Buying Google reviews is against the rules. Under the Google Maps policy, a review or rating that someone received in exchange for money, or for anything of monetary value, counts as fake engagement, and Google removes it. Sometimes it does not stop at removal: Google can also restrict the business profile itself.
If you are thinking about buying reviews, or you already did and reviews are suddenly disappearing from your profile, this is what Google officially says: what counts as buying, how it gets detected, what happens to your profile and how to recover. At the end you will also find the permitted ways to get reviews.
Everything attributed to Google here comes from the Google Business Profile Help Center and the Google Maps content policy. Google does not reveal every method it uses to detect fake reviews, so you cannot know in advance exactly what will happen in any given case.
What counts as buying Google reviews under the policy
Most people think of buying reviews as paying a company that posts reviews. Google’s definition is much broader, and the policy prohibits:
- Reviews or ratings that were paid for, directly or through something of equal value.
- Content that is not based on a real experience with the business.
- Content posted from multiple accounts by one person, or at their request.
- Offering an incentive, such as payment, a discount, or free products or services, in exchange for posting a review, changing it, or removing a negative one.
- A review with a conflict of interest, for example from a current or former employee, or from a family member.
So if you paid a company or a freelancer for a “review package”, gave a discount to a customer who wrote a review, or asked your employees and family to write one, it falls under the definition. Even a sign saying “write a review and get a free coffee” counts as an incentive to Google.
That is why there is no “safe” way to buy reviews. The moment a review is given in exchange for something, it is prohibited, no matter who wrote it.
How Google detects bought reviews
Google filters reviews with an automated spam detection system. According to the policy, it looks for, among other things, an unusual number or pace of reviews that looks like an attempt to influence the ranking, reviews that the same person posted from several accounts, and reviews posted from an emulator (software that imitates a phone) or from a device modified to look like a real user.
On your profile, this looks like reviews that already appeared disappearing, sometimes several at once, and new reviews not showing up. In more serious cases, an email from Google arrives too.
What you should not do at this stage is buy more reviews to “make up” for the ones that vanished. That only deepens the unusual pattern Google is looking for. Instead, check whether a restriction was placed on the profile, which is the next section.
What happens to your profile after Google finds out
A review that Google removed for a policy violation does not come back. And if Google determines that the business owner themselves broke the rules, it can restrict the profile too. These are the examples Google gives:
- The profile will not be able to receive new reviews and ratings for a certain period.
- The existing reviews, including genuine ones, will be hidden for a certain period.
- A warning will be shown to people viewing the profile, saying that fake reviews were removed.
Google stresses that these are only examples, so the restriction can be different. What this means is that the damage does not stay with the reviews you bought: genuine reviews you earned can also disappear from view, and a new customer who sees a warning on your profile no longer trusts you as much. You can read all the details on Google’s official page about restrictions for policy violations. And if genuine reviews are disappearing from your profile and you have no idea why, I wrote a separate guide on Google reviews not showing that goes through the other possible causes.
Before Google restricts a profile, it sends an email to the business owner. So go through the inbox of the account that manages the profile, including the spam folder.
Bought reviews in the past? How to fix it
You cannot undo what was already done, but you can stop the damage and start rebuilding:
- Stop any buying service that is still active. If a vendor is still posting reviews for you, cancel the arrangement with them.
- Do not pay a vendor to “delete” the reviews. Paying to change or remove a review also counts as a prohibited incentive to Google.
- Check whether there is a restriction. If you received a notice of a restriction and you think Google made a mistake, you can file an appeal, and Google will review the profile again together with the explanation you attach. If the restriction is more serious and affects the whole profile, I wrote a detailed guide on what to do when your profile is suspended (Google Business Profile suspended) and how to file an appeal properly.
- Start collecting real reviews. How to do that is in the next section.
Even during the restriction period the business keeps operating and needs customers. This is a good time to make sure every detail in the profile is complete and correct, because according to Google, businesses with complete and accurate information tend to show up more in local search results.
The permitted ways to get reviews
It is allowed, and even recommended, to ask customers to write a review about what they actually experienced with you. The condition is that there is no gift in return, and that you are not trying to steer the rating or what gets written. Google itself suggests several ways:
- A review request link or QR code: go to your business profile, click Read reviews and then Get more reviews. For now, you can only create the QR code from a computer, through the browser.
