Revdict.

Andrew Keymaster

Founder, Revdict

Andrew Keymaster built and runs Revdict, a free forensic checker for Google Maps reviews. Its scoring model has examined 420,533 public reviews across 443 places as of August 2026, flagging the patterns that show up in manipulated review records — same-day five-star bursts, throwaway reviewer accounts, and near-duplicate wording. He writes here about how those patterns are detected, what platforms will and won't act on, and what the data says about how common fake reviews actually are.

Articles by Andrew Keymaster

My Business Got Hit by Fake 1-Star Reviews: An Owner's Playbook

A sudden wave of fake 1-star reviews is a review-burst attack, not normal customer feedback drift. Here's the step-by-step response: document the pattern, report through the right channel, and know when to escalate to the FTC.

Aug 2, 2026 · 6 min read

The FTC's Fake-Review Rule: What It Bans and the Fines So Far

The FTC's Consumer Review Rule bans buying fake reviews, suppressing negative ones, and faking social proof, with penalties up to $53,088 per violation. Here's what's actually prohibited and where enforcement stands as of August 2026.

Jul 31, 2026 · 6 min read

Google vs. Yelp vs. Tripadvisor: Who Fights Fake Reviews Best?

Google, Yelp, and Tripadvisor all fight fake reviews, but with different tools and different tolerance for false positives: Google leans on automated pre-publication screening at massive scale, Yelp runs manual sting operations and public "Consumer Alerts," and Tripadvisor employs a large moderation staff and is notoriously strict about removal.

Jul 27, 2026 · 6 min read

How to Report a Fake Google Review (and What Actually Happens)

Reporting a fake Google review takes under a minute, but removal isn't automatic and nobody tells you the outcome. Here are the exact taps on every surface — Maps app, Maps web, Search, Business Profile — what happens inside Google's review queue afterwards, and what to do when one report clearly isn't enough.

Jul 25, 2026 · 8 min read

What Share of Places Have Manipulated Reviews? Our Data, July 2026

As of July 2026, 33.5% of the 242 Google Maps places we've analyzed show signs of review manipulation, and 12.4% score high enough to be called Likely Manipulated. Here's the full breakdown by verdict, signal type, and what's driving it.

Jul 23, 2026 · 5 min read

How Our Fake-Review Score Works (and What It Can't Tell You)

Our 0-100 manipulation score combines review-burst detection, reviewer-account age and activity, duplicate-text matching, and rating-text consistency into a single number. Here's what goes into it, and the real limits of what any automated score can prove.

Jul 21, 2026 · 6 min read

How to Spot Fake Google Reviews: 7 Signals With Real Examples

Fake Google reviews leave patterns a normal reader can catch: review bursts, thin reviewer histories, duplicate phrasing, and rating-text mismatches. Here are seven signals to check before you trust a listing, with real analyzed examples.

Jul 19, 2026 · 7 min read