Fake reviews used to be easy to spot because they lacked effort. With AI, creating large volumes of convincing reviews takes almost no effort, and they are increasingly common on Google Business Profiles as businesses fight for visibility. If you want to avoid being misled by business listings on Google Search or Google Maps, follow the tips in this guide to spot AI-generated reviews.
Note: while these tips are mainly focused on positive fake reviews, as it’s the common practice, they also apply to negative reviews used for defamation.
Reviews Focused on a Specific Detail or a Person
When fake reviews are bought, the buyer often has a specific goal in mind, which is the main focus of the AI. For example, the business wants reviews to focus on the product’s durability, low pricing, or a special service. This can also be the name of a specific service provider at the business (usually the owner).
If reviews consistently talk about a specific feature, service, or name of a person, they could be AI-generated. This is usually done to gain visibility in search results by showing the business/person as the expert.
Reviews Follow a Specific Structure
AI review generator tools usually receive a prompt template around which they generate fake reviews. This means they often have a similar structure, even if the content is different. For example, the review will start with praising the business, then talk about a personal detail, and end with recommending it to readers.
Real reviewers have their own writing styles, which are clearly different from each other. If most reviews consistently follow a specific structure, they are most probably AI-generated.
A Burst of Reviews Over a Specific Period
When businesses buy fake reviews, they buy packages that usually come in a specific number of reviews over a specific time. For example, if they buy a base package, it will give 50 convincing reviews posted over 7 days. You can track this behavior to guess if the businesses bought reviews.
Check the time period over which the 5-star reviews were posted. If they consistently occurred over a specific period and then stopped, they might be fake. This is especially true for new businesses that quickly receive 50-100 5-star reviews initially and then reviews slow down to a crawl.
Low Total Reviews by Reviewers
Most review bot accounts are only used to review 2-3 businesses to avoid being flagged as suspicious by Google. If a business has most of the reviews from accounts with only 2-5 reviews, they may be bot accounts. While there is a chance a new Google user may review a business, this shouldn’t be consistent across most reviews.
You can check the reviewer’s total reviews right below their name. If most reviewers have below 5 reviews overall, they might be bots posting fake reviews.
Reviewers With Highly Scattered Review Locations
Although fake review providers only use their bot account for a few reviews, the reviews usually aren’t in the same locale due to clients from different locations. The reviews could be for businesses in completely different states or countries. While it’s possible that a person who travels a lot may leave reviews of businesses far from each other, it’s not normal if most reviewers review businesses in different countries.
To easily check the review activity of reviewers, you should use the Google Maps desktop version since it shows the review activity on the world map. Just search the business there and open the profile of reviewers to view the businesses they reviewed. If most reviews are for businesses too far away from each other, they could be fake AI reviews.
Analyze Initial Reviews
Businesses generally buy fake AI reviews in the initial stages to earn trust and increase visibility. These initial 5-star rating reviews help keep the overall rating high, even when bad reviews appear later. So while the above tips may not apply to the recent honest reviews you see, the initially bought reviews still mislead the overall rating.
If a business rating doesn’t match its recent reviews, analyze its initial reviews. To do so, open reviews in Google Maps and tap on Newest under the Sort by section. Now, keep scrolling until you reach the initial reviews of the business. You can then apply the tips above to see if the business bought fake AI reviews.
While Google tries to prevent fake reviews, many fake reviews still pass the filters. You can combine the results of all the above tips to conclude whether reviews are genuine or fake. If you shop on Amazon often, you might also be interested in spotting fake reviews on Amazon.
