A huge step towards removing fake reviews and ratings

Nov 30, 2016 14:41 GMT  ·  By

Google is trying to improve Android users' experience in the Play store, and the first thing the search giant plans to do is limit the amount of fake reviews and ratings.

In the latest announcement on its blog, Google explains how it plans to do that. Among the most important changes that the Google Play store will benefit from in the coming months are those related to preventing spam and fake reviews.

In continuing our efforts to combat spammy behavior, we've also improved the ways we identify and remove fake reviews and ratings. With this enhanced capability we are now able to identify and remove more fake reviews and ratings with greater accuracy.”

Basically, Google created an algorithm that can identify with great accuracy all the fake reviews and ratings that get posted on the Play store. Obviously, they are automatically removed the moment the system identifies these reviews and ratings are fake.

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If you're a developer and plan to advertise your Android application or game, you are now strongly recommended to check in and ensure that the promotion technique you plan to take advantage of uses legitimate practices. It's also a good idea to adhere to the Google Play Developer Policy just to be safe.

According to Google, “the basic rule of thumb for reviews and ratings is that they should come from genuine users, and developers should not attempt to manipulate them in any form.”

So, after these changes to the Google Play store, we should expect less fake reviews and ratings to be posted in there. It remains to be seen how Google's new algorithm will be able to identify and remove them, as we don't want any genuine reviews to disappear.

It's also worth noting that Google promises to continue to make such improvements to its systems with the sole purpose of protecting the integrity of Google Play.

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