Buy positive Google reviews
Is it legal?
Reading time: 10 mins
We answer in this article about one of the most frequent questions asked by customers concerned about the legality of this review buying service on Goolge. Is it legal? Can I have problems if I buy them? Can Google penalize me? There are many articles on the internet commenting on it so it is normal for some concern to arise about this issue.
It is legal only if it is done correctly
Very briefly, if the reviews are false, it is not a legal practice and you can be penalized. It has not been the case since it is not something they investigate but it could happen.
«In article 5 of Unfair Competition, provided in Law 3/1991 establishes that "Any conduct that contains false information or information that, even being truthful, by its content or presentation induces or may mislead the recipients, is considered unfair by misleading, being susceptible to altering their economic behavior."
"In this sense, it is clear that the reviews are false information about the services provided by the business, then it seems obvious the violation of this regulation. On the other hand, false comments or reviews could be considered illicit advertising due to misleading, in the terms of the General Advertising Law 34/1988, of November 11 ”.
Are those of Rating Trust legal?
The way we do it, yes, there is no problem whatsoever. We do not pay third parties to post reviews that are not true. That is why in our reviews it is not possible to choose the text that they are going to put or photos. We have been advised by several law firms in Barcelona such as Cuatre Houses o Marimon lawyers and we and our clients are fully covered.
Illegal way:
Pay people who do not know the business or have been to put five stars and the text that is indicated. It is quite easy to find out if a business uses this method or not, so you have to be careful.
Legal Manner (Rating Trust):
What we do is look for people who know the business and ask their opinion. If it is positive, we ask you to put it on Google Maps in exchange for a small reward in our app. If it is negative, we do not ask you and we simply thank you for your contribution.
It is an action that happens everywhere and in businesses. If you have a disgruntled customer who is yelling at you because he is very upset, you are not going to ask him to put an opinion on your business as it will be negative and will not benefit you, it would be a bit absurd to be honest. On the contrary, if the client is happy, what you will do is ask them and even encourage them and that is not illegal.
For example, a limousine service company, in the middle of the journey, tells its customers that if they put a positive review on Google, it invites them to an extra shot and thus gets many reviews. It's a good way and Google allows it. There are other platforms such as trip or yelp that do not allow incentives and that if they discover it they can even close the account and that is why we do not do it on those, although it is still legal.