Google has been releasing an annual report on the number of reviews blocked or removed for several years now. In a Googler’s post, 292 million reviews were blocked, and 13 million were removed in 2025. The post states that while 292 million reviews were blocked, 1 billion reviews were posted and are live. Google blocked …
I received a tip that Nicholas Abaza is having his friends leave reviews on his Google Business Profile (GBP). I was given four names to check: Jorge Borunda, Michael Trevino, Seth Nicamoff, and Adam Fomby. Adam Fomby is a founding partner at Borunda and Fomby. He left reviews for Borunda P.C., Law Office of Nicholas …
On March 10th, 2026, Google employee Lisa Landsman published a post on the help forum. The write-up is directed towards small businesses and addresses rankings and online reviews. The spotlight on reviews section has some great nuggets of wisdom. Pro-Tips for Managing Feedback Lisa is telling people to show they are listening by replying to …
It has come to my attention that One Property Management at 1350 Boyson Rd A-1, Hiawatha, IA 52233 ran a review contest to bolster its Google reviews. They put out door hangers advising that, for the month of February 2026, anyone who posted a review was eligible for a $5.00 gift card. One Property Management …
For the past few months, I have been building a fake review detection tool. What used to take me hours to compute by hand, I can now do in minutes. My tool shows all the businesses reviewed by the same people who reviewed the scanned business. Here are the results after scanning the Google Business …
On Friday, April 3rd, 2026, somebody posted on Reddit complaining about fraudulent Google Business Profiles (GBPs) in the market. The fraudulent GBPs are targeting air duct cleaning services. There appear to be two networks and a handful of other GBPs violating the TOS. I feel there are two different networks because each uses the same …
I recieved a tip that the Wau Lin Cree Apartments in Kansas City, MO, has been engaging in fake Google reviews. Currently, Wau Lin Cree Apartments has a 3.8 rating on Google. The last 37 5-star reviews are questionable. 21 of the review profiles are set to private. This means that we can not see …
I recieved a tip that Genesis Health Clubs – Midtown Tulsa, located at 4103 S Yale Ave, Tulsa, OK 74135, was apparently offering free smoothies in exchange for Google reviews. If this claim is true, not only can you not trust their reviews, but each review, in exchange for a free smoothie, is subject to …
Someone associated with JFTB Real Estate Phuket has been reporting fake reviews targeting their Google Business Profile (GBP) since September 2025. The spammers have been posting 3 and 4-star reviews. I saw the first Reddit post on November 6th, 2025. I mapped out the fake profiles and mapped out the businesses they reviewed. Google has …
On Sunday, February 22, 2026, I came across a post on Local Search Forum about a new, large lead-generation network. The new network is in the garage door space. The Google Business Profiles (GBPs) are blanketing the United States. They use the name Garage Door Repair The Home Service. This was not the name they …