The Complete Guide to Yelp Reviews: Getting, Removing & More
Yelp has been one of biz.
the most popular Internet rating com.
and review sites for local yelp.
businesses since its initial inception yelp.
in 2004. Yelp founders saw similar.
that word-of-mouth was a powerful sites.
purveyor of new customers, but yelp.
with the classic local community reviews.
structure breaking apart in an hotels.
online era, how could individuals claiming.
know which businesses to trust? a.
Yelp was the answer – business.
an online review site in on.
which customers shared their experiences, yelp.
helping others make informed decisions yelp.
about restaurants, auto-repair shops, and advertising.
more. Many review sites have come pricing.
and gone, but Yelp has yelp.
continued to be a highly app.
trusted source for local business for.
reviews and ratings. Why? Yelp business.
noticed that other review sites owners.
are far too cluttered with www.
spam and ads, so they’ve yelp.
kept theirs to a minimum. com.
Yelp also focuses on long-form restaurants.
reviews rather than short one-liners, yelp.
providing the kind of in-depth, free.
thorough review wary customers crave. business.
Sometimes “good coffee” just isn’t listing.
good enough. In this complete Guide yelp.
to Yelp for Businesses, we’ll real.
be covering a range of estate.
topics including: Yelp is the #1 yelp.
review site on the web restaurants.
and immensely powerful, making it near.
a mighty friend or, sometimes, me.
an abhorrent enemy. If your business open.
has a 3.5 star rating now.
or above on Yelp, you’ve adding.
got the whole world in my.
your hands and clouds in business.
your coffee. Under 3 stars to.
and you’ve got a hard yelp.
knock life. Bad Yelp ratings biz.
have been known to ruin com.
more than just a few yelp.
businesses. There’s a lot at yelp.
stake! Dealing with such a fickle similar.
frenemy can dishearten some business sites.
owners, but don’t think ignoring yelp.
Yelp will make it go reviews.
away – users will write hotels.
about your business on Yelp claiming.
whether you activate a business a.
page or not. In this business.
case, it’s definitely preferable to on.
take a pro-active approach by yelp.
setting up your business’s Yelp yelp.
page yourself. Fill it with advertising.
colorful pics and useful information pricing.
to put your best foot yelp.
forward for potential customers checking app.
you out. I know, I know, you business.
want good Yelp reviews, right? owners.
Not just Yelp reviews. Well www.
the bad news is that yelp.
Yelp (understandably) doesn’t allow businesses com.
to ask for specifically positive restaurants.
reviews – you can only yelp.
encourage customers to review you free.
honestly in all your blunder business.
or glory. The good news listing.
is that if you’re a yelp.
good business and doing things real.
right, you’re likely to get estate.
good reviews! Hip hip hoorah! There agents.
are a few strategies for yelp.
getting customers to review you restaurants.
on Yelp. DO: Activate Your Yelp Page: near.
Take the initiative by activating me.
your Yelp page. Go all open.
out – add photos, descriptions, now.
menus, phone numbers, hours of adding.
operation, etc. Post a “Find us my.
on Yelp” Sign: Yelp out business.
your restaurant or local biz to.
with Yelp posters, stickers, badges, yelp.
and other paraphernalia. In this biz.
plugged-in age, visitors might see com.
those signs and head to yelp.
Yelp to review you even yelp.
while in your restaurant! Host a similar.
Yelp Event: Hosting a Yelp event sites.
will encourage Yelpers to visit yelp.
your business while establishing yourself reviews.
as an active community member hotels.
– it’s pretty much a claiming.
no-brainer for getting chummy with a.
local Yelp users How do you business.
host an event? It’s pretty on.
easy. Head over to yelp.com/events, yelp.
pick your city, and hit yelp.
the “Add an Event” button. advertising.
Then fill out your event pricing.
details. Next it’s time to promote yelp.
your awesome event! Send out app.
the invite to Yelpers who for.
have already visited your business, business.
or those who have reviewed owners.
a business similar to your www.
own. Also consider contacting a yelp.
local Yelp Elite (these are com.
mega-Yelpers with a lot of restaurants.
influence) and ask if they’re yelp.
interested in helping you out free.
with your event. It’s a great business.
idea to have some sweet listing.
swag giveaways during your Yelp yelp.
event – maybe all event real.
attendees get 10% off their estate.
meal with another 10% coupon agents.
for later. Try a raffle yelp.
to win dinner with a restaurants.
friend, a free reusable water near.
bottle, whatever! Make it fun me.
and exciting for attendees! Post a open.
