Most of the time reviews are what helps us decide whether or not we should buy a particular product, watch a certain movie, or eat at a restaurant. This is why it is also a big deal when restaurant owners get negative reviews on platforms like Yelp where they know that a bad review is all it takes to stop customers from coming.The same can be said for the app landscape where poorly review apps tend to be avoided. Some developers have taken it upon themselves to leave fake reviews and ratings to help artificially boost its popularity, but this is something that Google claims to be cracking down on, and an area in which they claim that they have improved upon.
According to Google, “Recently, we announced our improvements in fighting fraudulent and spam app installs. 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.”
What this means is that Google is now able to detect and weed out fake reviews and ratings, meaning that what you see in the Play Store with regards to apps is that for the most part, you can rest assured that the reviews and ratings are legit. Of course some will inevitably slip through the cracks, but hopefully Google’s efforts will keep those at a minimum.