And I saw that they have been accused of this. They are an SEO that promises to fix your website and do other stuff to increase your business.

I Googled them and there pages and pages of complaints and writing false reviews was one of them.

I don't know if they have ever been taken to court. Or if anything has really been proven.

I can't imagine any other way those stinkbomb films could possible get an average of four stars in customer ratings! Not to mention "Fireproof" and other cinematic dysentery products on their shelves.
OK, "Saving Christmas" got an average of three stars from two reviewers, so that steaming pile doesn't count.

The fake reviews make it harder to make an informed purchase.

I know that the NY State AG recently levied charges against some of these SEO (search engine optimization) firms. Hopefully more states follow.

Of course my policy with Amazon reviews has been to look for the "Verified Purchase" tag. If it doesn't have that, I pretty much ignore the review. Funny that the reviews lacking the VP tag seem to always rate an item higher than the ones with the tag.

And how? Is this only for the few things that Amazon asks you to review?


It seems to me its not that hard to spot hooey reviews. They read like advertisements and are usually a) one of the first posted and b) sometimes the only one posted.

**** Good suspenseful read
By William A. Mcloughlin on October 8, 2010
Format: Hardcover Verified Purchase

borrowed it from a library, or read a copy bought by someone in their household with a different account.

I tend to ignore the "raves" that say little more than "this is the best book EVUH!!!!" (and the pans that claim it's the worst thing ever written). If the reviewer took the time to put together a paragraph or three explaining the review it may be worth reading. The most helpful reviews are actually the 2-,3- and 4-star ones.

Alternatively you can game the system by having a company reimburse you for a purchase that you then review. Likely it'd have to not be a super-expensive purchase, but I'm sure they can build that into their "review fee".

at the reviewers other reviews. You can pretty much tell - if they give all 5 stars, or it's balanced, with dates spread apart.

Not too hard to figure out.

I do that because occasionally I'll get a product that's great - or awful - that I checked out on Amazon but got elsewhere, and will go back and give a review.

Just read the fawning reviews of the awful self-published ebooks.

from people promising 5-star reviews if we give them a product to review for free.

So, I am glad that Amazon is going after these guys.

and saw a LOT that had exactly the same sentence in them: "I received this product in exchange for an honest and unbiased review."

A lot of these were 'verified purchases', so it looks like they are still finding ways to game the system.

I hate them and sometimes the only reviews listed are all the fake Amazon Vine reviews.

who would jesus slander

Just because you did not buy the item on Amazon does not mean you did not use it, read the book, whatever. Even if someone paid you to do the review, that does not mean you did not read the book or use the item. Frankly I think that Amazon is going to run up against the 1st Amendment here. I take all of the reviews with a grain of salt anyway and do not depend on one review - If I really want to know about an item I read a lot of reviews and basically dismiss the super positive ones and the super negative ones. A theme usually emerges which is the real story on the item.