How does Google handle fake reviews?

Whether you’re trying a new restaurant, looking for a great location for your best friend’s birthday party, or planning a family weekend getaway at the local climbing park, we know that many people use Google Maps reviews to find new places to discover and make informed decisions.

That’s why we invest heavily in developing technologies and providing features that help people find reliable information. Here are some examples of how we keep feedback on maps relevant and authoritative.

How our systems work

At Google, we want to make sure that the information and reviews you see on Maps are reliable.

we’ve got Strict content guidelineswhich prohibits misleading content and makes clear that Google reviews must be based on real experience.

As with all technologies that enable user generated content, we must remain vigilant. And as more people contribute to Google Maps, we use a combination of “people and technology” to target malicious actors who violate our policies. This way we can remove most of the unwanted content before anyone sees it.

One of the tools we use is automatic detection using machine learning models. These models scan the millions of posts we receive each day and detect and remove content that violates our policies. Our systems scan every review before it is posted to Google Maps, looking for signs of fake reviews. Our models look for specific words and phrases, and test for patterns in the types of content the account has created in the past, in an effort to spot suspicious rating patterns.

At the same time, we employ teams of trained staff and analysts to review reviews, photos, company profiles, and other types of content, individually and collectively. We also provide an opportunity for each user reviews And Inappropriate content to mark for removal.

When we find reviews that violate our policies, we remove them and, in some cases, suspend the user’s account. This blog post on how ratings work in Google Maps provides a deeper insight into this topic.

You might be wondering: If I leave a negative review, can a company remove it just because it’s not positive?

Rest assured, companies cannot remove a review from their business profile just because it is negative. However, if the review is against Google review policies Companies can submit them for review. Learn more about reporting inappropriate comments here.

How is the information kept reliable?

Thanks to the combination of machine learning and human efforts, we can reduce the amount of, for example, deceptive or offensive content on Maps – in fact, less than 1% of all content appears on Maps. Here’s a deeper look at the actions we’ve taken in 2021 to keep inappropriate and offensive information out of Google Maps:

• We’ve blocked or removed over 95 million out-of-policy reviews.
• We’ve removed over 1 million comments reported directly to us.
• Thanks to continuous improvements in our machine learning, our technologies and teams have disabled more than 1 million user accounts due to extra-policy activity, such as vandalism or online fraud.

Learn more in our blog post about how we are ensuring reliable information on maps in 2021.

With more than 1 billion people using Google Maps each month, we want to make sure that the information they see – especially the comments – is reliable. That’s why our work never ends, we’re always improving our systems – and we work hard to keep Google Maps free from abuse, including fake reviews.