What happens if you buy Google reviews?

The transaction rarely delivers what it promises. Purchased reviews come from account farms whose profiles review dozens of unrelated businesses across the world in implausible patterns, and Google's filters are built around exactly those signals. A chunk of what you pay for never appears, and more evaporates in later sweeps when the accounts behind them are removed.

What does stick can be worse than nothing. Under the undertakings Google signed with the Competition and Markets Authority in January 2025, UK business profiles found boosting their rating with fake reviews can have a warning displayed to customers, and Google reports its enforcement to the CMA over a three-year period. A banner that tells every potential customer the reviews cannot be trusted is the opposite of what the purchase was for.

Legally, buying reviews is commissioning fake reviews, which has been a blacklisted banned practice in the UK since 6 April 2025, exposing the business to direct CMA fines. The seller's marketing will not mention this, because the seller is often overseas, anonymous and beyond practical reach. The named, registered UK business on the profile is the party everything lands on.

There is also a quieter risk owners rarely price in: the seller now has proof you bought fake reviews, and blackmail of businesses by review sellers, demanding ongoing payment against the threat of reporting or review-bombing, is a documented pattern.

Run the alternative maths before spending anything. The same money and effort pointed at your real past customers, a steady ask after every job and a one-tap review link produces reviews that cannot be removed, carry no banner risk and actually convince buyers. Slower to start, and it compounds instead of exploding.