Plus, new technologies are likely to catch you. Use flagging tools as they were intended over-reporting/flagging negative reviews to manipulate your way into a better rating is a surefire way to lose credibility. Related: This AI Predicts Online Trolling Before It Happens Use safeguards appropriately. In some cases, that may mean flagging a five-star review that was mistakenly posted about your business when it was really meant for someone else! Use the tools available to you if you suspect a review is fraudulent. It's not hard to find out where to report it: Google allows businesses to flag content that might be in violation of its terms of service. If you see something suspicious, report it. But here's the thing: You should join the fight.

It's a constant challenge to snuff out fraud and manipulation. Review platforms - like mine - are investing in AI and machine-learning to detect fake reviews, but no platform is perfect. Here's how you can be sure you're on the right side of that line. The new state of online reviews, then, is that a line has been drawn in the sand. In short, companies that aim to manipulate or 'game' the system to get fake five-star reviews face new defenses instituted by online review platforms. Businesses face a litany of new defenses, processes and technologies, as review companies move to protect their platforms from manipulation. Moving forward, how businesses obtain their stars is going to be more important than how many stars they have. 'We collect reviews not for the stars - though they certainly don't hurt - but to show the world we conduct business out in the open, we're credible.' 'We deal with a lot of skepticism, asking people to purchase our luxury product sight unseen,' Leon Rbibo, president of jewelry businesses The Pearl Source and Laguna Pearl, pointed out to me via email. Related: Amazon Sues Alleged Sellers of Bogus 5-Star Product ReviewsĪt this stage, however, the arms race is pretty much over. Today's entrepreneurs, in contrast, understand this problem so well that they've inadvertently set off an arms race for those coveted five-star reviews.

When early technologists first created the framework for the internet, few understood how vital it would be to build trust and stand out in an expansive sea of hundreds of thousands of businesses, all moving in unison to establish an online presence.

5 star rating review