Google's battle against fake reviews and listings on Google Maps has reached unprecedented levels, with the company removing 240 million fraudulent reviews in 2024 alone—a 40% increase from the previous year.
• 240 million reviews blocked or removed in 2024 (40% increase from 2023)
• Over 70 million misleading edits to Google Maps listings blocked
• 12 million completely fake business profiles removed
• Posting restrictions placed on 900,000 accounts for repeated violations
• Google using advanced AI and Gemini models to detect and remove spam
• New alert system notifies businesses when suspicious 5-star reviews are removed
• System currently available in US, UK, and India with global expansion next month
• Fake review problem has more than tripled since 2019
• Some legitimate businesses occasionally caught in automated enforcement
Source: https://www.seroundtable.com/google-maps-spam-fighting-2024-39186.html
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Episode Transcript
All right, everybody, if you're listening in, you're
probably busy right Running yourbusiness and all that, so let's
just get straight to it.
Today we're looking atsomething that's super relevant
to just about any local businessout there Spam on Google Maps.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
Yeah, we're talking fake reviews, fake listings, the
whole works.
We've been digging into thisreport from Barry Schwartz over
at Search Engine Roundtable.
Actually, it was just publishedon April 8th 2025, so it's
really fresh.
Speaker 1 (00:27):
And Barry really knows his stuff right.
I mean, he's been coveringsearch marketing forever.
Speaker 2 (00:30):
Oh yeah, he's a real veteran in this space.
Speaker 1 (00:32):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (00:33):
So when he points something out it's worth paying
attention to.
Speaker 1 (00:35):
For sure.
So today what we want to do iskind of break down this report
for you, pull out those reallyimportant numbers and facts so
you can get a better sense ofjust how big this problem of
fake reviews and listingsactually is.
Speaker 2 (00:46):
Yeah, let's jump right in, because the numbers
themselves are kind of shocking.
To start, google blocked orremoved over 240 million reviews
last year in 2024 that violatedtheir policies.
Speaker 1 (00:57):
Wow, 240 million, that's a lot and, just to put
that in perspective, that's ahuge increase compared to 2023.
Speaker 2 (01:10):
Exactly.
It's over 40 percent more thanthe 170 million they blocked in
2023.
Speaker 1 (01:14):
So yeah, it's a growing problem.
For sure Makes you wonder howmany people were being
influenced by those fake reviewsbefore they got taken down
right.
Speaker 2 (01:19):
Absolutely, and it's not just the reviews themselves.
Either.
Google also blocked or removedover 70 million edits to places
on Google Maps.
Speaker 1 (01:28):
So like fake addresses and stuff or
businesses trying to listthemselves in the wrong
categories.
Speaker 2 (01:33):
Exactly Things like that, plus misleading
descriptions, all kinds of stuffdesigned to basically trick the
system.
And then there's the totallyfake business profiles.
Speaker 1 (01:42):
Yeah, those are the worst, you know, the ones that
just pop up out of nowhere.
Speaker 2 (01:46):
Right.
Google took down over 12million of those fake profiles
in 2024.
Speaker 1 (01:50):
12 million, so even more than the fake edits to real
businesses.
Speaker 2 (01:54):
Yeah, and what's crazy is that's the same number
they removed in 2023.
So it seems like that part ofthe problem isn't getting any
better.
Speaker 1 (02:00):
Wow.
So they're clearly working hardto take down the fake stuff,
but what about stopping thosefake reviews and listings from
being created in the first place?
What's Google doing there?
Speaker 2 (02:09):
Well, they're going after the source.
They put posting restrictionson over 900,000 accounts in 2024
because these accounts wereconstantly violating their
policies.
Speaker 1 (02:18):
So basically trying to weed out those bad actors.
Speaker 2 (02:21):
Yep, and to do all of this they're leaning heavily on
technology.
Those bad actors, Yep, and todo all of this they're leaning
heavily on technology,specifically AI and these really
advanced machine learningalgorithms.
Speaker 1 (02:29):
Yeah, barry, even mentioned Google's using their
Gemini AI models.
Now right.
Speaker 2 (02:33):
Uh-huh.
He quoted Google, saying thatAI has been a pivotal tool in
helping us stop scammers intheir tracks, and we're now
using it to scale ourprotections even more.
