Because you put your business on Yelp trusting that they will be legitimate, then you find that people you have done great work for have left 5 Star Reviews- and Yelp has hidden them!
It’s the mysterious algorithm that Yelp itself has no control over! That’s what the salespeople tell you when they call up to sell you, and you complain about the hidden reviews. “We have no control over that, that’s ‘The Algorithm!”. That non-entity which nobody at Yelp seems to have any control over. I mean, it would be laughable if they weren’t ruining businesses with this nonsense.
Take this case for example: two well-known Queens divorce lawyers got several reviews from legitimate clients they worked for, and Yelp hid their reviews!
They aren’t actually removed from Yelp, they are just hidden away somewhere, in a corner. Maybe you could find them if you went on a scavenger hunt!
Yelp should take a lesson from Google My Business and show the reviews, instead of hiding them. Yelp has been accused of hiding the reviews as a sort of, well, for lack of a better term, “extortion plot” to get businesses to buy advertising. There is the implication, and some people will just say it outright, that Yelp will “unhide” your great reviews, if you buy advertising.
Whatever is really going on with Yelp Reviews- it’s disgusting! I’ve had reviews hidden from clients I did work for. When a Yelp salesperson called me up, I showed him a website I designed for a client who left a Yelp Review- with the name of my company right on it. Then I showed the client’s review that Yelp hid. The Salesperson referred back to the algorithm… the one nobody at Yelp has any control over.
I’m still can’t believe that some regulatory committee hasn’t gotten their teeth into this one yet. Why Yelp is getting a free ride. How did they get this far without getting sued into next year?
Several people I do SEO for, get phenomenal 5 Star Reviews on Yelp and get really upset that their clients went through the trouble of leaving legitimate reviews that were “Yelp Blacklisted”.
Here’s another thing I’ve noticed about Yelp- sometimes they hide reviews for a period of time, then make them “re-appear”, mysteriously. I’ve had all my reviews hidden, then 3 of them came back to life. Was the algorithm drinking? On vacation? Who knows, maybe we should ask the Wizard of Oz for some straight answers- since we can’t seem to get them from Yelp!
Google My Business
While we’re on the topic of reviews, Google My Business is the exact opposite of Yelp- they show everything, even reviews from people you’ve never done business with. Mindboggling.
If a business you are competing with leaves you a bad review under a pseudonym, you will have a very difficult time proving to google that it is really a competitor. I’ve also seen fake reviews on google pages that are so farfetched you know they are fake. Does google have a way of reporting this? No!. Yet people are running around screaming bloody murder and reporting people for adding keywords in their business name section. Go figure!
The good thing about Google My Business is that it shows up right at the top of the searches, if you’re lucky enough to get into the map pac.
The Solution
One solution to external reviews would be to put your best reviews right on your website- even the hidden Yelp reviews. After all, just because Yelp says they are not good enough to post, doesn’t mean they aren’t! You can put reviews from Google My Business, Yelp, Youtube- anywhere you’ve got them- right on your website.
Important Links
