How do I contact Google for fake reviews?

The first point of contact is the review itself. Signed in to the Google account that manages your Business Profile, open your reviews, choose the report option next to the review and pick the reason. That puts the review in front of Google for assessment, and there is no more official route to try first.

The Reviews Management Tool is the next step and the more useful one. You can report reviews there, check the status of each report (decision pending, reviewed with no policy violation, or escalated) and submit a one-time appeal, for up to ten reviews at once, when a report is refused. An escalated appeal ends with a final decision sent by email.

For anything the tools don't cover, Business Profile support is reached through the Google Business Profile help centre. The contact options it offers, such as a form, email or chat, vary with the issue and are not always available, so set out your case in writing with links to the reviews, the dates and your evidence that the reviewers were never customers.

Two situations have their own routes. If the reviews come with a demand for money, use Google's merchant extortion report form and don't pay. If you believe a review is unlawful, for example defamatory, Google's Legal Help Center has a process for reporting content on legal grounds, and a solicitor can tell you whether that route fits your case.

Whichever route you use, Google is asking whether the review breaks its policies or the law. Build your message around that, with facts rather than frustration, and you will get further than with a long account of why the reviewer is being unfair.