How to Spot a Fake Review Website

One of the more popular techniques in black-hat internet marketing is creating “fake review sites.” A fake review site superficially looks like a real review site and claims to offer impartial comparison of one or more products. The difference is that the reviewer has never actually investigated any of the products. Parts of the review may be based on the marketing literature he received from the supplier; other parts, such as testimonials and numerical ratings, are completely made up. The reviewer gets a commission regardless of which product you choose provided you buy through one of the fake reviewer’s links. Naturally, the products that pay the highest commissions get the most favorable ratings.

Fake reviews can be for any product, but are ubiquitous in industries such as weight loss, software, lending, online dating, and web hosting. There are so common that it’s almost impossible to find a real review for any of these products.

With practice, you can learn about the deceptive marketing methods these sites use and how to detect them.

For the complete article and the nine steps involved, go to WikiHow at http://www.wikihow.com/Spot-a-Fake-Review-Website