Google is posting suspicious review warnings on GBPs

[keyserholiday]

Ben Fisher posted on Reddit that one of Steady Demand's client's received a consumer alert warning over suspicious reviews. I was able to find the GBP and see how the notice appears when a consumer clicks from the map, clicks on the reviews tab, on the Knowledge Panel, extended view, and on mobile.

 

[JS Girard]

That's been around formally since at least last year. According to @rustybrick it was basically restricted to the UK and it's apparently getting fully deployed in the US.

 

[keyserholiday]

That's been around formally since at least last year. According to @rustybrick it was basically restricted to the UK and it's apparently getting fully deployed in the US.

I know that it was first rolled out in the UK. It's nice to see it in the States.

 

[JS Girard]

I couldn't sus out the profiles myself, so i can't tell if these notices are visible in Quebec.

 

[keyserholiday]

I couldn't sus out the profiles myself, so i can't tell if these notices are visible in Quebec.

If you zoom in, you will see it is a weed dispensary in Massachusetts. If you look closely, they are located in Boston. Ben did a horrible job of blurring out key details. I was able to ascertain this by seeing the capital B. When I changed my IP address to Boston, I performed a Google search for weed dispensary and looked for a business with 566 reviews. When I clicked on the GBPs in the local finder, I found the GBP because the primary photo matched. This is what makes me excellent at what I do. Here is my write-up.

 

[JoyHawkins]

I saw one this week as well - which is a first for me in the USA.

 

[JS Girard]

If you zoom in, you will see it is a weed dispensary in Massachusetts. If you look closely, they are located in Boston. Ben did a horrible job of blurring out key details. I was able to ascertain this by seeing the capital B. When I changed my IP address to Boston, I performed a Google search for weed dispensary and looked for a business with 566 reviews. When I clicked on the GBPs in the local finder, I found the GBP because the primary photo matched. This is what makes me excellent at what I do. Here is my write-up.

That is exactly what I did (I have sussed these before!). I even noticed that the first letter was a C, O, G or Q (you can see the left-hand curve of it), but despite scrolling several pages, I failed to locate a business with exactly 566 reviews.

Thanks for sharing the info though. I can confirm that I see the notice in French too!

 

[keyserholiday]

I got the answer. Google removed the warning after 30 days. The business received a new review 16 hours ago. Talk about a slap on the wrist.

 

[JoyHawkins]

Yikes. That is not nearly as harsh as some of the review blocks I've seen in the last year. Here I was thinking they were gonna be worse....

 

[keyserholiday]

Yikes. That is not nearly as harsh as some of the review blocks I've seen in the last year. Here I was thinking they were gonna be worse....

I am pretty disgusted by it. I was hoping for a five or six month block. I can’t wait to see my new escalation and how Google reacts. 155,934 reviews across 138 locations for a well known review-gator.

 

[JS Girard]

A review gator is an absolutely fantastic mental image: