Can Google Reviews Be Traced? A Quick Guide

Brands and Businesses around the world depend on reviews to boost their popularity. Both business owners and the general public are aware of its importance. However, in those reviews, there can be fake comments that may hamper your business's reputation.

So, how will you know whether it is a genuine or a fake review? Can Google reviews be tracked to see the authenticity of the posted reviews? This article will help you understand how Google review tracing works.

You will better understand why identifying anonymous Google reviews is important and how they can affect your brand's reputation through this detailed article.

What Are Google Reviews?

Google Reviews is a service where customers can leave feedback on your Google My Business page. These reviews express thoughts and feedback for your product or service used by a consumer.

Customers can rate your business and give you a star rating between one and five. The more positive reviews, or 5-star ratings, ensure businesses' credibility and build trust with their potential customers.

On the other hand, negative ones can hamper the reputation. Thus, tracing Google reviews comes into the picture.

Can You Trace A Google Review?

Can Google reviews be traced to IP addresses? Yes, when anyone writes a review, Google can see the IP address used, even if they hide their name. These IP addresses can be used for tracking the source of Google reviews.

You can only prevent it from getting traced by using a VPN (virtual private network). It will mask the address and reroute to a different server in a foreign country.

Reasons To Track Or Trace A Google Review

Google reviews are a great way of telling what your business does or how your product works. Brands or businesses trace a Google review for protecting themselves against fraudulent Google reviews left for their business. Let's find out more below:

#1. Identify and Report Fake Reviews

Investigating fake Google reviews is becoming more than essential for businesses. By tracing Google review patterns, you can identify whether the review is fake or genuine. 

You can use different methods for detecting fake Google reviews and identifying between a genuine negative and a fake review.

#2. SEO Benefits

You can increase your user interaction and engagement by doing a proper Google review forensic analysis as a part of your SEO strategy. When you analyze, you will figure out the keywords used to search businesses.

Better local SEO rankings result from positive reviews and location data, which increases the company's visibility to local searchers, in which tracing a review helps.

#3. Reputation Management

Ensuring transparency in Google reviews will add to your credibility. Search engines often consider credibility as a ranking factor while showing search results for a business.

Tracking fake reviews can help you report them and have only genuine Google reviews on your GMB profile which will build trust, leading to higher visibility.

#4. Respond Promptly to Feedback or Complaints

Tracing Google reviews helps in engaging with both good and negative comments promptly, which is crucial for businesses as it shows that you are actively listening to and connecting with your clients.

It also helps to improve the reputation of your brand because people will see that you accept constructive criticism just as well as good comments.

How To Keep Track Of Google Review?

If you want to improve your business and keep genuine reviews on your GMB profile, do a thorough Google review investigation by tracking each of them properly and reporting the fake reviews. 

Let’s look at some methods of tracking Google Reviews below:

#1. Using Your Profile

You can use your Google My Business profile to see who has left a review for your product. It will show you the name, the star ratings, and detailed feedback left by them.

#2. Manually Tracking

Tracking manually using excel can be one of the helpful techniques for tracing Google reviews for small businesses. You can create a spreadsheet with the number of reviews per star rating to calculate your rating percentage.

#3. Using Review Management Software

You can find Google review tracking tools that easily connect with your GMB profile. These tools and software can help track reviews and offer other features all in one place. You would not need an additional resource to handle this.

#4. Creating Google Alerts

You can use your GMB profile and create alerts for the locations for which you Google review notifications. Once set up, you will start getting emails every time a customer leaves a review.

Is It Possible To Leave An Anonymous Review On Google?

No, you cannot leave an anonymous review on Google. Google has updated its requirements, and everyone must identify themselves when leaving a review. Moreover, Google has also deleted all the anonymous reviews that were posted.

This step has been taken to protect businesses. At times, competitors take advantage of anonymity and leave fake reviews. And if it continued, people would have doubted Google's credibility.

Thus, now, people must share their names as a part of the Google review authenticity verification process while submitting a review. It is an excellent way of preventing fake reviews and building trust.

How Close Can You Get to Leaving an Anonymous Google Review?

Although uncovering the identity behind Google reviews is mandatory, there are still some ways to go anonymous. Below are some of them:

#1. Change Your Name

To hide your Google review source identification, change your first and last name on Google. One way is to delete your last name, and the other is by using a nickname in place of your first name.

However, there is a catch. Businesses can flag your review if you left a review without using your real name. If Google does not find it legitimate, it can delete it as it is Google review accountability to ensure all verified reviews are posted.

#2. Using No Account or a Different Account

You can also leave a review without using a Google or Gmail Account. It is a massive benefit for businesses as it can significantly increase their reviews and boost their business.  

Similarly, you can also use an old account without your name on it or create a new account from scratch. However, remember the account will still need a name, irrespective of whether it has the email address.

Conclusion

As a company, you should constantly be aware of how well your enterprise is doing and where it still needs improvement. The most effective approach to do this is to find out what your customers think of your offering.

You can check it by tracing and tracking your reviews regularly, where this guide will help. It is a perfect way of ensuring you know where your business stands and building an environment of transparency with your customers.

However, do ensure you follow all the legal implications of tracing Google reviews, including policies laid by Google. It will ensure you are following the right path to building your brand and reputation.

FAQs

1. Can someone trace you for a Google review?

Yes, you can be traced using the IP address you used to write the Google review. Even if you choose to mask your identity when posting a review, Google still detects your IP address.

2. How do you find out the Google reviewer's profile?

You can identify the name of the reviewer by searching for them on Google and then looking up their Google profile to see if they have connected their Google reviews to their Google profile.

3. Can you post an anonymous Google review?

Google doesn’t allow anyone to post anonymously anymore. The closest you can go is by changing your real name, deleting your last name, and using a nickname to post a review.

4. How do you remove fake reviews on Google?

You must report any reviews that you may feel are fake to Google's customer support team. They will check, and if it violates their policies, they will go ahead and remove the review.

5. Why is it important to trace Google reviews?

Google reviews are an excellent way of telling how your business is performing. Hence, it would help if you tracked these reviews to protect your business from fraudulent reviews that can harm your reputation.