Having a low rating on Google reviews is a matter of panic for business, but should you really consider buying Google reviews to make up for it?
If you are one of the people thinking of buying fake reviews, then our advice is to think again! If you are to search ‘buy Google reviews’ now, you will see that it is a popularly searched topic, meaning many people buy Google reviews to increase their ratings.
If you do not ask your customers to give you reviews then it is likely that your rating is low and the few reviews you originally get are often not positive. However, No matter how desperate you are to bring your ratings up, buying Google reviews is never a good idea.
If you are considering buying a fake Google search, read this article before doing so. It’ll help you make an informed choice and might save your brand from setting itself up for failure.
So, let's get into the details before you make any rash decisions!
Why do you need Google reviews?
Before we move on to why you should not buy Google reviews, let's first understand why companies are often tempted to pay for Google reviews.
In today’s digital age, managing your customer's reputation and rating is a serious challenge among companies. In this age, a company is not only judged by the local community it is selling to; instead, the whole world acts as a judge for you.
How you hold your business activities, what you say or do, everything is judged globally and defines your reputation in the global market, not just in the local community. This has raised competition among the competitors; every industry wants to rank higher than its competitors to run a successful business.
And the only way to rank higher is by getting positive online reviews that show your customers the quality of the product or service you are offering and also let your customers know that your business is trustworthy.
Among many online review websites, the most popular one is Google reviews which significantly affect your business leads and SEO rating. Google is the most popular search engine, and when your customers search about your business, they can immediately see the reviews the other customers have made about your business.
The higher the number of reviews you have, the more your business SEO will be optimized and rank higher among your competitors. All this tempts the companies to buy Google reviews cheaply, which will bump up their search engine rating.
Does all this sound like a great idea to you? I mean, what harm can buying fake reviews cause? Will it only help you bring your rating upright? No. If you are thinking this way, read below to find out why it is never a good idea to buy a Google review.
Why you should not buy Google reviews?
Buying Google reviews might seem like a quick and easy idea to increase your SEO rating, which will help you appear higher among your competitors on Google searches. However, if you buy a positive Google review, it does more damage to your business than helps you.
Even if the audience is not reading the reviews, if you pay for Google reviews damages your business's reputation. Here are the reasons why you should never buy Google reviews.
Is it illegal to buy Google reviews?
Many countries have developed strict laws against the ‘buy real Google review’. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has declared fake Google search illegal and has allowed taking severe action against anyone who buys Google reviews.
According to one article written by The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) known as “FTC Puts Hundreds of Businesses on Notice about Fake Reviews and Other Misleading Endorsements,” says that they have sent notice of Penalty Offenses to more than seven hundred companies who are tempted by buying Google 5-star reviews. As a result, $43,792 have been paid per violation.
In the UK, there is a similar authority to FTC in the USA known as the Competition and Marketing Authority (CMA) which has reported that serious action has been taken against a marketing agency that has been writing fake reviews for the clients to buy Google reviews for a low price to rank higher.
All this might seem like a step too far, but the purpose of Google reviews is to be a voice for customers to write their experience with your company and build loyalty to your brand. However, when you buy a Google review, it ruins the reputation of your business.
Can Google detect fake reviews?
Google is a platform famous for the trust it has built between itself and the audience; for these reasons, Google keeps a strict eye on any illegal activity or any action that might ruin the trust users have with Google. People put their ultimate trust in Google to provide them with reliable information in any area of the search.
As a result, Google regularly optimizes the reviews and customer testimonials in order to ensure that they are all genuine and accurate. If you buy positive Google reviews for Google plus or Google My Business, then chances are that Google will readily find you out, and not only that, but your customers will also find out about your reality.
On their prohibited and restricted content page, Google states that “ Reviews are automatically processed to detect inappropriate content like fake reviews and spam.” It further says that “We may take down reviews that are flagged in order to comply with Google policies or legal obligations.”
This shows that for temporary success, ‘buy Google reviews’ might sound like a great idea, but you will eventually find out that the benefits outweigh the damage it will cause to your business and ratings.
In the year 2020 alone, Google is said to remove about fifty-five million reviews that violated Google’s policy, and almost three million of them were fake business profiles.
