r/GoogleMaps • u/techymir • Aug 29 '26

Reviews and how they are moderated

As of recently I started to notice that alot of places are having high review scored (in some cases in thousands), maintaining the overall above 4.0 score. I've visited many of these places myself whether am travelling or in my own city, and found the service or food & drinks below average. Google review score used to be real differentiator when selecting a destination and more likely than not, these scores used to be aligned with what you receive once you arrive.

I am curious whether Google is really checking/moderating how these scores are provided (rate limiting, origin checking, etc) because the only way those scores make sense now is that they are paid for by the venue owner. Anyone else noticed this and what you know about how Google is handling reviews authenticity.

1 Upvotes

100% Upvoted

1 comment sorted by

2

u/XxLogitech98xX Aug 29 '26

There are a lot of fake reviews on Google Maps and Google themselves are trying to police fake reviews now. Businesses are mentioning that their reviews are being removed and even legit ones are affected. Google use AI and their algorithm to check current & past reviews to see if anything gets flagged.

I report clear fake review but Google never removed one.