Is Yelp Deleting Bad Reviews For Money? I Have No Idea
7 Comments 10.23.09I’ve had this story about Yelp allegedly removing bad reviews for advertisers on my mind a lot lately and after Twittering about it today I got to talk to Yelp HQ on the phone. They promise they do no such thing. Do I believe them? I have no idea; I’m going to put “can I trust Yelp?” in the same category as other questions like “is there a God?” and “can Democrats be trusted to make the world a better place?” Questions that cannot be answered, I think.
Yelp’s argument is that advertisers get to put an ad, a positive review of their choice, on the top of their pages – and that confuses people. They are also very pro-active about deleting reviews they suspect may be fake.
I know people get confused about online advertising. How else would Google be making so many billions of dollars? In clinical tests people are unable to identify paid vs. natural search results. When asked “how could it be made clearer?” they say things like “put them on the side of the page, put the word ’sponsored’ near them or put them in a colored box.” All things that Google does in fact do. People just don’t notice.
It’s an unprovable, un-disproval allegation ultimately. Would it be crazy for Yelp to do something that would so damage their credibility? It would if it could be proven. It might not if it couldn’t be proven.
For now I’ll just appreciate the positive and negative reviews I see on Yelp and I’ll check the review history of people I see posting there. And sometimes I’ll just make up my own mind after patronizing businesses.
I’d love to see Consumer Reports do a comparative review of Yelp, CitySearch and others. I told Yelp that, too.
I want to make sure you know about NTEN - the Nonprofit Technology Network.
NTEN helps nonprofits learn to use the web effectively.
7 Comments so far
Leave a comment
Well, I guess my reaction after reading the east bay link you tweeted is that, at the very least, they’re pitching their ads that way. Can we KNOW? No. But either they are doing what some claim or a LOT of people are getting calls that make it sound very much like that. I guess we could know if one of the merchants who’s been called simply taped the call (not sure if that’s legal in CA, it is where I live). I mean, if you get a call from Yelp and they say “We can make the bad reviews go away for $299 a month” in those words and you have it on tape…. it’s not a matter of opinion anymore.
By rick on 10.23.09
Yeah, you know how many small business owners hate Yelp though? It’s a really tough call from the outside.
By
Marshall on 10.23.09
Yelp has to be the biggest trash site on the web. It is usually a very cliquish site withing the city you Yelp in. I placed hundred of reviews and pictures on Yelp and kept getting repeatly banned for what seemed like no reason. All Yelp support would tell me was due to multiple accounts. Which I only had one account going at a time and would start up a new Yelp account when they deleted the previous one. Edgar from Yelp in email told me I am banned from Yelp for life. They now have my ISP blocked out. Yelp is RETARDED and the RAG of the internet!
By mainlandheathen on 10.24.09
This allegation could be proven/disproven. A third party would just need to keep track of which reviews get deleted, and then check for correlations between bad reviews and review deletions.
By James on 10.25.09
Declined Yelp advertising last week & was waiting…just waiting…for the other shoe to drop. One of my early positive reviews turned up missing today. Ugh. What to do??
By Tony Santos on 10.25.09
I’m the reporter who wrote the original story (I’ve since changed my name). I wanted to point out my follow-up story (http://www.eastbayexpress.com/news/yelp_extortion_allegations_stack_up/Content?oid=946025) as I continue to get phone calls and emails from business owners alleging similar experiences (offers to remove negative reviews if they advertise, positive reviews removed when they refuse, negative ones appear). There’s also the issue of Yelp sales reps saying they’ll be more responsive to a business owner’s complaint of a negative, false review if they advertise. If they don’t advertise, they say it’s nearly impossible for them to get a response from Yelp staff. Yelp reps apparently also promise more positive reviews of a business if you’re an advertiser. So it’s a question not only of whether reps tinker with existing reviews, but also how reviews are generated in the first place.
By Kathleen Wentz on 10.26.09
I had talk to a client and she mention that she had wrote a review for our business back in 2007. We do not know anything about it and it never show on our page. We decide to do a member search on yelp and found the review. More than 5 reviews of 5 stars is missing from our page now.
Example of the review that doesn’t show on our page.
PK Art and Floral Design
Categories: Florists, Cards & Stationery
Neighborhood: Nob Hill
5 star rating
2/18/2007
I have worked with Pam at PK Art and Floral for a couple of years now on large corporate events. Her work is of a very high standard. She creates beautiful and innovative designs and always manages to impress. Plus her and her team are very personable and efficient. I recommend no other florist for my clients and highly recommend her to you.
Michelle H.
By Pam on 11.07.09
Leave a comment
Line and paragraph breaks automatic, e-mail address never displayed.