What's Google's official stance on review manipulation?

[Mmclean07]

It seems to me manipulating what Google reviews you show on your website (i.e. hiding bad reviews) is a poor practice and, I thought, explicitly against Google's terms. However, I've searched through their API documentation and terms & conditions and can't find where that's explicitly stated.

I vaguely recall a headline about a lawsuit involving a large company (maybe a year or two ago). The company did not transparently show all review data (and filtered/hid negative reviews on their website) and were sued for it. Anyone know what I'm talking about?

What is your thought on manipulating reviews on your website? What does Google say about it?

 

[JS Girard]

You can show whatever you want on your website. Manipulating the review process on third party services is frowned upon. The cases you refer to were, I assume, the ones using a service that would ask customers what they thought of their experience and only the positive ones were then directed to post reviews on Google (or other services, the specifics don't matter).

 

[liftmarketinggroup]

Though oddly I cannot put my fingers on the Google policies at this moment, we abide by the FTC. NearMedia lays it out nicely here. I'll drop in their summary for the quick answer:

The Big Picture​

At the highest level the new guidance for both review platforms and businesses makes clear that:

• Review gating (asking for reviews only from happy customers) AND selective review and rating display (only showing reviews above a certain rating) are not allowed.
• Positive and negative reviews should be treated equally, particularly if moderation is in place.
• Any incentives and material connections between the business and the reviewer need to be disclosed and made explicit.

Best wishes!