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UK businesses caught buying five-star Google reviews

bbc.com

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Re: UK businesses caught buying five-star Google reviews

#91

Post by Sebb767 »

tpmx wrote: post #21
abstractbarista wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"In American courts, the burden of proof rests with the person who brings a claim of libel. In British courts, the author or journalist has the burden of proof, and typically loses." ( https://www.npr.org/sections/parallels/2015/03/21/394273902/... )

This a well-known issue with british libel law. The UK needs to reform to stay relevant.

I'm not sure this would be better. I could claim you murdered 5 puppies last year, how would you go on to proof that you did not?

Re: UK businesses caught buying five-star Google reviews

#92

Post by 1000mA »

HenryBemis wrote: post #65
ghoward wrote: post #25

I once wrote a negative review of a business on Google, and it went up, but when I went to look at the business's reviews under my wife's Google account, it was not there. I waited an hour and checked. Then a couple hours and checked. Then a day. It never showed up. I posted the review under her account and did the same checks for my account. It never showed up. I do not know why it didn't show up, but I wouldn't be…

I stayed in a hotel in Rotterdam one time (5-6 years ago). The entrance had a ramp for wheelchairs/prams. A bunch of a*holes parked their luxury cars blocking that ramp. On the second morning the cars were still there I called the concierge out to see this. Then I took a picture of him, of the cars, and their plates and told him I will call the Police in 5mins (yes I am THAT kind of guy). In two minutes all cars were…

I bet you love to threaten calling the police on people. PoS bootlicker, kill yourself.

Re: UK businesses caught buying five-star Google reviews

#93

Post by Lerc »

I got an an offer to give me five star reviews for a modest fee. When that happened I had a look around to see what I could do to report them to stop their behaviour. I found absolutely nothing. Much like when the algorithmic banhammer hits you, the options for actively communicating with Google in a meaningful manner are close to non-existent.

Re: UK businesses caught buying five-star Google reviews

#94

Post by trollski »

ghoward wrote: post #25

I once wrote a negative review of a business on Google, and it went up, but when I went to look at the business's reviews under my wife's Google account, it was not there. I waited an hour and checked. Then a couple hours and checked. Then a day. It never showed up. I posted the review under her account and did the same checks for my account. It never showed up. I do not know why it didn't show up, but I wouldn't be…

it's like commenting on hackernews for me. which you will never hear about.

Re: UK businesses caught buying five-star Google reviews

#95

Post by kbenson »

hayst4ck wrote: post #86
ghoward wrote: post #25

I once wrote a negative review of a business on Google, and it went up, but when I went to look at the business's reviews under my wife's Google account, it was not there. I waited an hour and checked. Then a couple hours and checked. Then a day. It never showed up. I posted the review under her account and did the same checks for my account. It never showed up. I do not know why it didn't show up, but I wouldn't be…

I am no google fanboy, but I WOULD be surprised to find such a thing. The reason I would be surprised is history and alignment. Google consistently has bad/non existent customer service It is famously hard to talk to a google employee when you have a problem Google has a history of primarily hiring devs Google knows its bread and butter is legitimate results Google probably has the largest most experienced anti-SEO t…

I think there's an assumption here that needs to be addressed, and that's that Google functions as a single entity with consistent and coherent policies and actions across all its arms.

Just because something is not in the best interest of Google overall or long term down not mean a small fiefdom is doing something different for their own self interest, even if only temporarily until it is eventually discovered and corrected.

For example, almost all your statements about Google above are incorrect for at least one business they've been involved for, for at least part of the time they've been in it. Often it's easy for find multiple counter examples.

As a whole, Google follows those statements you made, but for any specific business they are in I wouldn't make a blind wager about it.

Re: UK businesses caught buying five-star Google reviews

#96

Post by thehappypm »

ghoward wrote: post #25

I once wrote a negative review of a business on Google, and it went up, but when I went to look at the business's reviews under my wife's Google account, it was not there. I waited an hour and checked. Then a couple hours and checked. Then a day. It never showed up. I posted the review under her account and did the same checks for my account. It never showed up. I do not know why it didn't show up, but I wouldn't be…

It's highly possible that Google has some concept of freezing reviews while it investigates something. Maybe that business was caught buying reviews and so Google stopped allowing new ones for a while. Or it reported it was getting spammed. Or some other situation like that.

Re: UK businesses caught buying five-star Google reviews

#97

Post by ghoward »

thehappypm wrote: post #96
ghoward wrote: post #25

I once wrote a negative review of a business on Google, and it went up, but when I went to look at the business's reviews under my wife's Google account, it was not there. I waited an hour and checked. Then a couple hours and checked. Then a day. It never showed up. I posted the review under her account and did the same checks for my account. It never showed up. I do not know why it didn't show up, but I wouldn't be…

It's highly possible that Google has some concept of freezing reviews while it investigates something. Maybe that business was caught buying reviews and so Google stopped allowing new ones for a while. Or it reported it was getting spammed. Or some other situation like that.

This is a very good alternative explanation. Thank you.

Re: UK businesses caught buying five-star Google reviews

#98

Post by liveoneggs »

arkitaip wrote: post #77
ghoward wrote: post #25

I once wrote a negative review of a business on Google, and it went up, but when I went to look at the business's reviews under my wife's Google account, it was not there. I waited an hour and checked. Then a couple hours and checked. Then a day. It never showed up. I posted the review under her account and did the same checks for my account. It never showed up. I do not know why it didn't show up, but I wouldn't be…

Do you have any idea how difficult it would be for a random dinky business to bribe an engineer at Google? There are businesses that are literally making bank for Google and still can't get in touch with a human being at Google when their Google account gets locked, app gets removed from the Play Store, etc. What probably happened is that the business had friends and family members report your review which was remove…

yeah but what about yext and friends getting special access for their clients?

Re: UK businesses caught buying five-star Google reviews

#100

Post by mkl95 »

I have caught several businesses doing the same thing in my country. The difference is that they don't buy them, they have their own employees write them. This results in patterns that make it obvious they were written by the same person. Google couldn't care less.
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