What does review moderation mean?

Every reviews platform uses some form of moderation and it’s a process that can happen before or after a review is published. But what exactly is moderation and why does it matter? Let’s take a look.

What is moderation?

Moderation is when a website owner or piece of software decides what type of content is relevant and suitable for their website, brand and audience. Content is removed, filtered or edited if it breaks the moderation guidelines, which depending on the site or software, could be anything from posting personal details to making abusive comments.

What are the benefits of review moderation?

Moderating reviews is extremely important to ensure only relevant content, which is helpful to both consumers and businesses, is posted, but there are many other benefits too! Here are the main reasons why review moderation exists:

• To protect consumers (e.g. they may accidentally post their personal details if they were unaware a review was going to be made public)
• To protect businesses from false comments that could result in legal action (e.g. falsely calling a business a ‘scam’)
• To make sure all reviews are relevant (e.g. leaving reviews for the wrong product or service)
• To prevent and remove offensive, harmful reviews (e.g. swearing, inappropriate photos, abusive comments)
• To stop fake or spam reviews (this protects consumers and means businesses only analyse genuine feedback, which help them make better business decisions)

Moderation should not be used to:

• Remove genuine negative feedback which is free from abuse and doesn’t break any other guidelines
• Modify reviews so they say what the business wants them to say
• Falsely boost the brand reputation of a company or increase their star rating

Review moderation at Feefo

We believe that genuine, honest reviews are the only way consumers can shop with confidence. However, there are extreme cases where we may need to either remove or edit a review if it violates our strict criteria. To find out more about our grounds for removal, as well as details on what we don’t remove, read our guidelines here or get in touch.