Comments on: Buying Yelp Reviews Is BAD for Business

By: Will Scott

Will Scott — Thu, 25 Aug 2011 11:52:42 +0000

Beth,

I totally get the sentiment! I’m sure there are lots of businesses who’d like to remove their reviews from lots of sites. Sadly, that’s not going to happen and these sites are protected by law — which sucks.

You really ought to have a look at our “Yelp Review Filter” article. It’s got a bunch of tips to help your filtered reviews get out in the open.

Thanks for your comment and good luck!

By: Beth

Beth — Fri, 19 Aug 2011 21:39:00 +0000

I agree with James – my business has 29 filtered reviews, and the only three negative reviews we’ve ever had make up 3 of only 5 reviews left on our page. I actually have had clients think that I removed their positive reviews, which was very upsetting. I’m wondering when the first slander lawsuit will come out against Yelp, since its negative reviews seem to be the only ones that are guaranteed not to filter out, and in a competitive business world there’s always unethical business owners leaving bad press for their competition. That and Yelp seems to be an easy outlet for teenagers to vent and “be heard,” without any regard for the affect their reviews have on struggling small businesses. Yelp has hurt my business far more than it ever helped it, even with paid advertising. I wish there was a way to remove my business from their site forever.

By: Daryll

Daryll — Fri, 04 Feb 2011 13:46:00 +0000

Yelp is a terrible Tool! They are bent on distruction and fed by controversy. They hide behind ammendments that protect them from third party insults. Yelp prefers to play GOD behind the lines, and backs of hard working business owners. Regardless what you prove or disprove if the review in negative they come back with “appears to reflect the personal experience and opinions of the reviewer”. I have been in business for over twenty years, I find a bad review by my competition not a “real person” and try to have it removed- Good luck with that. OH yeah then suspend your account to boot. Personally I would remove the review and leave it at that!

By: Review about a Pet Sitting Business

Review about a Pet Sitting Business — Sat, 08 Jan 2011 02:37:59 +0000

I wrote a review about a pet sitter who took really good care of my pets and it never showed. I can see why it would be considered spamming because I tried to leave a good feedback. I guess if I bad mouthed the business it would of stayed, talk about creating drama online.
By the way Good article

By: seomoves

seomoves — Wed, 17 Nov 2010 04:01:28 +0000

Yelp is helpful, but their reviews are seriously flawed. This follows the pattern online, where only negative reviews are given. On average you might get 1 positive review out of every 100 great transactions, and you will get 1 negative review for every 1.5 bad transactions.

Not an easy world to navigate.

By: Will Scott

Will Scott — Tue, 09 Nov 2010 21:46:28 +0000

Thanks for your input Rocky!

By: Rocky

Rocky — Tue, 09 Nov 2010 18:28:34 +0000

This title is flat out wrong. What if you paid people from overseas to create accounts that fool the Yelp filter and post 4 and 5 star reviews that are well written about your business. It works and it’s being done.

The filter catches some accounts but it doesn’t catch them all and this is a huge shill network. And to say that having those reviews is not beneficial to your business is wrong. The shill is here to stay.

By: Sacramento Photographer

Sacramento Photographer — Sat, 23 Oct 2010 04:55:45 +0000

I mostly agree with James, I have several filtered comments on my site as well. I spent a little effort trying to resolve them with Yelp, and I didn’t get anywhere. They basically say their “automated detection” does its’ thing, if it gets flagged, it gets flagged. They claim they aren’t able to intervene… Ugh..

Although I agree it’s bad/wrong to purchasing Yelp reviews, certainly I think an incentive isn’t an unfair practice. After all, how many times have you been rewarded for filling out some companies survey, or given a little something extra for spending your personal time giving a business feedback.

By: James

James — Sun, 22 Aug 2010 20:52:29 +0000

Yelps system is flawed. Out of 7 reviews on my business’ yelp page, only one did not get filtered. The only one that did not get filtered was the ONLY one written by a competitor bad mouthing my company, as he as so done on several other sites on the same exact day. Seems to me the only reviews that stay are those that are anything less than 5 stars. Yelp has no business on the internet, they do much more harm to our business than any good.

By: Foursquare Advertiser Survey

Foursquare Advertiser Survey — Wed, 19 May 2010 04:22:39 +0000

[...] Buying Yelp Reviews Is Bad for Business Author : Will Scott Date: Tuesday, May 18th, 2010 [...]