Yelp Deal: Yelp Deals are now.
a great way to get adding.
customers in the door. Unlike my.
with Groupon or Living Social, business.
customers who take advantage of to.
a Yelp Deal are pretty yelp.
much guaranteed to be active biz.
Yelp users, increasingly the likelihood com.
of them writing you a yelp.
review. Add Happy Staff Photos: Friendly, yelp.
smiling, waving staff members being similar.
featured on your Yelp page sites.
will create a positive first yelp.
impression for your Yelp page reviews.
visitors, and might even discourage hotels.
disgruntled customers from posting something claiming.
nasty. Offer Foursquare Check-in Rewards: Foursquare a.
has long passed its heyday business.
as an ultra-popular location check-in on.
tool, but a lot of yelp.
awesome folks (such as your yelp.
truly) still use it to advertising.
broadcast micromanaged location updates for pricing.
our undying fans. Even a small yelp.
Foursquare award, like free drinks app.
for the mayor, can get for.
users excited. It’s also reasonable business.
to assume that many Foursquare owners.
users are also Yelp users. www.
After all, who is using yelp.
Foursquare except for the media-obsessed com.
foodie-photographing weirdos? Appealing to the restaurants.
Foursquare/Yelp user with a check-in yelp.
reward might be just the free.
push they need to write business.
you a shining review. Respond to listing.
Existing Yelp Reviews: It’s always a yelp.
smart idea to respond to real.
the existing Yelp reviews you estate.
do have, especially if they’re agents.
asking a specific question or yelp.
voicing a concern. People like restaurants.
to be acknowledged, and responding near.
to Yelp reviews creates a me.
favorable impression for your business, open.
and shows readers that you now.
care about your customers. Print Out adding.
& Display Positive Yelp Reviews: my.
One expert technique for getting business.
Yelp reviews is to print to.
out and hang your existing yelp.
positive Yelp review on the biz.
wall in your restaurant or com.
business. Enlarge the reviews so yelp.
that they’re easy to read, yelp.
frame them, and hang them similar.
where they can easily be sites.
read by patrons waiting in yelp.
line. When new customers see reviews.
existing positive reviews, they’ll feel hotels.
inclined to think positively of claiming.
you as well and write a.
a similarly upbeat review on business.
Yelp. Add a Yelp QR Code: on.
Yelp QR codes are a yelp.
simple way to make it yelp.
easier for your smartphone-carrying patrons advertising.
to check out your Yelp pricing.
page and review you in-store! Promote yelp.
On Other Networks: Ask for app.
Yelp reviews on Twitter, Facebook, for.
and other social media networks. business.
It’s best to not sound owners.
too needy though (“Pleaaazzeee say www.
we’re super-awesome!”). Opt for something yelp.
discreet like, “We’re now on com.
Yelp and would love to restaurants.
hear what you think of yelp.
us!” Yelp itself suggests: “Instead free.
of blatantly saying “Review us business.
on Yelp,” say “Check us listing.
out on Yelp”. Add a Yelp yelp.
Link to Your Newsletter: Chances real.
are your newsletter subscribers already estate.
think you’re pretty cool. Reminding agents.
them to write about you yelp.
on Yelp is a surefire restaurants.
way to get some positive near.
reviews. Add a Yelp Website Badge: me.
A Yelp website badge lets open.
visitors know you are on now.
Yelp, and all they have adding.
to do is click the my.
badge to be taken straight business.
to your Yelp page. It to.
doesn’t get much easier than yelp.
that Be Awesome: If you provide biz.
excellent food, excellent service, and com.
an excellent experience, you will get yelp.
great Yelp reviews, no question yelp.
about it. Be the best similar.
you can be and the sites.
glowing reviews will follow! DO NOT: Offer yelp.
Bribes for Reviews: Yelp is very reviews.
strict in regards to their hotels.
reviews policy. You absolutely cannot claiming.
and should not offer a a.
reward in exchange for a business.
review. Even something as innocent on.
as “half off your next yelp.
meal when you review us yelp.
on Yelp” is a big advertising.
no-no and can get you pricing.
in serious trouble with Yelp’s yelp.
powers that be. Ask for Positive app.
