Spam Fighting Guide

[James Watt]

Miriam posted a great spam review writeup on Moz today. She does a good job going over the state of things right now, and at the end, she gives practice advice for flagging spam on a half a dozen of the major review sites. Worth a read and a bookmark for later.

Just as every local brand, large and small, has had to adjust to the reality of reviews? substantial impact on modern consumer behavior, competitive businesses must now prepare themselves to manage the facts of fraudulent sentiment. Equip your team and clients with this article, which will cover every aspect of review spam and includes a handy list for reporting fake reviews to major platforms. Read the Rest.

Have you ever had to try and protest a fake review for a client? What about on any site other than Google? I've done plenty for Google, but haven't had to for most of the sites on Miriam's list yet. Good stuff to file away for later.

 

[MiriamEllis]

Thank you so much for the kind mention, James! I hope the guide will be one people can hand off to incoming clients to give them a crash course in review spam. It's a beautiful moment when a client starts speaking in powerful terms that show their increasing understanding of Local

 

[James Watt]

Definitely, that's why I bookmarked this. Thanks again for sharing!

 

[FriarTuck00]

James, just last week I had a client (ophthalmologist) who was hit with 4 spam reviews on Google, one on Yelp and one on Healthgrades - all within a few days. After having the client confirm that none of the names associated with the reviews were actual patients, we flagged each review as being spam or not consistent with an actual customer experience. 3 of the 4 on Google have been removed as of this morning. Still waiting on the other sites.

 

[Linda Buquet]

none of the names associated with the reviews were actual patients, we flagged each review as being spam or not consistent with an actual customer experience. 3 of the 4 on Google have been removed as of this morning.

Whoa you lucked out FT. They usually won't take reviews down just because you say it's not a customer or it's fake or whatever. Normally they only take them down if they violate G's TOS and include hate speech or swearing or something. But in your case there may have been an obvious footprint with the reviewers that pointed to a fake review scam outfit.