Yelp Hurts Small Business
I own a small business and have become increasingly frustrated with Yelp and the way its platform treats both businesses and customer reviews. We have chosen not to pay Yelp for leads or advertising, despite the frequent and aggressive sales efforts encouraging us to do so. At the same time, legitimate reviews from actual customers have repeatedly been moved to the “not recommended” section. Based on the number of customers who have taken the time to review us, our business should have twice the number of visible reviews it currently has. When I’ve contacted Yelp about this, I’ve been told that their recommendation software determines which reviews are shown and that Yelp representatives cannot override those decisions. Some of the explanations I’ve received for why legitimate reviews may not be recommended make very little sense, especially when I know these are real customers who hired and paid our company for actual work. What is especially frustrating is that customers may believe a business has removed or hidden their review. Business owners have absolutely no control over which reviews Yelp recommends or does not recommend. We cannot remove a negative review, and we cannot restore a positive review that Yelp’s software has filtered out. For a small business, reviews matter tremendously. We work hard to earn our reputation and encourage real customers to share their honest experiences. Watching legitimate customer feedback essentially disappear from our visible rating because of a faulty algorithm incredibly discouraging. My experience with Yelp’s customer service has also been dismissive and unhelpful when trying to address these concerns. Rather than feeling like Yelp is a platform that helps small businesses build their reputation, my experience has left me feeling that it can actually be detrimental to small businesses trying to grow organically. I wish Yelp would provide greater transparency and accountability around its review recommendation system, particularly when legitimate customers and legitimate businesses are the ones affected.