Google's 'Local Guides' - a big problem for business owners
Discussion
For those who aren't aware, basically Google now gives out 'points' to users for reviews etc, and the more 'points' they collect, the greater virtual honour is bestowed upon them and they attain titles such as 'local guide' etc. i.e. They become a 'somebody' in the virtual world.
The fundamental flaw in this is that there's no obligation or requirement for reviewers to have actually visited the places -or used the services - of those they review. They can just select a business at random, write a review (good, bad or mediocre) and get points for this.
The major problem with this is that there is seems to be an increasing number of weird, sad people who just want to collect points by doing scores of reviews of places they've never visited, which Google rewards them for. Sadly, these reviews are often amongst only a handful of other reviews of that business/service meaning they affect the overall rating quite significantly.
There's one reviewer I spotted 'Johnny Groats' who's a 'Local Guide · Level 10' and has given 5575 reviews. He gave a review of Ducati Glasgow of 3 stars with the comment "vroom, vroom"
Has anyone been affected by this yet? (i.e. a random, unfounded review of their business)
The fundamental flaw in this is that there's no obligation or requirement for reviewers to have actually visited the places -or used the services - of those they review. They can just select a business at random, write a review (good, bad or mediocre) and get points for this.
The major problem with this is that there is seems to be an increasing number of weird, sad people who just want to collect points by doing scores of reviews of places they've never visited, which Google rewards them for. Sadly, these reviews are often amongst only a handful of other reviews of that business/service meaning they affect the overall rating quite significantly.
There's one reviewer I spotted 'Johnny Groats' who's a 'Local Guide · Level 10' and has given 5575 reviews. He gave a review of Ducati Glasgow of 3 stars with the comment "vroom, vroom"
Has anyone been affected by this yet? (i.e. a random, unfounded review of their business)
Edited by monthefish on Friday 11th January 16:17
Pigdoguk said:
do people really pay attention to Google reviews? I dont.
Yes, many do.Like others who've posted, if I've got time, I'll look beyond the scores and read the reviews but not everyone will take that next step. Most will just glance at the google+ panel on the RHS of the screen, see the score and not delve any deeper.
Evoluzione said:
This whole online feedback and review thing has become a bit of a joke and I would hope that any member of the public with or any more than average intelligence will not put too much trust in it.
Yes, but the issue is that there's a large percentage of the public without much intelligence. Evoluzione said:
The other thing with Google (and maybe Tripadvisor too) is that once someone puts you on there you can't remove it.
ashleyman said:
As a business owner I’ve always wondered if reviews could be removed if they’re fake or whatever.
In theory, yes you can have them removed, but actually getting it done is nigh on impossible (and that's assuming you can actually identify the person).Google have no interest in policing it at all, despite what they may claim.
FWIW, we had a single bad (fictitious) review which was put on by one of these nutters, which took our 5 star score down to 4.9, but I manged to get it removed 'by other means', but it may me realise how vulnerable business owners are.
cheekymeerkat said:
We let a temp go just before Christmas because he was too slow.
Months later, he left us our first Google Review, slating his line manager, and saying some not very nice things about how were rubbish to work for, etc.
3 years on, Google still refuse to remove this review and the alleged contents of the review are embarrassing to the line manager who is still with us.
They have a policy that employees past and present can't leave reviews, but in our case will.not enforce it. I've given up trying to get it removed.
Sorry to hear this. This is exactly what I was talking about.Months later, he left us our first Google Review, slating his line manager, and saying some not very nice things about how were rubbish to work for, etc.
3 years on, Google still refuse to remove this review and the alleged contents of the review are embarrassing to the line manager who is still with us.
They have a policy that employees past and present can't leave reviews, but in our case will.not enforce it. I've given up trying to get it removed.
A few interesting links on the subject:
https://www.webnetcreatives.net/google-local-guide...
https://onlinemarketinginct.com/2018/06/27/google-...
https://www.localguidesconnect.com/t5/General-Disc...
" The process for cleaning up fake reviews from Google is woefully inadequate. Google recommends flagging inappropriate reviews, but this very often does nothing.....
...... The whole system of removing fake/unscrupulous reviews needs a major overhaul but who knows if/when we’ll see that"
https://www.webnetcreatives.net/google-local-guide...
https://onlinemarketinginct.com/2018/06/27/google-...
https://www.localguidesconnect.com/t5/General-Disc...
" The process for cleaning up fake reviews from Google is woefully inadequate. Google recommends flagging inappropriate reviews, but this very often does nothing.....
...... The whole system of removing fake/unscrupulous reviews needs a major overhaul but who knows if/when we’ll see that"
How's this going for everyone?
Spotted this article recently, which explains how to stop your device suggesting business/services to review, but unfortunately doesn't explain how to stop your business/service being suggested for a review.
Spotted this article recently, which explains how to stop your device suggesting business/services to review, but unfortunately doesn't explain how to stop your business/service being suggested for a review.
Si1295 said:
monthefish said:
How's this going for everyone?
Spotted this article recently, which explains how to stop your device suggesting business/services to review, but unfortunately doesn't explain how to stop your business/service being suggested for a review.
Maybe an article from Google about how to correctly use them so I don't get 1 star reviews with "I don't know why this is on the listing" from "Local Guides"Spotted this article recently, which explains how to stop your device suggesting business/services to review, but unfortunately doesn't explain how to stop your business/service being suggested for a review.
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