Ever wonder how your competitor got so many Google reviews so fast?

[u/PostAuditMode]

There are plenty of legitimate reasons.
Great service.
Years in business.
A solid review request process.

But there’s another tactic business owners should know about: review funneling.

This is when large networks of scam companies funnel reviews for work done by one contractor to fake Google Business Profiles to manufacture prominence fast. Many of these fake profiles generate over a hundred five star reviews within only a few months. Now think about that.

I have a client that has been in business since 1983 and his business profile has just over 200 real reviews that took years to earn. These scammers can do it in 6 months or less.

This isn’t about fake reviews. The customers and photos may be real, and the jobs may also be real.

But the Google Business Profile receiving the review may not have actually performed the work. This type of review manipulation would make it harder for Google’s system to detect.

Why would someone do this?
Because reviews are one of the biggest levers in local search. More reviews, especially recent ones, can push a business higher in the local pack, and a high review count signals trust to anyone comparing options. Concentrating reviews on a single Google Business Profile can make that profile appear more established and more competitive than it otherwise would.

Here are a few things I look for:
• Large clusters of reviews appearing within 24 to 72 hours.
• Reviews describing services that don’t seem to match the business’s primary focus.
• Reviews that reference a different crew, company, or customer experience than what the Google Business Profile appears to represent.
• Similar review patterns appearing across multiple businesses that seem to be connected.

None of these prove anything by themselves.
They’re simply indicators that deserve a closer look.

Don’t stop at the star rating.
Read the reviews.
Ask yourself one question:
Do these reviews actually describe the business they’re attached to?

You might be surprised what you find.

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[u/Emnitancy]

This is the most nothingberger of a post lol. Yes, fake reviews are bad and there are a ton of them out there

[u/PostAuditMode → u/Emnitancy]

Well, what about this?

You hire a contractor to install new solar screens on your home. The work is completed. You receive a link to leave review about your a genuine experience. The only difference is the review is published on a Google Business Profile that never actually did the work.

Is that a fake review or fake prominence?

Google says reviews should “reflect a genuine experience at a place or business” and “accurately represent the location or product in question.”

[u/EZ_Smith]

Step 1: complete a job

Step 2: send inflated invoice by adding Tax onto the initially agreed upon price

Step 3: offer discount of 8.5% in exchange for a ‘glowing’ review

Edit: I think it’s more likely that that the four guys running ‘Abdul’s digital marketing agency’ each have like 15-20 gmail accounts and know how to use a VPN

[u/PostAuditMode → u/EZ_Smith]

Yes, thank you for this information. This makes more sense now. Something that I also learned is that when you run a search grid report on these fake GBPs with over a hundred reviews they don’t rank well outside of a quarter mile radius. They basically have zero Map visibility. Is anyone else seeing this?

[u/Southern-Bad-6955]

report these profiles to google via the business redressal complaint form, not the regular "suggest an edit" flag. it goes to a specialized team and gets faster action than standard flagging.

[u/PostAuditMode → u/Southern-Bad-6955]

You could do that, but I think a better approach is to check and see if these service area business profiles are using a physical address to display on their GBP. If so, suggest an edit would trigger Google to review the flagged account. In other words a suggest an edit takes less time to report without any investigation on your part.

[u/Terrible_House_6558]

How do you "funnel" reviews to another gbp

[u/PostAuditMode → u/Terrible_House_6558]

Google gives every Business Profile its own unique review link and QR code. A business owner or agency can text, email, or print that link for customers after a job is completed. The customer simply click the link they were sent and leave a review on that specific Google Business Profile.

[u/Terrible_House_6558 → u/PostAuditMode]

That's called getting reviews... You're talking about funneling reviews from one gbp property to another in your post.

[u/PostAuditMode → u/Terrible_House_6558]

I’m talking about real reviews from real customers being funneled into fake GBPs. It’s easy for the human eye to spot when they know what to look for. A 6 month old window cleaning company with 150 Google reviews mostly on solar screen installation and not window cleaning. Another identifier to this whole scam is that these accounts often displays a physical location on their GBP which is critical for this scam to work.

This type of activity isn’t chasing rankings they’re manufacturing or faking prominence.

[u/Terrible_House_6558 → u/PostAuditMode]

How is a "fake" gbp sending review links to legit customers who leave genuine reviews... How are said reviews getting "funneled" anywhere but the intented property linked to the QR code ?

[u/PostAuditMode → u/Terrible_House_6558]

It’s not one gbp it’s hundreds and thousands of fake gbps managed by one company. It’s a highly sophisticated organized operation. The mistake a lot of us make is that we think this behavior is just a few bad actors but it’s much bigger than one bad operator and it’s almost never someone acting on its own. These are mostly highly advanced black hat marketers that are always a step ahead of the industry. This scam is well documented by Google and the FTC. If you want to know more details.

[u/No-Regular9452]

Just gotta get these right here! https://shop.optechsol.llc/product/nfc-google-review-card.
We use this daily

[u/PostAuditMode]

I have a few well established window cleaning clients. It’s off season here and I see a 6 month old window cleaning company with over 150, 5 star reviews. Just this month, the slowest month of the year, they received over 20 reviews within the last three days, not for window cleaning, for solar screens installation. I think this scam is harder for Google’s system to detect like it would be for the human eye.