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Yelp was created to try and help users familiarize themselves with amazing spots in a city they thought they were familiar with. It used the opinions of friends to try and source these recommendations. At a small scale, this worked very well. Reviews were honest and people used the check-in feature to add authenticity. As Yelp scaled, it failed to deal with the underlying of problem of transparency. CEO of Reputation Stars, Pierre Zarokian, understands this problem all to well. Reputation Stars helps businesses develop strategies to fight negative reviews on Yelp.

The State of Yelp

Yelp has added some new features that may help with the authenticity of a review. Users have been able to add photos for some time, but videos will be coming soon. Until then, Yelp still has issues identifying who the real reviewers are. They ran a recent sting operation to weed some of these fakers out, but there is a very real problem that exists with Yelp’s transparency. Business owners aren’t feeling very much more confident after a recent ruling that declared Yelp was free to reorder its reviews.

Yelp doesn’t require check-ins or proof that a transaction actually occurred. Yelp can rearrange reviews the way it sees fit, affecting the reputation of countless businesses without publishing any kind of standards or style guide to help real reviews stick. Businesses are powerless against Yelp too, as the company outs those who incentivize or pay for reviews with an embarrassing banner.

Fighting Yelp

The key to fighting Yelp, says Pierre Zarokian, is to engage customers and get more positive reviews. Stop paying for a temporary fix. This video contains important information businesses need to know about how to fight Yelp.

Read some articles Pierre Zarokian wrote in Search Engine Journal about Yelp here.

Anyone whose web site appears in response to an online search might need ORM. Consumer generated media offers the public an opportunity to express their views. This information can be found in search engine results. The more a product, brand or company is exposed to public attention and scrutiny, the greater the likelihood that someone will want to challenge their reputation. This can include dissatisfied clients, customers and competitors, who may have legitimate complaints, but can also include rumor mongers, and irresponsible, vindictive web site wizards, whose sole purpose is to challenge another website’s integrity.

Consider the search results for the following “name brand” web sites:

* Walmart – 2 of the first 10 Google listings is negative:

* McDonalds – 1 of the first 10 Google listings is negative;

* Coca Cola – 1 of the first 10 listings is negative;

The problem is universal. Thousands of companies like these can have the effect of their web sites neutralized by stories appearing on the search engines. And its not limited to companies. People of high profile are convenient targets; celebrities, high-power business people, government as well as individuals from all walks of life, regardless of gender, national background and social status are being victimized and insulted. If you have a company, a brand name or product, which someone could or did find fault with; or if you have ever been written about in the media in a less than flattering vein, or if you monitor your Google listing and a negative listing appears, you must realize that the negative story will not disappear on its own.

Negative reviews are there to stay and may even multiply until you retain the services of a professional online reputation management professional. Reputation management is vitally important for all organizations. Both on a personal and corporate level, everyone should be concerned about their online image. On a personal level, having a damaged reputation can result in not being eligible for employment. For businesses a bad reputation can mean tremendous financial loss. As a result of a tarnished reputation, businesses have lost millions, have replaced trusted CEO’s, and have even ceased operating within months of negative publicity.

Yelp, the online review database that has become an ubiquitous part of the Web, is being accused of shielding companies who pay premiums from bad reviews. Yelp’s sales team has been using poor reviews as a sales tool, implying that businesses can pay their way out of hot water caused by user reviews. Since 2008, some 2,000 complaints have been filed by businesses and consumers.

Yelp also has several problems with anonymous reviews, and currently faces a court order demanding they reveal the identity of users who posted on their website. Yelp has states in its FAQ that pay to play is out, but 2,000 complaints don’t come out of thin air. Something is wrong, and the CEO of our company, Pierre Zarokian, has the latest news on this recent development from his new article featured on Search Engine Journal.

Yelp is one of the most important destinations on the Web. Its database of user-generated reviews can offer potential shoppers a quality source to vet a business before they shop. But faked reviews are threatening to dilute that landscape, eating away at the purity that a service like Yelp needs in order to be successful. In response, the company has announced new and aggressive steps to remove these false reviews.

The CEO of Yelp, Jeremy Stoppleman, is creating something of a firestorm with the announcement. Companies caught “soliciting” reviews by paying their reviewers will now get a kind of badge that designates their business as one that paid for reviews. This messages comes as a popup that the user cannot avoid clicking on. With Yelp reputation already being such a hot commodity, businesses will need to exercise even more caution when asking for reviews.

Our CEO, Pierre Zarokian, wrote about this change in policy. You can read the entire article at Search Engine Watch.

