How to address reviews that show up in Google but come from a business's own website?

[irapasternack]

One of my clients has a competitor who has a fairly poor reputation based on reviews on Google and Yelp. But, this competitor allows people to review them on their own website, and their "4.8" rating based on 250+ "reviews" show up in search engine results. I assume they are using schema markup to encourage that. My question is whether there is anything we can do to report this to Google, or otherwise make sure the general public is not fooled by these reviews?

[Sigma_Digital]

Hi Ira,

It's a very good question and it is currently a way that companies are trying to "Cheat the system". From what I have experienced in the past, the company in question are just making the best of Schema as it is meant to be used. For this reason they are theoretically not doing anything wrong in Google's eyes.

If there reviews are genuine then there is no reason why they can not be used and your client is within their right to use the same tactic.

If you are genuinely worried that this client is doing something wrong or unethical/fraudulent I would give Google a call directly and raise it with one of the technical team. I would mention that you have seen the site using this and provide them with the example, just explain that you are thinking of using the technique but you wanted to check first that you are not doing anything wrong.

The team at Google on phone support are great and they have always been able to help with any questions I have had in the past.

I hope that helps, good luck finding a solution.

[EGOL]

Keep in mind that there are many different kinds of reviews.  Each of them attract a different type of reviewer.

If your competitor is using a third-party review collection system - even if it is on their own site - the reviews that they receive might be legitimate.  By that, a 4.8 out of 250 visitors says that they have done a good job.

Lots of the people who go straight to Yelp or Google+ could be trolls who run there and complain about anything.  They might not even be customers.  They might be evil competitors - or even evil clients.

So, it is important to consider the platform, the numbers, the methods before making any judgement.

[irapasternack]

Thanks for the response.  The competitor is using a service called Reviewability. On their policy page, they say that "The review may optionally then be posted to the subscriber's website." at the discretion of the subscriber. So they can post all the good reviews, and hide the others. http://reviewability.com/review-policy/

Given that policy, do you have any further thoughts on the matter?

[EGOL]

I think that if you want to call this vendor dishonest you need to delve deeply into how the Reviewability service works, learn enough about it that any reasonable person would consider you to be an expert on how their system works, and then come to a conclusion that is firm enough to present in court.

Many review services allow vendors to contest reviews, place reviews on hold while disputes are being settled, hand-pick the reviews that they will display on their website, show only reviews above a certain score, and more.  These are frequently-employed practices that any vendor can adopt - if they subscribe to a review service or not.

It is always good to back your clients when you have solid information.  In many instances, weasel hunts are best turned over to attorneys.