Recently, Yelp updated their algorithms for filtering user reviews on millions of businesses. This is a big move for Yelp, who is currently dealing with lawsuits for their practice of filtering legitimate reviews (as Spam) from legitimate customers and extorting businesses to pay them to display the reviews. This practice by Yelp is one of the reasons we do not typically recommend them over other review websites, such as Angie’s List. Along with the undisputable fact that almost every review we receive on Yelp gets filtered.
The new update to their website no longer labels reviews as “Filtered”, now they are “Not Recommended”. This seems just as bad, since they are now explicitly stating you should not listen to these reviews, even though many of them are still legitimate customers with good things to say. This is a nightmare for anyone trying to maintain a solid online reputation. We have been working on finding ways to get legitimate reviews to bypass the filter with little success.
Since it looks like Yelp is only going to continue its practice of picking and choosing which reviews are “Recommended”, we recommend beginning to build an online reputation elsewhere, such as Angies List or Google Places. More reviews in more places always means a better online presence and reputation.