- Where to put it: on receipts, in a thank-you email, at the end of a chat conversation, in a WhatsApp message, or printed in your shop.
- Reply to reviews: Google recommends replying, because it shows customers that what they write matters to you.
- Do not be afraid of negative reviews: according to Google, a profile with both positive and negative reviews often looks more trustworthy.
How to word the request so that a happy customer actually writes one is something I explained in the guide on how to write a Google review. And all the ongoing work, including replies and reports, is in the guide on managing Google reviews.
When a real negative review comes in, Google recommends replying politely and to the point, admitting the mistake if there was one, not revealing personal details of the person who wrote it, and, in a complicated case, offering to continue the conversation by phone or email. Everyone sees your reply, and it is a chance to show future customers how you act when something goes wrong.
There are also things you must not do when asking for reviews the legitimate way: asking only happy customers, pressuring a customer to write while they are still in the business, telling them what to write, or giving employees a target number of reviews. And if you are interested in how to build a presence on Google without shortcuts, I wrote about it in the guide to increasing organic traffic.
The other side: someone selling you reviews or offering to “remove” them
Some people also use reviews against you. Google describes an extortion scam on a separate help page: suddenly your profile gets many one-star or two-star reviews, and right after that someone contacts you and demands money, products or services to take them down. The contact can arrive by email, WhatsApp, Telegram or a social network, with an offer to “solve it” for a fee.
Google asks you not to reply to the extortionists and not to pay them, because paying may encourage them to try again, and there is no guarantee the reviews will actually come down. What you do is collect evidence immediately: screenshots of all the messages with the date, time and sender details, and links to the suspicious reviews. Then fill in the extortion report form that Google points to, and Google will update you on what its review found.
For a review that breaks the rules for another reason, such as spam, you report it as usual from the business profile. You can read the full rules in the Google Maps prohibited and restricted content policy.
Why reviews do not “buy” a ranking
Google states explicitly that there is no way to request or pay for a better position in local search. According to the Help Center, ranking is determined mainly by three things: how well the business matches what was searched for, how close it is to the person searching, and how prominent and well known it is. I wrote a comprehensive guide on these three things and how to strengthen them the proper way, about local SEO.
Reviews are part of prominence, and Google says that more positive reviews and ratings can help your ranking. But a review that was removed does not help at all, and a restriction on the profile can make the genuine reviews disappear too. So whoever buys reviews risks exactly the thing they tried to strengthen, and the same thing happens with buying backlinks.
When to stop and call an expert
- You received an email from Google about a restriction on your profile and you are not sure how to word an appeal.
- You worked with a company that promised “reviews”, and you do not know exactly what it posted or from which accounts.
- Genuine reviews disappeared together with the bought ones.
- You want to build a standing process for collecting reviews that follows the rules.
If you recognize yourself in one of these situations and could not sort it out alone, I would be happy to go over your profile with you and build a review process that follows Google’s rules.
Frequently asked questions
Is buying Google reviews allowed under Google’s guidelines?
No. The Google Maps content policy prohibits reviews and ratings that were paid for, directly or through something of equal value, and defines them as fake engagement that will be removed.
What is the difference between buying Google reviews and a “discount for writing a review” promotion?
Under the policy there is no meaningful difference. Offering payment, a discount, or a free product or service in exchange for a review counts as a prohibited incentive, exactly like paying an outside vendor.
If the bought reviews were removed, will they come back?
No. According to Google, reviews that were removed for a policy violation are not restored.
What can Google do to the profile of a business that bought reviews?
Beyond removing the reviews, Google may block new reviews for a certain period, hide the existing reviews for a certain period, or show a warning that fake reviews were removed. Google sends an email to the business owner if it intends to apply a restriction.
Is it allowed to ask friends and family to write a review?
The policy prohibits reviews based on a conflict of interest, and mentions family ties and current or former employees, among others. So it is better to ask for reviews only from real customers.
What do I do if a competitor bought negative reviews against me?
The policy prohibits posting content about a competing business to damage its reputation. You report the reviews through the business profile, and if there is a demand for payment to remove them, Google points to a dedicated extortion report form and asks you not to pay.