I wanted to get your thoughts on something. I recently started working with a company to help me market my business and get me to the top front page of google. The company is called 411 locals.
So this morning I get an email saying I got 3 new reviews on my business page on google. At first I thought wow that’s awesome! But it turns out they were fake! The company had made up these fake reviews to try and beef up my page. Although a great marketing strategy, but it wasn’t for me.
You see, I started my business from nothing into something. And the reviews I have, I feel like I earned them. And when I saw those fake reviews I felt like I was “cheating the system.” Cheating my customers and lieing to get the business where I want it to be at a faster pace. For some that’s not a big deal. But for me, I want to feel/know that in 10, 20, 30 Year’s down the road, wherever my business is, I earned it.
So how about you guys? If you saw those fake reviews, what would you do?
This is a judgement free zone. If you run your business differently, there’s nothing wrong with that. You get your business to where you want it to be the way you want too. Just wanted to see what you guys would do in the situation.
Run away from them. I used them a long time ago there a mess
Brings back memories. They were my first time I ever I got on the internet they called me An said 50 a month gets me on , An I was like what the heck
I never got nowhere with them, but I did get one call from a commercial building that I ended up cleaning an getting a 250 a month maintance account. So it actuallly worked out , but that was the only call
That account lasted 4 years. They ended up moving an the building was knocked down. I did cry that day !!
Not only can Google spot fake reviews, but more importantly your prospective customers can, if they have half a brain.
Not to mention, and unscrupulous company could change those fake reviews to whatever they like if you stop paying.
Review generation seems to be the “new SEO”, I.e. everyone and their mother is selling it now at varying prices. If you want to get real reviews, check out NiceJob. They are the best bang for the buck.
As an expert in the field, I would guess that Google looks for certain markers, such as a new account with one review and no interlinking web or real presence. They’ll never spill the beans, but its pretty easy to connect point a and point b.
If someone is buying Fiverr reviews, G can probably see that an “account” was set up in Turkmenistan, left 2 reviews for 2 unrelated companies in Kasas City and Tokyo, then never logged in again.
Cheap services will never invest time to create authentic accounts and legitimize them. Fake “Authentic” accounts are not worth the time, energy and expense to both the client and provider to maintain. The long term reward just isn’t there.
