or allowing fake reviews to be written, UK companies are in breach of the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations and may face civil or criminal proceedings.

It's against Google's guidelines and you will get caught

Google's guidelines are very clear when it comes to buying reviews or offering incentives to customers to leave positive reviews – DO NOT DO IT. Those businesses who get caught (and you will) risk not just having the fake reviews removed but also the Google My Business account closed. If you think that you won't get caught – you will, most people can spot a fake review from a mile away these days and Google has teams of very well educated and skilled engineers working on complex systems to detect fake reviews...

From Google's guidelines for reviews: "Your content should reflect your genuine experience at the location and should not be posted just to manipulate a place’s ratings. Don’t post fake content, don’t post the same content multiple times, and don't post content for the same place from multiple accounts."

Your Business Doesn’t Benefit from Fake Feedback

If you are really doing a great job and your customers are genuinely happy then getting good reviews from them shouldn't be to difficult, if on the other hand people refuse to leave a review or leave negative reviews then your business is doing something wrong – it's a no brainer that you should divert your energy (and possibly your wallet) into putting right the wrongs rather than paying for fake positive reviews.

TOP TIP: When your customer leaves a review (good or bad) then respond to the review – Google My Business allows business owners to leave a reply to every review they receive, by replying to reviews you will get a little extra boost in Local Search