Review spam - wisdom required!

[redrocket39]

Hello we've noticed some clear review spam at one of our UK Post Office branches.

* 8 new reviews in 48 hours
* all with one star and ambiguous negative comments
* all had also left negative reviews for a restaurant located in Canada 2 weeks before
* several had left a negative review for a bottle store in Canada the day before!

All have been flagged to Google and rejected - does anyone have any suggestions?

Thanks

Andy

 

[Phil Rozek]

@redrocket39, reviews like those are one of Google's many squishy spots. The reviews are so vague they can't be falsified, so when in doubt Google tends to leave them.

Now, those came in in enough of a wave and are questionable enough (for the reasons you mentioned) that there's an OK chance Google will take down some of the reviews sooner or later. I'd just get multiple people to flag the reviews, which seems to work more consistently than does solo flagging. Especially if the post office doesn't have many reviews or tends not to collect them at a fast pace, there is a non-zero chance Google will filter the reviews later, even if it doesn't take the reviews down manually now.

Of course, our mystery reviewer could always write another 8 reviews. It's a problem created by Google, minus solutions provided by Google.

 

[redrocket39]

@redrocket39, reviews like those are one of Google's many squishy spots. The reviews are so vague they can't be falsified, so when in doubt Google tends to leave them.

Now, those came in in enough of a wave and are questionable enough (for the reasons you mentioned) that there's an OK chance Google will take down some of the reviews sooner or later. I'd just get multiple people to flag the reviews, which seems to work more consistently than does solo flagging. Especially if the post office doesn't have many reviews or tends not to collect them at a fast pace, there is a non-zero chance Google will filter the reviews later, even if it doesn't take the reviews down manually now.

Of course, our mystery reviewer could always write another 8 reviews. It's a problem created by Google, minus solutions provided by Google.

Thanks Phil, much appreciated

 

[JoyHawkins]

If you flag a review and it gets rejected, you can appeal that by reaching out to GMB support here:

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The more details you give them, the better.