Buying Google reviews: don't make this mistake in 2024

In order to improve their SEO, many companies are attracted to buying Google reviews. Whether positive or negative, this practice is strictly forbidden by the search engines and is against the law. The penalties, including fines of up to €300,000 and deletion of your Google My Business page, far outweigh the temporary benefits of these false reviews.

Google reacts quickly to infringements

The formal prohibition on the purchase of ratings and reviews on Google platforms is rapidly being enforced by the American giant. This principle is clearly set out in the rules governing content added by users to Maps. Google goes so far as to specify that the use of comments to manipulate the ratings of a location is proscribed, whether on the Maps application or via its free service for professionals, Google Business.

What are the repercussions for businesses that engage in this practice? Any contribution that violates the established rules and has the potential to mislead other users is deleted without notice to the company concerned. This means a significant loss of time and money for dishonest companies.

Google can also intensify its measures by reserving the right to remove profiles identified by its algorithms as massive distributors of suspicious reviews. So, the more the purchase of reviews is detected as a recurring practice, the more dishonest companies run the risk of exclusion. This sanction is all the more severe given that Google Business profiles are the most effective way of positioning a company among the top results on the world's most widely used search engine and Maps application.

European law

European law considers the purchase of Google review and dissemination of false online reviews as a form of misleading commercial communication. The main aim of this practice is to :

• Artificially improve the reputation of companies that fail to fully satisfy their customers, by disseminating false information.
• Artificially denigrate the image of popular competitors, despite their effective offers and efforts.

This goes against the principle that the publication of online reviews, whether positive or negative, should be genuine and free, unlike advertising. The purchase of fake reviews thus contributes to the spread of false information, misleading people about the true nature of a company and its establishments.

The European Omnibus Directive, to be implemented in May 2022, strengthens consumer protection by tightening penalties for misleading promotions, abusive canvassing and false reviews. The directive strictly prohibits the purchase of Google reviews, and provides for severe penalties in the event of non-compliance. Professionals are required to verify the reliability of reviews and guarantee that the consumer who left the review actually purchased the product or used the service in question. Any company caught buying and publishing false reviews, whether positive or negative, is liable to a fine of €300,000 and up to 2 years' imprisonment for its director.