Pierre Zarokian, CEO of Reputation Stars

Our CEO “Pierre Zarokian” will be speaking about Reputation Management on Feb 19, 2014 in Orange County, CA at an event organized by TechBiz Connection.

Jack Bicer the president of TechBiz Connection stated: “If you are a professional intrigued by today’s evolving world of social media, personal online identities, and online business branding, you need to learn what it means to have an online presence and what this says about you (or your business, brand).  After all, your online reputation IS your reputation.”

For more info, see the official press release here.

A ruling from a Virginia Court of Appeals has rendered anonymous reviews unprotected, at least in Virginia. The popular online review website Yelp is at the center of litigation regarding the legitimacy of anonymous reviews. On one side is Yelp, whose terms of service explicitly ban users from posting faked reviews that are negative or positive. On the other side are the businesses hurt by these reviews.

This landmark case will shape the landscape of online reviews for some time to come. The plaintiff’s case seems to mirror the plight of so many businesses with reputation and image problems. Yelp uses an automated system to deal with spoofed reviews, which it claims is capable of dealing with these fakes. Yet the fact remains that fake reviews have become an industry in and of themselves. While this court ruling does little to improve these conditions, it does set the precedent for future cases.

In a new article for Search Engine Journal, Our CEO Pierre Zarokian explores the ruling and asks the question: will online reviews ever be safe again? Or have the courts made a terrible mistake, relying on outdated case law to render a verdict with far-reaching consequences?

A class action lawsuit filed in California seeks to get Yelpers paid for reviews. The lawsuit claims that Yelp runs a cult like environment and instead of paying the reviewers, it offers them badges,  titles such as “Elite”, praise,  free liquor and food, and free promotional Yelp attire, such as red panties with ‘Make Me Yelp!’

We spoke to one of the plaintiffs, Lilly Jueng, who is an Elite reviewer. She claimed that Yelp was very restrictive of what she was able to post and cancelled her account when they were not happy with a review that she left.  “Reviewers should be able to post any review they want on any public company without restrictions,” said Jueng.

The plaintiffs also claim that yelp often hosted parties for Elite reviewers and the Yelpers were expected to leave positive reviews for the restaurant hosting the event.

We also spoke to Daniel Bernath, one of the lead attorneys on the case. He stated: “A worker is not permitted to waive their rights to wages under the federal Fair Standards Labor Act.” Mr. Bernath feels that they have real good chance of winning the case based on current labor laws. He stated that it does not matter that some people may think this lawsuit is ridiculous, because the laws are build in a way that supports their claims. “The trial court judge will read the complaint and will apply the law. It is a settled law and we are confident that our clients will get paid for their labors.”

Our CEO, Pierre Zarokian, has written a more detailed article for  Search Engine Watch .

McMillan Law Group in San Diego has been sued for posting fake reviews on Yelp. McMillan apparently posted several reviews from the same IP address in their office. To their defense they claim that they had invited their clients to a party at their office and asked them to leave reviews from their computers. One of their clients has publicly confirmed this.

McMillan also claims that the lawsuit has no merit and it was done as a retaliation because Yelp lost a small claims case against them over an advertising dispute.

This is not the first time Yelp is suing over fake reviews. Several months ago a company called “Buy Yelp Reviews” was sued as well, which seems to have shut down now.

Read the full story by our CEO Pierre Zarokian on Search Engine Watch.

Our CEO Pierre Zarokian has written a new article about Bing’s alleged change of heart on removing court-ordered defamatory content from its search engine. Has Bing truly changed its policy?

If your online reputation has been tainted, you know how devastating it can be to have defamatory content about you or your company featured on the web for everyone to see. Major search engines such as Google and Yahoo are usually fair about the issue. If they receive an order from the court to remove defamatory content, they usually comply by removing it from their search indexes. And up until recently that was also the case with Bing. However, leading attorney who specialize in internet defamation law are claiming that Bing has changed its policy and no longer honors court orders.

Published in SearchEngineWatch.com, the article features interviews with leading reputation management attorneys, a spokesperson from Bing, and final words on the matter by reputation management guru Pierre Zarokian. Read the full article here.

Recently Yelp held a town hall meeting and invited a few business owners to attend so they can discuss their programs and answer any questions about Yelp Advertising services. However, the meeting backfired and turned out to be a complaint forum from pissed up businesses.  The audience got aggressive with their questions and complaints on how their legit reviews get filtered. However, Yelp only wanted to discuss the benefits of their advertising services.

LA Times was there to cover the story. Read more details here.