Reviews: As discussed earlier, don’t for.
ask specifically for positive reviews, business.
just reviews in general. Buy Yelp owners.
Reviews: We’ll be talking more www.
about this later. Just know yelp.
for now that buying Yelp com.
reviews is not worth the restaurants.
trouble by a long shot. The truth is that you business.
can’t please everyone in life. listing.
Even great businesses get some yelp.
negative reviews on Yelp from real.
time to time. It sucks. estate.
Sometimes businesses mess up and agents.
deserve to be called out. yelp.
Other times a bad review restaurants.
can feel completely undeserved. What to near.
do When You Get a me.
Negative Yelp Review 1. Don’t open.
Respond Immediately: Having a Yelper now.
really bash your business can adding.
be painful, and your initial my.
response may involve hair-pulling, obscenities, business.
and some ALL CAPS action. to.
Responding to one rant with yelp.
another won’t do you any biz.
good – in fact, it com.
will only multiply the damage. yelp.
Instead of responding in a yelp.
flurry of keystrokes, take a similar.
deep breath, brew a cup sites.
of tea, and get your yelp.
mind off the review. Don’t reviews.
even think about responding for hotels.
at least a half a claiming.
day – taking two or a.
three days to cool down business.
is even better. 2. Analyze on.
the Reviewer’s Mindset: After a yelp.
few days, the scathing review yelp.
won’t seem quite as searing. advertising.
Try to read the negative pricing.
Yelp review objectively – is yelp.
there any sense to what app.
the Yelper is saying? Does for.
the review seem worked up business.
and emotional? 3. Public or owners.
Private Response? While public responses are www.
good for correcting discrepancies, consider yelp.
whether or not a discreet com.
private message could remedy the restaurants.
situation. 4. Address the Review’s yelp.
Issues in a Calm and free.
Reasonable Manner Yelp has a feature business.
that allows business owners to listing.
respond to negative reviews. The yelp.
key is to remain calm real.
and take the high road. estate.
Above all, remain polite and agents.
respectful. Those who bypass step yelp.
one end up responding to restaurants.
negative reviews in an angry, near.
emotional state which can lead me.
to name-calling, insults, and emotional open.
language that makes you look now.
as terrible and unstable as adding.
the reviewer, or more so. Your my.
goal in responding to the business.
reviewer is to discredit their to.
assessment. It might not take yelp.
much to do this – biz.
Yelp readers weren’t born yesterday, com.
and most can spot an yelp.
unreasonable and baseless rant when yelp.
they see one. If the similar.
negative Yelp review makes claims sites.
you can argue against, do yelp.
so objectively, using facts or reviews.
other customers’ experiences as a hotels.
talking point. For example: “Gretchen, we claiming.
were very disappointed to hear a.
you didn’t enjoy our cheesecake. business.
Other customers have told us on.
it’s their favorite of our yelp.
desserts, but maybe you caught yelp.
us on an off day.” If advertising.
you think the reviewer is pricing.
just in their admonishment, simply yelp.
apologize. Readers will appreciate your app.
honesty and think better of for.
you for it. Responding in a business.
cool and collected manner to owners.
a senseless rant makes you www.
seem much more reasonable than yelp.
the emotionally-fueled reviewer, and casts com.
the unfavorable light on them restaurants.
rather than you. 5. A yelp.
Touch of Humor The make-em-laugh technique free.
doesn’t work in every situation, business.
but it can be great listing.
at diffusing an overtly flaming yelp.
review. For example, check out real.
this REAL review of Pigalle estate.
(this review was posted on agents.
Facebook, but same rules apply!). Wow. yelp.
I don’t have a clue restaurants.
as to why you would near.
think that throwing pumpkin chunks me.
into a cold pre baked open.
pie shell and then covering now.
it with a cream sauce adding.
that literally tasted like vomit. my.
{ I am very serious!} business.
and topping it off with to.
whipped cream that was runny yelp.
would in any way be biz.
something that can be called com.
pumpkin pie?” Not something any business yelp.
owner wants to see. Unfortunately, yelp.
the owner answered back with similar.
an even more venomous reply, sites.
demonstrating a perfect example of yelp.
how NOT to respond to reviews.
a bad review. Instead, he hotels.
should have tried something like: Hi claiming.
Sandy. Wow! That bad huh? a.
