(800) 689-1273
Facebook Twitter Youtube Linkedin
Prospect Genius logo

Prospect Genius

Menu
Log In
You are here: Home / Archives for Reviews

Did Google Really Ban Employee Names in Reviews?

Last Updated: August 18, 2026

Have you heard that Google has banned customers from mentioning employee names in reviews? That claim has been making the rounds in local SEO circles since Google updated its review policies a few months ago. There is just one problem. That is not quite what Google said. Customers are not suddenly forbidden from writing, “Mike did a […]

Tweak Your Ask, Get More Useful Reviews

Last Updated: July 15, 2026

For years, local businesses were told to focus on review count, star rating, and how recently new reviews were posted. Those signals still matter. But AI-powered search can now do more with the actual words customers use. A five-star rating says a customer was happy. A review that says, “They arrived the same day, fixed […]

Google Is Cracking Down on Suspicious Reviews

Last Updated: June 1, 2026

If your Google Business Profile suddenly stops accepting reviews, do not assume it is a glitch. Google may remove suspicious high-rated reviews, update a business’s rating, and temporarily pause new reviews when it detects unusual activity on a listing. We recently saw two screenshots that point to the same pattern. In one, a search for […]

Fake Reviews on Your Website Are Not Clever. They Fail With Humans and Machines.

Last Updated: May 18, 2026

We have been seeing a frustrating pattern lately. Some small businesses are trying to use AI to generate fake customer reviews, then treating those reviews like they belong on a company website. That is a bad idea for all the obvious reasons. It is dishonest. It is misleading. And as of October of 2024, it […]

If It’s Easy to Do, It Probably Has Little SEO Value

Last Updated: April 6, 2026

Want a quick way to tell whether an SEO tactic is worth your time? If it is easy to do at scale, it probably will not move the needle much.  Why? Because easy tactics are easy to manipulate. Once people start abusing them, Google and other platforms reduce the value of that signal. That pattern has repeated […]

Sign up for our newsletter!

Join our mailing list and receive regular updates on how to effectively market your small business, along with exclusive service promotions.
Please enable JavaScript in your browser to complete this form.