There are plenty of product review websites on the internet, but not all of them are equal when it comes to honesty and integrity. Many product review sites may seem unbiased at first glance, but a closer look reveals their true intention: to promote products favorably so that you can earn money through affiliate links.

Here are a few ways to evaluate a site and its owner if they are only there for the money or if they provide honest, truly neutral, consumer-focused Product reviews.

1. Who runs the site? Real review sites have an About/Bio/or Info page that details the owner of the site and often why he started the site. ” Reviewers, really, their only intention is to recommend only every product they write about.

2. Do reviewers or site owners buy products directly? This is an important factor for review integrity. As with any scientific study, there tends to be a strong bias in favor of a product if the reviewer did not directly pay for it. The fact that the reviewer pays for the product directly says a lot about the reviewer’s ability to maintain impartiality and objectivity in the review process.

3. Does your website review multiple products or just one? A site that reviews a wide range of products is more likely to be a neutral and authentic review site than a site that reviews only a single product. Why would someone go to the trouble of building a site for one product and give a negative review? Reviews, of course, will be positive.

Single-product sites are popular with affiliate marketers because search engines place strong weight on using keywords in the domain name.

4. Do reviewers only have positive things to say about the products they review? A truly neutral product review site will have both positive and negative reviews. If every review on a site shines and every product is endorsed, there’s a good reassurance that the reviewers are serving their own interests and not the consumers.

5. Is the word ‘scam’ used in the title of the review? This is a classic tactic many unscrupulous reviewers use to appear to leverage keywords in their titles and reinforce the trust factor. Utilizes keyword phrases in titles, so that phrases reflect what people type into the search box when they have a question about your product.

These are just a few key factors to look for when evaluating the integrity of a product review site.