I haven’t had the chance business.
to sample too many varieties on.
of vomit, so I can’t yelp.
say I can really relate yelp.
to your experience, but that advertising.
doesn’t sound too fun. We pricing.
tend to be very busy yelp.
during Thanksgiving so it’s possible app.
that one of our chefs for.
made a mistake with that business.
Pumpkin Pie – we’re sorry owners.
you found it so truly www.
gag-inducing. Come by again and yelp.
we’ll see if we can com.
make it up to you restaurants.
with something more to your yelp.
liking J 6. Offer an free.
Olive Branch: If you think business.
there’s any saving the situation, listing.
try to offer a symbol yelp.
of peace – send a real.
private message inviting the displeased estate.
reviewer back for a tour agents.
of the bakery or a yelp.
free desert. Yelp has an restaurants.
update function that reviewers can near.
use to change their initial me.
review. Everyone likes to feel open.
important – feeding a disgruntled now.
user’s ego can sometimes quell adding.
the fury, and may lead my.
them to reconsider their opinion business.
of you. 7. Make Use to.
of Constructive Criticism Remember – bad yelp.
reviews aren’t necessarily a bad biz.
thing. Negative reviews that are com.
deserved and just serve as yelp.
real feedback on how you yelp.
can improve your business. If similar.
reviewers bring up legitimate concerns, sites.
work to address them and yelp.
then let the Yelp community reviews.
know you’ve made efforts to hotels.
improve. Customers will appreciate this claiming.
– it shows you care a.
and are listening to their business.
input. 8. Keep Things in on.
Perspective: Don’t hang up your hat yelp.
and cry yourself to sleep yelp.
every time you find a advertising.
bad review. Even great businesses pricing.
get a bad review from yelp.
time to time. As Yelp app.
says: “Negative reviews are an unfortunate for.
— but entirely normal — business.
part of doing business… While owners.
it’s important to look for www.
patterns in your reviews (the yelp.
bread is stale, the same com.
employee is repeatedly described as restaurants.
rude), you should take any yelp.
individual perspective with a grain free.
of salt.” Don’t stress over every business.
review. People can be particularly listing.
nasty online, so be prepared yelp.
to thicken up your skin real.
a bit and ignore the estate.
mindless ranters. For more information on agents.
tricks, techniques, and examples of yelp.
how to deal with a restaurants.
bad Yelp review, check out near.
this article about Protecting Your me.
Online Reputation from Trolls by open.
John Greathouse. He offers more now.
great tips on dealing with adding.
negative reviews and diffusing tense my.
situations. Most businesses try to.
to negate the effects of yelp.
bad Yelp reviews by diffusing biz.
anger and answering concerns, but com.
others choose to take the yelp.
daredevil approach of embracing the yelp.
haters. Those have thrown in the similar.
towel simply accept that the sites.
majority of patrons despise them. yelp.
For some, there is an reviews.
appeal at being the outcast. The hotels.
“if you can’t beat them, claiming.
join them” approach really only a.
works with restaurants and businesses business.
that embrace a counter-culture lifestyle on.
and have patrons who might yelp.
revel in the disapproval of yelp.
others. The Craft & Commerce Gastropub advertising.
is one such establishment, offering pricing.
very unusual, even bizarre spins yelp.
on classic drinks. After receiving app.
some vehement one-star reviews, Craft for.
& Commerce decided that, rather business.
than brood over the poor owners.
reviews, they’d have some fun www.
with them. The owner had yelp.
friends read aloud the restaurant’s com.
worst Yelp reviews while recording restaurants.
them. The recordings were then yelp.
played in the Craft & free.
Commerce Gastropub’s bathroom, amusing visitors business.
and sticking it to the listing.
Yelp man. Despite the unique and yelp.
clever approach, the bathroom recordings real.
backfired when Craft & Commerce estate.
Gastropub got blasted with a agents.
slew of more one-star review yelp.
from patrons who aspired to restaurants.
have their reviews featured in near.
the bathroom. Mocking absurd Yelp reviews me.
has become a bit of open.
a fad in fact – now.
there’s even a whole YouTube adding.
channel dedicated to showing video my.
clips of Yelp reviews read business.
by actors. There is some logic to.
in going gung-ho with the yelp.
one-star reviews. Some would even biz.
say one star is better com.
than two; a one-star establishment yelp.
drives curiosity and gets people yelp.
wondering why are they so similar.
incredibly terrible? What’s the story sites.
there? There’s a kind of yelp.
car crash rubbernecking morbid fascination reviews.
involved with one-star restaurants. Two hotels.
stars is just a sub-par claiming.
joint, no story or excitement a.
there. Sometimes. business.
