How can you tell a review is fake?
Start with your records. Search your jobs, invoices and messages for the reviewer's name as it appears on your Google Business Profile, and for anything the review describes. A real customer who is unfair is still a real customer, and Google treats that as a dispute between the two of you, which it stays out of (Google Business Profile Help). A fake review breaks Google's rule against content not based on a real experience (Google Maps content policy), and a broken rule is what gets a review removed. Examples include spam, a review meant for a different business, and a competitor writing about a service you never provided.
Some signs point that way. There is no job, no quote and no call under that name. The review describes work you do not do. Several reviews arrive on the same day in the same style. The reviewer has left the same text on other businesses in your trade. None of these proves anything on its own, so gather them before you report.
How do you report it to Google?
Report it from the review itself or from the Reviews management tool, choosing a reason such as spam or profanity (Google Business Profile Help). Pick the reason that matches the policy the review breaks. The fact that you never served this person goes in your reply, and in an appeal if you need one.
Then wait. Google says a reported review typically takes several days to evaluate, and that only content which violates policy comes down (Google Business Profile Help). A review that is merely unkind stays. Google's automated spam detection also removes reviews it identifies as spam (Google Business Profile Help).
Should you reply to a review you think is fake?
Yes, once, and carefully. Review replies sit under the review for anyone to read, so until Google decides, your calm reply is the other side of the story. Say that you have no record of a customer by that name, that you have asked Google to look at it, and how a real customer can reach you. Two sentences will do.
A practice that treats people, or a law firm, says less. At a dental, chiropractic or medical office or a med spa, leave out whether the reviewer is or is not a patient: thank them, keep it general and give the office number. At a law firm, leave out whether they are a client.
Keep accusations and threats out of the reply, including any guess at who wrote it. The Federal Trade Commission's rule on reviews counts unfounded legal threats, intimidation and certain false public accusations used to remove a negative review as review suppression (Federal Trade Commission). If you believe a competitor is behind it, ask a lawyer, and keep it out of your reply. All of this is general information, not legal advice.
What if Google leaves it up?
You get one appeal per review if you disagree with the decision (Google Business Profile Help). If the appeal form lets you add detail, use it for what is new: the search of your records, the other businesses carrying the same text, the service named that you do not offer.
If the appeal fails, the review stays and so does your reply. The honest way past it is more real reviews. Ask every customer, in the same way, after every job. Do not gate: Google's Maps policy bars discouraging negative reviews and selectively soliciting positive ones (Google Maps content policy), and review gating is exactly that. The more real reviews you have, the less one odd review tells a reader comparing you with others in the map pack.
Review Engine covers review requests after every job, drafted replies to every review within one business day, and monitoring. A practice that treats people, or a law firm, sends its own requests. What matters here: a fake review gets a drafted reply within one business day, like every other review. Only you can check your records, so a reply that says what they show waits for your approval before it posts, and at a law firm every reply waits.
What must you never do about it?
Each move below can feel fair, and each one breaks a rule, so none is worth the risk.
- Never buy or write positive reviews to bury it. The FTC rule bans fake reviews, including ones generated by AI, and the FTC can seek civil penalties against knowing violators (Federal Trade Commission).
- Never have staff, family or friends review your business, even if they say who they are. Google's Maps policy removes content based on a conflict of interest, including employment and personal ties (Google Maps content policy), and the FTC rule bans certain insider reviews that do not clearly disclose the connection (Federal Trade Commission).
- Never offer the reviewer money, a refund or free work to change or remove it. Google's policy bars incentives for revising or removing a negative review (Google Maps content policy).
- Never post a review of the competitor you suspect. Google's policy bars posting content on a competitor's business to undermine its reputation (Google Maps content policy), and the FTC rule bans reviews from someone with no real experience of the business (Federal Trade Commission).
One fake review, from finding it to Google's decision
Here is the time one fake review takes from an owner who handles it properly. The minutes are made-up round numbers for the example, so put in your own; Google's wait is in days and is not counted.
- Search your records for the name and the job
- 15 minutes
- Report the review and choose the reason
- 10 minutes
- Write one reply and post it
- 15 minutes
- If Google says no: one appeal with the new detail
- 20 minutes
- Total
- 60 minutes of your time, spread across the days Google takes
In this example, an hour is the whole cost of doing it right. If the review comes down at the first report, you are done in forty minutes, and your reply did its job while the review was up.
Round numbers for the arithmetic, not a benchmark and not a forecast. Put in your own.
Questions
Can I find out who wrote a fake review?
Not through the report. Google asks you for a reason the review breaks its policies (Google Business Profile Help), not for a name, and your records are the only place to check whether the reviewer was ever a customer. If you think you know, keep the guess out of your reply.
Does a fake five-star review hurt me too?
It can, if you use it. It is still a fake review, whatever the stars: Google removes content that is not based on a real experience (Google Maps content policy), and the FTC rule bars a business from buying fake reviews, getting them from company insiders, or spreading fake testimonials when it knew or should have known they were fake (Federal Trade Commission). If a five-star review appears that you believe is fake, such as one from someone you never served, report it the same way and keep it out of your marketing. Leave an honest review from a real customer alone, even one you did not ask for.
How long does Google take to decide on a reported review?
Typically several days (Google Business Profile Help). Post your reply on the first day rather than waiting, since the review is visible the whole time.
Should I sue over a fake review?
That is a question for a lawyer, and this is general information, not legal advice. Whatever you decide, keep it off the page: an unfounded legal threat in a reply counts as review suppression under the FTC rule (Federal Trade Commission).