Why buying Google reviews backfires

Don't buy Google reviews. Google bans them, UK law now makes commissioning fake reviews a banned practice, and the reviews tend to get removed anyway. You pay for something that disappears and you may put the real profile at risk. The honest route to a decent rating is slower and works.

What Google's rules say

Google's contributor policy requires reviews and ratings to reflect a genuine experience. It says fake engagement is prohibited and removed, and its list of what counts is blunt:

• content not based on a real visit
• paid reviews, including payment in kind
• one person posting from multiple accounts
• tampering with devices to mimic engagement

Businesses may not solicit fake content or offer incentives for reviews. The policy also bans offering something to a customer to revise or remove a negative review. And it covers what looks like manipulation: unusual volumes or patterns of reviews designed to change a rating are flagged even if each review reads naturally.

On consequences, Google says violating content is removed, and for violations that harm users or the community the action ranges from suspending account privileges to terminating the account.

What UK law says

Since 6 April 2025 the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 has made fake reviews a banned practice (see Schedule 20 of the Act on legislation.gov.uk). The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) guidance says that submitting or commissioning a fake review, or a review that conceals it was incentivised, is automatically unfair and illegal. It covers positive fake reviews and negative ones.

For a tradesman, the points to remember:

• Paying a firm, a freelancer or a mate to write reviews you commissioned is commissioning fake reviews.
• Incentivised reviews aren't banned in themselves under the CMA's guidance, but they must be clearly labelled as incentivised. On Google, incentivised reviews are against the rules entirely. So a discount for a Google review is a problem under Google's policy whatever the law says.
• Cherry-picking is also a concern. The CMA's guidance says suppressing genuine reviews, or selectively promoting only the good ones, can be misleading.

This is general information, not legal advice. If you're unsure whether something you've done crosses the line, ask a solicitor.

Why it backfires in practice

It gets removed. Fake reviews are what Google's systems and reports are built to catch. You can't know when the sweep comes, but you can know the money doesn't come back.

It can look worse than a thin profile. Think of a plumber with 40 five-star reviews in a fortnight and nothing for two years before, all from accounts with a single review each. A customer who reads a few of them will spot it, and a competitor who reports it knows exactly what to say.

The customers are real and the reviews aren't. A review that says "brilliant job on the boiler" from someone who never had a boiler fitted by you is a trap. A genuine customer who reads your reviews and sees stock phrases will trust the rest of your profile less.

You can lose more than the reviews. The policy action goes up to account termination. A trade whose phone rings from Google can't afford to risk its listing for a few stars.

Scams target this. Sellers of reviews are sellers of a problem. You pay, they deliver accounts of unknown origin, and you can't complain to anyone.

What to do instead

You don't need dozens of reviews to catch up. You need a steady stream from the customers you already serve.

1. Ask every customer. Not only the ones who thanked you on the doorstep. Google's policy says businesses can ask for genuine reviews as long as there's no incentive and no attempt to influence the rating or content. It also says not to selectively solicit positive ones.
2. Ask within a day or two. Fresh jobs get better, more specific reviews.
3. Send the link, not directions. The free review link generator makes a direct link and a QR code. See how to find your Google review link and Google review QR codes.
4. Reply to what you get. Wording is in positive review responses and how to respond to a bad review.

Texting brings in the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations (PECR) and UK GDPR, so get the customer's agreement to be contacted first.

Our guide to getting more Google reviews covers the full system. If a fake review has landed on your profile from someone else, see can you delete a Google review.

Sources

• Google Maps contributor policy: fake engagement, incentives, conflicts of interest
• CMA fake reviews guidance (CMA208), GOV.UK
• Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024, Schedule 20 (unfair in all circumstances), legislation.gov.uk
• Commencement No. 2 Regulations 2025 (in force 6 April 2025), legislation.gov.uk
• ICO: guide to PECR
• ICO: UK GDPR guidance and resources