Yelp to Show Evidence of "Review Fraud"

[JimmyPage]

I just came across this post on SELand: http://searchengineland.com/yelp-adds-link-to-evidence-of-review-fraud-222740

Has anybody noticed this on their/a client's Yelp page?  I'm curious to know what percentage of listings have received this type of flag.

What are your thoughts on this new implementation?

[MattAntonino]

Wow! I haven't seen that before but it's interesting they'd take it that far.

A couple quick searches shows more of these than just the example:

• http://www.yelp.com.au/biz/manchester-vanlines-van-nuys-2
• http://www.yelp.com.au/biz/apartment-boy-dallas
• http://www.yelp.com/biz/luminere-esthetics-and-wellness-chicago-4?start=120
• http://www.yelp.com/biz/coffey-bros-moving-chicago

They're taking it VERY seriously ... although my initial thought is "people still use Yelp?"

[OnlineAmiga]

We have not seen it on any of our clients' pages. We did successfully talk a prior client out of paying for 500 G+ reviews though.

At the same time, I'm not amazed that companies are doing this. There are entire TV shows not dedicated to putting Yelp reviews and restaurant owners in the same room to talk it out. Businesses know that 5* reviews make a difference and they're willing to do anything to look better online.

[ReviewTrackersBrian]

In broad strokes, this is Yelp's attempt at transparency, probably the first step in a strategy to realign themselves with quality reviews. A closer look into the reasoning behind this and you start to see the writing on the walls.

This article goes into the specifics, and it was posted almost 3 years ago.

Yelp has always stated they take paid and fake reviews seriously, and now that they are making attempts to rectify their brand image, our best guess is... this is only the beginning.

[MiriamEllis]

Hey James,

Thanks for starting this discussion. While I don't have stats on the number of businesses being 'caught', I do think it's a good thing that Yelp is willing to show proof to back up their decision to take action against a spamming business. I like transparency and some of the examples being featured in posts about this are totally outrageous. Business owners who want to fake reviews are starting out on such a wrong foot in rep management that an experience like being caught by Yelp could actually be doing these folks a huge favor. It may be one of those hard but vital lessons to learn.