Does buying reviews kill your SEO traffic?
If Google discovers that you buy Google 5-star reviews, then your company will have to face a penalty. This means that Google will block your ability to rank and will delete all the reviews, including the genuine ones. This can permanently damage the reputation of your company.
Generating SEO traffic takes months and often years for a company to build. Your company must have worked tirelessly to create authentic and quality content, backlinks, and keywords to boost your SEO rank. However, a small mistake to pay for Google reviews can tremendously ruin your reputation among customers.
This shows that buying Google reviews is not worth it for your business. Google reviews are a valuable part that helps you improve your SEO ranking, which can boost your business and build a customer base. However, a slight mistake can ruin your customers' trust, damaging the business's name.
Can customers spot a fake review?
You may wonder how your customers can detect fake Google search reviews when merged with other organic reviews. Still, contrary to what you may believe, your customers can spot fake reviews quite easily.
Fake Google reviews are straightforward to spot, and the audience can easily get out of you for someone who buys positive Google reviews. Fake reviews are generally poorly written, and most of them do not even have any relevance to the company or the product they are offering. The reviews are often written at short intervals and about various products.
Moreover, your customers can also see the inconsistencies in the location of the reviewers compared to where the company was initially located. It might be tempting for you to buy Google 5-star reviews to fool your customers with ratings, but the customers are not fools.
When you want to make an investment somewhere, you do thorough research on the business before investing with them. Similarly, your customer does proper research on your company before buying any of your products or services.
How to get unpaid reviews?
Now the question arrives: if it is not suitable for your business to buy Google reviews, then what else can be done to increase your rating? Well, the logical answer is to get unpaid reviews?
Now you might be thinking that not having any organic reviews was what tempted you to buy Google reviews for a low price in the first place. But wait, hear us out. What we are trying to say is that you need to ask your customers to give their authentic reviews instead of you having to buy real Google review.
For many businesses, it might be an uncomfortable idea for their clients to give a review. It might seem like you are begging them for the positive feedback. This is one of the many reasons companies go for the buy Google reviews method.
However, you need to understand the value of Google reviews for your business which might make it easier to ask your clients to do a review. Google reviews play a vital role when a customer is looking for a product your company is selling.
The more positive reviews you have, the more likely it is that the customer will invest in your product. For these reasons, your clients already understand why you might be asking them to do a review.
Give your customers a direct link to review your business
When you are asking your customers to do a review, it is necessary to give them a direct link to your Google Business Page, which will make it easier for your customer to leave a review without making any effort. If you ask your customer to leave a review without granting them direct access, then the chances are that your customer will ignore your request. We live in an age when everyone is busy with their own routine, and it is hard to take out time for any extra activity.
Respond to all Google reviews, whether good or bad
When asking for reviews, make sure that you do not ask them to give a positive review which is a form of manipulation. Asking for a review means that you are asking the customer to provide their genuine opinion on whether it is good or bad.
Most importantly, owning both negative and positive reviews is essential. Responding to both of them is equally necessary. If you receive a negative review, then it means you need to take quick actions to control the damage.
Make sure you respond in a positive way by owning your mistake and promising to work on it. This can help you gain back your respect that you are willing to work on your mistakes.
Similarly, if you receive a positive review, then thank your customer and ask them to come back again. According to studies, it is shown that 80% of customers believe that a company truly values them when they respond back to them.
Use your positive reviews to your advantage
Organic reviews prove that you are a trustworthy and reliable company to your customers. However, companies often do not realize it and fall into the trap to buy real Google reviews, which can damage the company's reputation in the long run.
Moreover, when you receive honest reviews, you can use them to your advantage to gain more leads and show your customers that you are a genuine brand that does not have to hide anything from its customers.
You can share your positive reviews on your various social media websites, which can help you attract loyal customers. Turn the reviews into graphic images and share as much as you want on your websites without guilt.
The Bottom Line
Warren Buffet once said, "It takes 20 years to build a reputation and 5 minutes to ruin it. If you think about it, you will do things differently.” And when you buy Google reviews, it means that you sacrifice your own company's reputation.
If you want to appear trustworthy to your customers and keep your company’s reputation in check, then think twice before you decide to buy Google reviews.
