Should You Trust Online Reviews?
This is something that we get asked a lot and have been asked even more since this website was launched. Should you trust review websites and the online reviews that come with them? We all have mixed feelings and honestly, it depends on what website it is and what the reviews are like. You can sometimes spot fake or made-up reviews but not always.
Fake Reviews
How To Spot Fake Reviews On Google
Google has its own review platform which I think is great, that being said it’s more and more common for these websites to buy their reviews and they’re normally terrible companies but Google lets the reviews on there because it’s more activity. There are certain ways to tell if a review on Google is fake.
The main way to spot fake Google reviews is when there are several reviews all saying or claiming the same thing. We took a look at dodgy car rentals in the United States and we found that some of the worst car rental companies will all have 5 star reviews that will say something like “This company saved my holiday” they are all fake reviews and should be reported to Google and not trusted. If you’re looking for a company through Google reviews, start at the one star reviews and work your way up.
How To Spot Fake Amazon Reviews
Fake Amazon reviews are harder and harder to spot. We have decided that if a review doesn’t have enough detail or pictures in the review, we don’t trust it and will look at the reviews that have detail, that have pictures and can actually answer questions around the products. If the review just says something like “I like this product” don’t trust it.
Can Reviews Be Trusted?
Yes, the majority of online reviews can be trusted although it depends on where you find the reviews as to how much you can trust it.
Reviews on Amazon, Google and other high-profile websites we tend not to trust as much unless there are thousands of reviews on a product and we have half an hour to go through them all. Personally, we would much rather find blogs or smaller review websites that will give honest opinions on products, companies and services instead of sugarcoating everything.
If you’re looking for reviews on a company, we would 110% recommend taking a look at TrustPilot which we support and love. We’ve found reviews on there before and they’ve been incredibly helpful. It’s always better to find a website that takes reviews from thousands of people online and will vet said reviews so that spammy reviews don’t get published.
The Best Review Websites
In our opinion, the best review websites are the smaller ones that are led by independent companies that vet the reviews they get. On here we approve or delete all of our product ratings so anything that seems like spam or fake will not get published. Take a look at some of the best review websites that we use all the time.
TrustPilot Review Website
We use TrustPilot all the time, there reviews are from real people who have real things to say. If you’re looking to work with or buy from a company and you want to know if they’re decent or not, make sure you take a look on here first to see what other people have to say about them and don’t just trust reviews on the companies website because we all know they’re probably fake.
Which? Review Site
Which? are known for their honest reviews on both companies and products. However, there has been word that they may be a little biased so again, don’t just go with one review website, shop around and look for reviews from multiple sources so you’re not getting scammed into buying terrible products or working with rubbish companies.
Should You Trust Bad Reviews?
Yes, you should trust bad reviews just as you should trust good reviews. However, you need to ensure that these are spam reviews. If there are lots of bad reviews that are the same and even use the same wording with minimal description or fine details, they could be false reviews.
Most of the time bad reviews will give more information and you’ll find them to be a lot more honest as people aren’t happy and have more to say. Good reviews can be very generic and basic. If a company has a lot of bad reviews which are similar but unique then the company is worth staying away from.
We always take a look at the bad reviews because they can be quite the eye opener and even if we do decide to go with that company, we know what to look out for. For example, if it’s a hotel and we see reviews saying not to book a certain room we make sure to request that we get put in either a specific room or just not that one.