How to Tell If An Online Review Is Trustworthy

A stunning 92 percent of consumers now read online reviews before making a purchase.

This is great for businesses with positive reviews. Not only are they likely getting more business, but these reviews can also be great for employee morale.

But this trend has also led some companies to begin paying for fake reviews to help boost their sales or hurt their competitors.

For consumers, it’s getting harder and harder to read an online review and decide whether it’s fake or authentic.

If you’ve ever utilized online reviews, keep reading. We’re breaking down what you need to know to spot a fake.

Does it Go Into Detail?

While this tip may not necessarily help you spot a bad review, it can help you spot a good one.

An online review that goes into a lot of detail about a product, service, or company is often a good bet when choosing which review to trust.

A person or program writing a fake review is unlikely to waste a lot of time learning about the specifics of a product. Instead, these fake reviews are often vague, without any real description of what the reviewer experienced.

Were a Ton of Reviews Added All at Once?

Paying attention to when online reviews were posted can also help you spot fakes.

For instance, if a company or product has received a few reviews a week, followed by several dozens in the span of a single week, this could indicate that fake reviews were added.

The exception to this rule is when a company launches a new product or reopens after closing. This can sometimes cause a spike in real reviews being posted.

This tip is also only true when using sites that receive large numbers of reviews for a single company or product. You can avoid this issue by utilizing a site that offers fewer reviews that are more in-depth.

Is it Packed With Grammatical or Spelling Errors?

This detail won’t stand true for every review. After all, there are likely plenty of real people reviewing products or services they actually tried who aren’t worried about ensuring that their review is free of grammatical or spelling errors.

But if a review is already setting off warning bells in your head as you read it, an abundance of spelling or grammatical errors could be yet another sign that its fake.

This is oftentimes the case with reviews written by professional fake reviewers. In their rush to crank out as many reviews as possible, they aren’t bothering to read or correct what they’ve written.

Does it Stand Out Among the Other Reviews?

One easy way to figure out whether a review is fake or not is to look to see whether it is an outlier in a sea of other reviews.

For instance, if a product, service, or company has hundreds or even just dozens of negative reviews, followed by just one or two positives, these are likely fake.

If you don’t have time to read through other reviews, and you’re still struggling to pick out real versus fake, don’t fret. There are plenty of software out there that can do much of the sifting for you.

Adding an Online Review or Encouraging Others to Do So

You can help fight back against fake reviews by adding your own or encouraging your clients to review your company.

If you’re a business owner, reviews can be great for boosting your reputation. To find other great ways to improve your website’s reputation, click here!