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.