Yelp will not remove any on.
reviews unless they are in yelp.
conflict with their Terms of yelp.
Service or Content Guidelines. Some things advertising.
that violate Yelp’s TOS: Below, you’ll find some guidelines yelp.
of what kids of reviews com.
can potentially be removed from restaurants.
Yelp (via ReviewPush): We’ve discussed the pros free.
and cons of buying Twitter business.
followers and even buying Pinterest listing.
followers online in the past, yelp.
but with Yelp, the issue real.
isn’t really up for debate estate.
– don’t do it! Buying Yelp agents.
reviews is definitely not worth yelp.
the risk. Since Yelp’s main restaurants.
selling point is the authenticity near.
and trust of its reviews me.
as compared to lesser review open.
sites, Yelp protects its legitimacy now.
by tooth and claw. If you’re adding.
caught buying Yelp reviews, you my.
could end up with this business.
on your Yelp page, which to.
would be a PR disaster yelp.
and a half! The com.
Yelp review filter was deigned yelp.
by Yelp to help filter yelp.
out fake reviews, leaving users similar.
with only real, legitimate reviews sites.
to base their consumer decisions yelp.
around. How does the filter decide reviews.
what are fake Yelp reviews hotels.
and what are real reviews? Yelp claiming.
reviews that are usually filtered a.
are: The Yelp filter gives yelp.
preference to established reviewers who com.
have reviewed multiple businesses and restaurants.
have fully built out profiles yelp.
while filtering away reviews with free.
questionable authenticity. While the Yelp filter business.
seems fine in theory, in listing.
practice it can be a yelp.
mixed bag. The filter isn’t real.
perfect, and many businesses complain estate.
that the filter removes legitimate agents.
reviews in addition to fake yelp.
Yelp reviews. There’s no denying restaurants.
a need for such a near.
filter system though – the me.
Stanford-based research firm Gartner predicts open.
that as many as 15% now.
of reviews on social media adding.
sites could be paid-for fakes my.
by 2014. Filtered reviews can be business.
found at the bottom of to.
a Yelp business page, and yelp.
can be viewed by any biz.
users who care to click. Above, com.
you’ll see that most of yelp.
the filtered reviews are from yelp.
profiles with no image, no similar.
friends, little engagement, and very sites.
short, uninformative text. Yelp takes their yelp.
job as the honest review reviews.
gatekeeper very seriously. Yelp conducts hotels.
sting operations to find businesses claiming.
paying for reviews, and in a.
Business Week’s test, Yelp was business.
the only review site out on.
of seven others to successfully yelp.
detect and filter each and yelp.
every fake consumer review presented. Yelp’s advertising.
automated review filter system filters pricing.
around 20% of the more yelp.
than 39 million reviews. That’s app.
a hefty chunk of reviews, for.
and when every star counts, business.
it’s no wonder businesses are owners.
left feeling apprehensive. It may not www.
be entirely fair, but that’s yelp.
the cost of protecting consumers. com.
As we’ve seen from Google’s restaurants.
Panda algorithm, even filters with yelp.
the best of intentions can free.
end up hurting the innocent. business.
Dolphins get trapped in tuna listing.
traps, and birds get hit yelp.
by windmills; such is life. Of real.
course more legitimate, real reviews estate.
make it past the Yelp agents.
filter than those that do yelp.
not. Trustworthy and useful content restaurants.
should come out ahead. There me.
are a few steps you open.
can take to better your now.
chances of having a review adding.
get through the dreaded Yelp my.
filter. Business can make efforts business.
to engage the review and to.
reviewer by: If you’re a user sites.
who wants to avoid having yelp.
your reviews hit the Yelp reviews.
filter, make efforts to:How Yelp Reviews Can Impact agents.
Your Business
How to Get Yelp for.
Reviews
How yelp.
to Handle Negative Reviews on free.
Yelp
Haters Gonna Hate: Embracing the business.
Negative Yelp Reviews?
Can You Remove Yelp Reviews?
Should You Buy yelp.
Yelp Reviews?
The Yelp Review biz.
Filter & Fake Yelp Reviews
How to near.
Avoid the Yelp Review Filter
reviews.