At least Google didn't build their rating system specifically to blackmail businesses into paying for tools that can get negative ratings removed. Unlike Trustpilot.
Quite the opposite, Google is constantly being harassed by lawyers employed by businesses with bad ratings, using legal tricks to have legitimate reviews removed. Then what‘s left is a very distorted picture of the actual consumer ratings, so the system is quite skewed in businesses favor.
Let's say you are legit but just don't want to play this bullshit game at all (as otherwise you'd need to constantly monitor and be ready to try and take down the obviously fake reviews which you can prove are fake), can you do that?
I feel like these companies, even if they didn't have extortionate intentions, are still creating overhead for businesses that haven't asked for anything.
It's human nature to be predisposed to leave reviews when you have a bad experience.
Then you have those f'ing weirdos who leave reviews like "Burger was really good and all but the food I had at the French Laundry was way better! 2/5 stars!" at a local pub or something.
And then if the owner gets caught up in some shit that hits the news the reviews get brigaded by trolls who don't even live in a 500 mile radius or have any intention of ever going.
It's human nature to be predisposed to leave reviews when you have a bad experience.
Then you have those f'ing weirdos who leave reviews like "Burger was really good and all but the food I had at the French Laundry was way better! 2/5 stars!" at a local pub or something.
And then if the owner gets caught up in some shit that hits the news the reviews get brigaded by trolls who don't even live in a 500 mile radius or have any intention of ever going.
If you're truly interested in finding a good place to eat or get your oil changed or whatever there are far better methods than Yelp or google reviews.
Maybe Google don't know about the practices of Trustpilot or maybe 'there is no evidence'?