Consumers expect the reviews they browse on Amazon, Yelp, Google and other critical sites to be reliable, neutral and objective. But this reasonable expectation is frequently thwarted by the efforts of aggressive traders who pay third parties to create fake exams in return for compensation or incite good existing customers to leave notices with discounts or free products or services.
These deceptive practices – called "opinion spam" or "sock puppets" – are a form of information pollution with multiple casualties. Spam of opinion blinds the consumer to the truth and poisons the reputation of the site of the opinion where the false criticism appears. When it is detected, it may subject the distributor and / or the spammer of opinion to criminal and civil penalties.
Unfortunately, spam opinion – despite all the efforts made by control sites to control it – seems to be a permanent and intractable feature of the ecosystem of e-commerce and the local business information.
[Read the full article on Search Engine Land.]
The opinions expressed in this article are those of the guest author and not necessarily Marketing Land. The authors of the staff are listed here.
About the author
Kevin Lee is co-founder and executive chairman of Didit, a leading digital marketing and technology company founded in 1996. Didit completed 11 acquisitions to become a one-stop, full-service marketing company in a SEM / SEO boutique. Kevin continues to invent new technology platforms for Didit and its customers. Kevin also co-founded We-Care.com generating more than $ 8 million for non-profit organizations through cause marketing. As a true pioneer in digital marketing, Kevin is giving back to the industry via 4 books, lectures and more than 780 published columns. Kevin holds an MBA from Yale University and lives in Scarsdale with his wife, Dr. Allison Kahner, and two children.