Why Buying Google Reviews Hurts Your Business

Optimizing customer reviews has become one of the most lucrative online marketing strategies today. As a result, many businesses are looking for quick and easy ways to gather online reviews and enhance their reputation, such as purchasing fake Google reviews. However, does this approach truly benefit your business? In this article, we will explore how buying Google reviews can actually be detrimental to your business's success.

How effective are Google Reviews for a business?

Optimizing your Google Reviews is one of the best ways to strengthen your online reputation. Recent surveys suggest that 81% of internet users are likely to check Google Reviews before they visit a business in person. Aside from the accessibility of Google apps to consumers, Google also doesn't fall short in creating online strategies to help internet users get access to their listings.

For instance, hotels and property rentals have Google Hotels, which allows them to streamline Google searches to direct booking platforms. To learn more about this, click here. On the other hand, restaurants have Reserve with Google, which enables customers to book a table directly from a Google My Business listing. If you're interested in this, read our complete article here. All of these Google marketing initiatives feature Google Reviews; needless to say, they can truly make or break consumers' perceptions of your business.

Moreover, Google Reviews have been proven to increase a business's conversion rate. In the hospitality industry, for example, 72% of mobile bookings occur immediately after a Google search. Thus, it is essential for businesses to prioritize their Google Reviews optimization if they want to boost their revenue generation.

Should I buy Google Reviews?

Numerous online platforms now offer fabricated Google Reviews for businesses. Prices range from $0.15 to $1.50 per review, and additional features such as keyword optimization, customized reviews, and 30-day guaranteed reviews.

While it may be inviting, you should not buy Google Reviews.

Buying Google Reviews may help you boost your visibility, improve your online ranking, and attract more customers... but only for a short amount of time. Sooner or later, Google will detect fraudulent content and flag your listing.

Online review websites run their own algorithm to detect fake content. For instance, Trustpilot has implemented its own fraud detection software and removed 2.2 million fake reviews. While the consequence may vary depending on the platform and your unauthorized activity, there's a high chance that your listing may be suspended or completely removed from the website.

The same caution applies to incentivizing customers. While some businesses may not resort to buying reviews, they may offer payment or discounts to customers who post positive reviews on online review platforms. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has taken action against companies that have employed such tactics in the past, as it can manipulate customer feedback and deceive potential clients.

Consequently, businesses should report any fake reviews that may be posted on their listings. Regardless if other people post it, it would also reflect negatively on your listing. To learn more about this, read Learn How to Remove Google Reviews and What To Do If You Can't.

What are the risks of buying Google Reviews?

Here are some of the dangers of buying fake Google Reviews:

Violate Google's Guidelines

Google places significant value on the authenticity of its content. Google uses "intelligent text matching" to check for bots, duplicate content, and similar word patterns, which enables them to flag potentially fake reviews. Additionally, Google allows users to flag reviews they consider suspicious or fraudulent. Depending on the severity of the manipulation, consequences can include account suspension, removal of offending reviews, and even fines.

To gain further insight into identifying and dealing with fake Google reviews, refer to the article Spotting Fake Google Reviews: A Guide to Identifying and Dealing with Fake Reviews.

Impact your SEO

Fraudulent Google reviews can have adverse effects on your SEO, particularly your local ranking. Once you purchase fake reviews and are flagged by Google, your ranking on Google searches may decrease significantly.

Do Google Reviews help SEO?

Yes. Google Reviews help Google rank your listings on relevant Google searches. Google Reviews play a pivotal role in determining the ranking of your listings on relevant Google searches. They provide relevant keywords and content to help the algorithm properly index and crawl your listing.

To learn more about SEO optimization for reviews, read How to SEO Optimize Your Review Responses.

Conflict with FTC

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is an independent US agency that enforces civil and antitrust laws for consumer protection. Since they also cover digital marketing, they also protect consumers from fake online reviews.

In fact, FTC fined a weight-loss supplement company for over $12.8 million due to fake Amazon reviews. While you may have to face a different charge or pay a different amount for fake Google reviews, financial settlements like this may still be detrimental to your company's budget.

Harm your online reputation

Now that the internet is brimming with fake and fraudulent stores, consumers have become extra cautious when making purchases. Recent surveys suggest that 90% of consumers read online reviews from numerous websites before visiting a business. If your listing gets flagged on online review websites, especially on a platform as accessible as Google, it can significantly damage your reputation.

Once your listing is flagged, potential clients may perceive your business as illegitimate, leading to a loss of trust and potential customer base.

Get unrealistic data

Google Reviews provide businesses with valuable market data that can aid in creating highly effective marketing campaigns. Having fake Google Reviews will reduce your chance of conducting accurate market research and customer profiling. This will prevent you from truly improving your online credibility and overall business growth.

What are the alternatives to buying Google Reviews?

Fortunately, businesses don't really have to resort to buying fake reviews. Here are some ways how you can collect more Google reviews to boost your listing:

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Promote your Google listing.

First, let your customers know you have an active Google My Business listing. You can try placing a Google Reviews widget on your website, creating a post across your social media accounts, and directly informing your on-site customers about your listing. You can also encourage your staff to invite clients to post reviews right after their purchase. Recent customers, especially satisfied ones, are the most likely to write a review about your business.

