Even if you’ve never heard of it, chances are, you’ve seen it and read about it. Increasingly, businesses with an online presence ask their customers to write positive reviews of their products or services on sites such as Yelp, Trip Advisor, and Home Stars—sometimes even offering an incentive for doing so. Advertising and reputation management agencies have also gotten in on the act, masking online as happy consumers. And just like fake leather, these reviews appear to be genuine but are really not.
The following video, which features Elliott Morgan, creatively describes how consumers and businesses could spot fake reviews on the web. Morgan is a well-know actor, writer, producer, Youtube personality and is the co-host of SourceFed.com.
Positive reviews on Google+ Local can help attract new customers. But when it comes to negative reviews, Google emphasized that it doesn’t take down negative reviews (unless they are in direct violation to Google’s guidelines) or work with third-party reputation management companies. Google rather urges business owners to respond to such reviews and address the reviewer’s concerns.
Yelp, which offers ratings on local businesses, too has a secret algorithm that roots out reviews written by someone with an ulterior motive– to hype a store or demolish its reputation. Yelp believes it’s worth the cost of suppressing a potentially legitimate review because they would wind up destroying the site’s credibility anyway.
If you are the victim of false, defamatory, negative online reviews about you and your business, realize that there are solutions to this problem. However, it is critical that you act swiftly. Feel free to contact Alex Noudelman at 1-888-750-4344 Ext. 231 should you have any questions. We’ll happily assist you with repairing your image in light of bad publicity.
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iRISEmedia.com is a digital media agency and SEO company, specializing in Social Media and internet marketing. Our team helps clients increase their reach and profitability by developing and implementing customized and targeted online and social media marketing strategies. We service clients in Toronto, Ontario, the GTA and throughout Canada as well as globally.