Speaker 1 (02:42):
So AI is like their secret weapon in this fight
against spam.
Speaker 2 (02:45):
It kind of has to be right.
Imagine trying to sift through240 million reviews manually.
There's no way.
But AI can do it reallyefficiently and it's constantly
learning and getting better atspotting those fake reviews and
listings.
Speaker 1 (02:56):
Makes sense, so AI is helping them play defense.
But Barry also mentionedsomething about a new system
Google is rolling out to helpbusinesses that are being
targeted by spammers.
What was that all about?
Speaker 2 (03:06):
Yeah, this is actually pretty interesting.
It's a new alert system and,believe it or not, it actually
launched back in December 2023.
It's currently running in theUS and UK and India, with plans
to go global, like next month.
Speaker 1 (03:18):
So what does it do?
Speaker 2 (03:20):
It basically tells businesses if Google has removed
any suspicious five-starreviews from their listing.
Speaker 1 (03:25):
Oh, that's smart.
So if you see your five-starreviews suddenly drop, you'll
know that maybe some fake oneswere removed.
Speaker 2 (03:30):
Exactly.
It helps businesses stay on topof things and understand
someone's trying to manipulatetheir ratings.
Speaker 1 (03:35):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (03:36):
And to really see how big this problem is, Barry
included a chart in his articlethat shows just how much this
spam has grown over time.
Speaker 1 (03:44):
Oh yeah, what were those numbers again?
Speaker 2 (03:46):
Well, in 2019, Google blocked 75 million reviews.
Speaker 1 (03:49):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (03:50):
Then it jumped to 115 million in 2020 and 170 million
in 2023.
Speaker 1 (03:55):
Wow.
So it's more than tripled injust a few years.
Speaker 2 (03:58):
Yep, and now we're at 240 million in 2024.
It's crazy.
Speaker 1 (04:02):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (04:02):
So clearly Google's having to really ramp up their
efforts just to keep up.
Speaker 1 (04:05):
So, even with all this work by Google, barry
mentioned that there are stillsome frustrated business owners
out there, right?
Speaker 2 (04:11):
Yeah, Unfortunately, even with all these systems in
place, sometimes legitimatebusinesses get caught in the
crossfire.
They might have their listingsuspended or reviews removed
unfairly and it can be a realhassle to get those issues
resolved.
Speaker 1 (04:23):
It's like the classic problem with any automated
system, right?
No matter how good it gets,it's never perfect.
Speaker 2 (04:29):
Exactly, and sometimes that human touch is
still needed to sort things out.
But Barry did emphasize thatoverall Google's efforts as a
good thing for local businesses.
Speaker 1 (04:40):
Absolutely.
It creates a much more levelplaying field for everyone and
it helps consumers trust theinformation they're seeing
online.
Speaker 2 (04:47):
Right, because ultimately, if people can't
trust Google Maps reviews, thennobody wins.
Speaker 1 (04:51):
So it sounds like local businesses need to be
proactive about managing theironline reputation and making
sure they're doing everythingthey can to attract genuine
positive reviews.
Speaker 2 (05:00):
For sure, and there are tools out there that can
help with this, like Rainmaker,reputation, aicrm that can help
businesses get more authenticreviews, monitor their online
presence and just generally stayahead of the curve when it
comes to reputation management.
Speaker 1 (05:14):
Yeah, having the right tools is so important
these days.
Speaker 2 (05:17):
Absolutely yeah, especially with all this spam
flying around.
Speaker 1 (05:20):
So, to recap what we learned from Barry Schwartz's
report today, the problem offake reviews and listings on
Google Maps is absolutelymassive.
It's growing rapidly and Googleis having to work harder and
harder to keep up, but they arefighting back using
sophisticated AI and new alertsystems to protect both
businesses and consumers.
Speaker 2 (05:38):
And while there are still challenges and
frustrations for business owners, these efforts by Google are a
step in the right direction.
And frustrations for businessowners, these efforts by Google
are a step in the rightdirection and using tools like
Rainmaker, reputation, ai, crmcan help you navigate this
tricky landscape and protectyour business.
Speaker 1 (05:53):
So here's something to think about as you go about
your day how can your localbusiness build and maintain real
, genuine trust with yourcustomers in this digital age
where spam and misinformationare everywhere?
It's a question worth pondering.
We'll see you in the next DeepDive.
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