Optimize your Google My Business listing.

Capitalize on people's inclination to customer participation. Contrary to popular belief, customers appreciate the opportunity to help their trusted stores. Optimizing your Google My Business (GMB) listing is an effective way to encourage more people to leave reviews. A fully optimized GMB profile signals potential reviewers that their input is valued and is imperative to the success of the brand.

To learn more about optimizing your Google Business, read Google My Business Guide: How to Optimize Your Profile.

Automate your review process.

Automating your review process is crucial for generating more Google reviews. A significant number of shoppers abandon their online orders due to complicated and long checkout processes, and the same goes for posting Google reviews. Consider implementing a QR code that directly redirects customers to your Google listing. Make the code easily accessible on your website, social media accounts, mailing list, and even your physical location.

To learn more about collecting Google reviews, read Learn How to Generate and Share a Google Reviews Link

Respond to all Google Reviews.

Acknowledging customers' reviews by responding to them is imperative in collecting more Google reviews. Since customers invest time and effort in reviewing your business, expressing gratitude for their feedback can encourage others to follow suit. Consequently, replying to negative reviews and addressing their concerns can also create the impression that you're on top of every customer issue. This fosters confidence among potential clients, thus increasing your conversion rate.

To learn more about responding to Google Reviews, read How to Respond to Every Google Review in Seconds.

Boost your Google Ranking without buying fake reviews through MARA.

Responding to online reviews is one of the most effective ways to boost your overall Google ranking. However, we know that it can be a daunting task, but it doesn't have to be with our AI Review Assistant, MARA. This intuitive tool is designed to ease your Online Reputation Management process, making it more efficient, personalized, and time-saving. It offers the best and most personalized AI for responding to and analyzing your guest reviews.

Easier review monitoring with MARA Review Inbox

Efficient and effective review monitoring is paramount to ensure that your Google Business listing won’t be flagged due to potential fake Google Reviews. Aside from this, responding to each Google review also boosts the authenticity of your content.

One of the key features of this tool is the Review Inbox. Your review inbox makes responding to reviews as simple as hitting "Generate reply" and clicking "Send". The Review Inbox connects to multiple review sources, including Google, Booking.com, and Tripadvisor, giving you a panoramic view of all your reviews. And you can even configure review response automation: Why not allow MARA to automatically respond to simple reviews, like 5-star Google reviews with no text, ensuring you never miss a review? Daily notifications about new reviews keep you updated and in control.

Advanced Review Analytics

Buying fake reviews can also prevent legitimate customers from posting authentic reviews to your listings. This will not just decrease your chance of boosting your Google visibility, but it can also hinder you from gathering important customer data.

To help you understand and analyze the multitude of reviews, the Review Assistant also incorporates Review Analytics. This provides actionable, easy-to-understand insights that are tailored exclusively to your business. With MARA, you can quickly get the gist of all your reviews without needing to read each one. The analysis is so detailed that you can find out about specific issues like "water in the pool is too cold" or "lack of vegan breakfast option”. These insights help optimize guest experience without requiring you to be a data expert.

Group Review Monitoring and Analytics

Managing multiple Google Business listings can be challenging, often leading to mismanagement, such as overlooking suspicious content that may be flagged by Google.

Additionally, our group analytics overview can provide a quick evaluation of the performance of each location. In addition to key metrics such as response rates, ratings, and the number of reviews, MARA also offers category scores based on advanced AI analytics. In the screenshot below, you can find an analysis for hotels with category scores for areas like Food & Beverage, Front Office, and Housekeeping. This analysis aids in swiftly identifying potential weaknesses, with a preview of detailed topics appearing when you hover over a category.

Personalized responses to Google Reviews

Using template responses to reviews may further heighten the suspicion of using fake reviews, which can ultimately lead to Google taking down your listing. Responding to Google Reviews with personalization proves the authenticity of your content. MARA's AI isn't just about efficiency; it's about personalization too.

The Brand Voice feature allows the AI to adapt to your tone, making sure your responses sound authentically you. Plus, with Smart Snippets, you can "teach" the AI how to respond to recurring praises or complaints. Your AI then incorporates this information into its responses, but always with different words, providing more personalized, relevant replies.

This review response assistant has quickly become a game-changer for over 2000 customers. Its promising capacity to elevate your overall rating, amplify response rates, glean insights from customer feedback, and economize both time and money is the reason behind its growing popularity.

Final Thought

In today's digital landscape, it's essential to prioritize genuine strategies for enhancing online credibility. While fraudulent methods like buying fake Google reviews may seem tempting, they offer only short-term fixes and could harm your business in the long run. To truly bolster your online reputation, focus on legitimate optimization efforts that foster genuine connections with your clients. Managing online reviews doesn't have to be daunting; with the right software like our AI Review Assistant, MARA, you can streamline the process, personalize responses, and gain valuable insights—all for free, without needing a credit card, and in just minutes.

This article is part of our hero content on "Mastering Google Reviews - A Complete Guide."