Their review count jumped 40 in a month, the names look like a spreadsheet, and every review is five stars and one sentence. Here's how to report it in a way Google actually acts on — and how to win anyway.
By John Traugott, founder of RankFrost · Updated July 2026
The short answer
You can flag any single review from the competitor's listing (“Report review”), but Google's enforcement responds to patterns, so document the wave: screenshot the burst of reviews, note the dates, and look at the reviewer profiles — fake ones tend to be new accounts that have reviewed a string of unrelated businesses across the country. Then use Google's Business Redressal Complaint Form, which exists precisely for reporting deceptive behavior on someone else's listing, and attach your evidence. Expect slow, quiet enforcement rather than a dramatic takedown — and whatever you do, don't buy reviews back. Regulators fine fake-review buyers, and Google suspends them.
One tell can be a coincidence. Fake review campaigns have several at once.
In order of effort and effect.
Document first. Screenshot the review wall, the dates, and a handful of the reviewer profiles with their out-of-state review histories. Enforcement responds to evidence of a pattern, and screenshots preserve it if reviews get shuffled later.
Flag individual reviews. On their listing, use the three-dot menu on each obviously fake review → Report review → choose the spam/fake option. Have a couple of people who've seen the listing do the same — multiple independent flags carry more weight than one.
File a Business Redressal Complaint. Google's redressal form is the formal channel for reporting deceptive practices on another business's profile, and it accepts evidence. This is the step most owners never take, and it's the one that reaches a human process.
Report the review seller if you find one. If the fakes trace to a visible seller (a “reputation” site selling five-star packs), report that too — regulators have been fining fake-review operations, and Google pursues the networks, not just the reviews.
Give it weeks, not days. Enforcement is real but slow, and Google won't email you a verdict. Check back in a few weeks — waves of purchased reviews often quietly thin out as the accounts behind them get purged.
Beat them where it counts. A steady flow of real, detailed reviews beats a pile of fake ones — with customers, and increasingly with the AI tools that read review language when they recommend businesses. Here's how to build that flow.
Sometimes, and more often when the evidence shows a pattern rather than one suspicious review. Google also runs its own purges of fake-review networks, so reported listings often lose reviews in batches later — quietly, with no notification to you.
It's Google's formal channel for reporting fraudulent or deceptive information on a Google Business Profile you don't own — including fake review campaigns. You can attach evidence, and it reaches a review process rather than just an algorithm.
Not on their listing — you can't review a competitor as a business, and retaliatory reviews violate policy and make you the offender. Report through the proper channels and stay clean; it also keeps your hands clean if Google investigates the category.
It helps, but ranking is more than review count — relevance, proximity, and your whole profile matter too. While the report works its way through, close the gaps you control. Start with why a competitor outranks you.
No — this is the one unforgivable move. Fake reviews violate Google policy and federal consumer-protection rules, buyers get caught in the same purges as your competitor, and a suspension costs you every real review you've earned. Their cheating is a reporting opportunity, not a permission slip.
Usually fewer than you think — local-pack leaders average around 47, and recency matters as much as count. See how many reviews you actually need for the data.
Book a free 30-minute call. I'll look at the competitor's review pattern, help you file the report properly, and map the honest plan that beats them anyway — no obligation.
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