How to spot and report fake Google reviews
The signs of a fake or spam Google review, what Google's policy allows you to report, and how multi-location teams can handle fake reviews without replying to them.
Fake reviews hurt twice: they distort your rating, and a polite reply makes them look legitimate. You cannot delete reviews yourself, but you can report the ones that break Google's policy. This guide shows what to look for and how to report it.
Signs a review may be fake or spam
A single sign is not proof. A harsh but genuine review from an unhappy customer is not fake, and reporting it will not remove it. Focus on content that breaks the policy, not content you disagree with.
- Contains a phone number, link or messaging handle.
- Promotes another business, product or service.
- Describes a visit to a location or service you do not offer.
- Several similar reviews arrive in a short burst from new profiles.
- Text is unrelated to your business or copied across locations.
What Google's policy covers
Google's prohibited and restricted content policy for Maps covers fake engagement, off-topic content, spam, conflicts of interest and offensive content, among others. Reviews that fall into these categories can be reported for removal. Read the policy before reporting so you choose the right reason.
How to report a review
From your Business Profile, open the review, choose to report it and pick the reason that matches the policy. Google reviews the report; you can check its status from the reviews management tool linked in Google's help article below.
Do not reply to suspected spam
Replying gives a fake review more visibility and suggests it was a real visit. Leave it unanswered while the report is reviewed. If you use automatic replies, make sure suspected spam is excluded from them.
KavaPulse flags reviews with phone numbers, links and other spam signals across all your locations and skips them in auto-reply, so your team can report them instead of thanking them.