How to report a fake Google review account

Tap the reviewer name on any review to open their profile. Then look for these:

• No other reviews, or a profile made in the same week as the review.
• Dozens of reviews on unrelated places, many posted on the same day.
• The same sentence on your listing and on other businesses.
• Reviews on places in cities far apart, posted hours apart.
• A burst of new accounts reviewing your listing in the same few days.

These are signs, not proof. Google decides, so pair each sign with the rule the account's reviews break.

Google's help page gives these steps for the Google Maps app on a phone.

1. 1

   Open the Google Maps app

   Find a review or other contribution from the profile you want to report.

2. 2

   Tap the user name

   This opens the reviewer's profile.

3. 3

   Tap More

   On Android, select Report profile. On iPhone, select Report.

Google says to report only profiles whose content breaks its policies, not users whose content you dislike but is accurate and relevant. Profiles that break the rules can be removed, restricted or disabled.

Reporting the profile does not report the reviews on your listing. Report those too.

1. 1

   From your Business Profile

   Select Read reviews, the Report icon next to the review, the reason that fits, then Send report.

2. 2

   Or from the Reviews Management Tool

   Select your business, Continue, then Report a new review for removal. Select Report next to the review, choose the reason and select Submit.

3. 3

   Track it

   The same tool shows each report's status and, if Google keeps a review, a one-time appeal for up to 10 reviews at once.

• Content posted from multiple accounts by, or at the request of, one person is banned.
• The same content posted multiple times, from one account or several, is banned.
• Content not based on a real experience at the place is banned.
• Posting on a competitor's listing to undermine its reputation is banned.
• Using Google Maps to impersonate a person, group or organization is banned.

Fake accounts get deleted or renamed, and the proof goes with them. Before you report, screenshot the profile page, the list of its other reviews and the review on your listing with its date. Copy the profile link and the review link into one log.

That log is what you need for an appeal, and for Google's merchant extortion report form if anyone asks you for money to make the reviews stop.

When ten new accounts leave low ratings in a week, report each profile and each review. Our free check speeds up the second half: paste your Google Maps link and every low review comes back labelled, with Spam for the same line on unrelated listings and the other labels where they fit.

You tick the reviews to file, each is filed once under the policy it breaks, and you are billed per review only after Google removes it. Several reviews in one order cost less each.

A review from a fake account stays on your listing until Google decides, and new customers read it in the meantime. Reply once, briefly, and leave the account out of it.

One that works: "We cannot find a visit matching this review. If you were here, please call us and ask for the manager." Do not call the writer fake in public, and do not post their other reviews. Keep that for your report and your log.