With 71 million unique monthly visitors, Yelp is one of the most popular consumer review sites on the planet.  The site engages users with social media-type incentives, including badges and friend/follower functions.  They also allow businesses the ability to offer incentives for users who use Yelp to check-in when they arrive in person.  They want to hear about every positive and/or negative experience a Yelper has in order to paint a complete picture of a particular business.

But what if a complaint is false or inaccurate?  How do you remove a Yelp complaint?  These are the questions online reputation management companies get every day.

Removing a Yelp complaint

Yelp prides itself on having a super-secret algorithm to help them filter the pages of reviews posted each day.  For example, if a business is getting a lot of positive reviews by brand-new Yelp users, it can raise a red flag that the reviews may be a scam to earn a better rating.  In this case, the reviews can be filtered off of the main page – resting in a kind of digital purgatory.  A published review will only be deleted if it violates the Terms of Service or Content Guidelines established by Yelp.  If you find that your business received a complaint that is false AND negative, Yelp will not remove it, but pledges to ensure that its algorithm catches onto the false post and buries the negative review.  Finally, Yelp claims that advertising on the site will not give you authority to change the content of your reviews.

Replying to a Yelp Complaint

Yelp encourages business owners to respond directly to customers, either publicly or via a private message.  The only requirement is that the business owner supplies a clear photo of themselves in their user profile in order to use either response tactic.

Always treat the reviews on Yelp.com seriously, and be sure you treat every reviewer with respect.  If you respond thoughtfully and respectfully, you amplify a positive online reputation.

We are always interested in learning about the latest reputation management strategies for Yelp!  Any tips or tricks for our community?