Buy positive Google reviews - How to do it

Positive Google reviews are an integral part of your company's reputation. End consumers rely on these reviews to make a purchasing decision or use a service. For many businesses, therefore, it can sound tempting to shop positive Google reviews to improve their own rankings. In this blog article, you will learn why exactly this is not recommended and what alternatives there are for companies.

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Good Google reviews: Are you actually important?

What word of mouth used to do is now taken over by Google reviews: They are an integral part of your company's external image and a key indicator of the quality of your products or services. Studies have shown that a larger proportion of end consumers now rely on Google reviews than on personal recommendations (source: Capterra study). This alone makes it clear how much attention you should pay to Google reviews as a company these days. They are no longer just an additional factor in a company's reputation, but make up the core of it. A large number of positive Google reviews and especially a good average rating can sustainably increase your sales.

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Buy Google reviews: Is that even possible?

Here the answer is clear: Yes, purely theoretically it is possible to buy Google reviews. In fact, however, we advise you not to do so. The Internet is full of offers that often promise a certain number of "real", positive Google reviews for a small fee. Whereby "genuine" here can only mean: "Written by a real person" - the reviews themselves are and remain fake. The temptation for companies to take advantage of such an offer is great. They hope to gain the trust of potential new customers. Nevertheless, it is not advisable to purchase Google reviews in all cases.

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What's wrong with buying Google reviews?

To understand why shopping for fake Google reviews is not a good idea, you first need to understand what purposes genuine Google reviews can serve for a business. On the one hand, more positive Google reviews naturally improve the external image of your company. But beyond that, reviews from real customers also help you gather integral feedback about the quality of your own product or the service you offer. As a company, you should not voluntarily forego such free advice on the quality of your own performance from actual customers.

If you now buy in masses of positive Google reviews, at some point you will lose track of which reviews are genuine and which are bought. By then, at the latest, it will no longer be possible to draw conclusions about actual customer feedback from Google reviews. And if you are honest: There is usually a reason for negative reviews. A solution to this is certainly not found in buying positive fake reviews, but rather in improving the customer experience. With Mateo, you can significantly improve the customer experience in the area of customer communication, among other things, and collect positive reviews automatically with Google review management.

It is also possible that end consumers feel the difference between purchased and real reviews, and thus the trust in your reviews is lost holistically. Of course, this cannot be the goal.

The legal assessments presented in this blog article do not in any way guarantee accuracy and solely reflect a possible interpretation.

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Shopping for positive Google reviews: Legal situation

Of course, no provider of purchased Google reviews will say on its own that the purchase of positive Google reviews is illegal. In reality, however, you are operating in a gray area at best:

It is permitted for providers to arrange product testers in return for payment. After testing the offer, they then submit a review and are paid for it.

However, if the purchase of a Google review does not take place as part of a product test, then this is illegal according to §5 paragraph 1 number 1 of the law against unfair competition UWG. In case of violations, you risk high warnings.

In addition, review platforms such as Google in this case are also legally required to take action against purchased reviews. Work is therefore being done on filters that recognize and delete fake reviews. But consumer centers are also increasingly taking action against buyers of fake reviews. Warning actions are therefore to be expected.

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What are alternatives to buying Google reviews?

The easiest alternative to buying Google reviews is to improve your own performance. Use the feedback you collect through customer reviews to sustainably improve the quality of your product or service. This leads to more satisfied customers and simultaneously to a better average Google rating. But also an active reputation management can contribute significantly to increase your online ratings overall and collect more reviews.

By the way: Did you know that negative Google reviews can also be deleted quite easily? In our article"How can you have negative Google reviews deleted?" you can learn more!

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Better Google reviews with Mateo rating management

Even if you manage to delete bad reviews in some circumstances, more positive reviews are still the best answer to single negative ones. With Mateo, you collect 2-3 times more positive Google reviews on average. How does it work? You send automated targeted review requests via WhatsApp to satisfied customers. The more reviews you have, the better you will be found on Google, for example. Reviews also create trust in your business and increase your sales. In addition, the Mateo solution enables you to communicate with customers via WhatsApp in a DSGVO-compliant manner, to edit all message channels from a central inbox and to send Whatsapp newsletters.

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Does that sound exciting to you? Then book a 30-minute consultation appointment and learn more about the solution: Book appointment

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Other advantages of Mateo

At Mateo, we are your messaging experts when it comes to customer communication. Hundreds of companies already use Mateo and are enthusiastic about it. Our customers particularly appreciate the following advantages of Mateo:

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Central user interface

In addition to WhatsApp Business API, Mateo bundles many other communication channels such as email, Instagram, Google Business Chat, SMS or Facebook Messenger in a central inbox. On the intuitive and clear user interface, you will find various helpful tools for particularly efficient customer communication. For your customers, a web widget with the message channels you support is available for particularly easy contact.

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Custom Message Templates

Thanks to various message templates that can be created individually, the amount of paperwork is minimized and the efficiency of customer communication is increased. This means that personnel resources in the service area can be deployed elsewhere.

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WhatsApp & SMS Marketing Newsletter

With Mateo's WhatsApp API solution, newsletters can be sent in a GDPR-compliant manner. Due to the first-class open rate of 98% for WhatsApp messages, marketing can thus be done much better than via email or other channels. With Mateo, you can also send your marketing newsletters automatically via SMS.

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Privacy

Mateo's messaging tool is compatible with all German and European legally binding data protection requirements. If the law changes, the software will be revised accordingly. For absolutely secure customer communication, all messages are encrypted end-to-end. You can read all the info about the GDPR when using WhatsApp in our article"WhatsApp Business and GDPR". This will help you avoid the warnings, severe penalties and expensive legal costs that often occur in the event of non-compliance with the GDPR (= use of the standard WhatsApp Business app).

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Scalability for all company sizes

The scalability of the messaging tool has been confirmed by the large number of companies already using Mateo with great satisfaction. Whether customers have just a few employees or many hundreds, the software works smoothly and, depending on the package, with an unlimited number of end devices, users and phone numbers. The fact that Mateo significantly reduces the workload in the customer service area opens up new growth opportunities for many companies.

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Low cost provider for WhatsApp Business API

With an entry-level price of just 79 euros per month, Mateo is a cost-effective provider for WhatsApp Business API solutions on the German market. Combined with the integration of additional communication channels and various helpful tools, Mateo offers excellent value for money. Mateo's personal customer support assists companies with every step of the integration, ensuring very low barriers to entry.

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