Google updated its restrictions on business profile violations. Now, if you get caught using fake reviews or breaking other policy violations, you may be sanctioned.

Google drops the hammer on fake reviews 

Some Google updates make headlines, others quietly come into play.

Google’s latest business profile violation update is the latter, but it could have serious consequences for business owners who intentionally or unintentionally violate Google’s policies. 

Google’s new business profile restrictions for policy violations aim to sanction website owners who use fake or incentivized reviews.

The updated document says:

• “We take fake and/or incentivized reviews and ratings on businesses very seriously.”
• “Businesses that violate our Fake Engagement policy may be subject to certain restrictions if we determine violative activity on their profile(s).”

Google also said:

• “If we determine that a business owner has violated its Fake Engagement policy, we might place restrictions on their Business Profile (in addition to removing the violative reviews).”

This policy is way overdue for many honest online business owners because fake/incentivized reviews have long been a problem. They create an unlevel playing field that hurts sellers and users who choose a product or service based on its fake reviews.

Potential profile policy violation restrictions

Google posted three examples of the new restrictions it could levy on businesses found to be violating its Fake Engagement policy.

The restrictions include:

• Business Profile will not be able to receive new reviews or ratings for set period of time.
• Business Profile’s existing reviews or ratings will be unpublished for set period of time.
• Business Profile will display a warning to let consumers know that fake reviews were removed.

The last restriction, in particular, could and should have a devastating effect on businesses using fake profile reviews, as it will erode consumer trust. When that happens, most will never return.

Here’s the new policy on the Google Business Profile Help page:

Sanctioned businesses can appeal

Google will allow a sanctioned business to appeal its decision, which is great because not all policy violations are intentional.

Some Google policy violations border a gray area, where Google could judge a simple review request from a happy customer as a review solicitation.

For example, on Google’s Prohibited and Restricted Content page in its Fake Engagement section, two of its rules could be confusing.

Google’s “We do not allow merchants to,” rules say:

• “Selectively solicit positive reviews from customers.”

Whereas its “We allow merchants to” rules say:

• “Solicit or encourage the posting of content that does represent a genuine experience.”

The rest of Google’s prohibited & restricted content policies are pretty clear and enhance user experience. The easiest way to avoid Google`s new policy violations is to take the new restrictions seriously. 

For business owners intentionally using fake reviews, hopefully, your time has come.

As Google says:

• Please take these rules seriously. If a Google Maps user’s on- or off-platform behavior harms our users, community, employees or ecosystem, we may take actions that will range from suspending the account privileges to account termination.

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Terry O'Toole

Terry is a seasoned content marketing specialist with over six years of experience writing content that helps small businesses navigate where small businesses meet marketing - SEO, Social Media Marketing, etc. Terry has a proven track record of creating top-performing content in search results.
When he is not writing content, Terry can be found on his boat in Italy or chilling in his villa in Spain.

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