I'm just sayin: Yelp

Lola 2009

The other day I took the Urbandoggs for an assessment at a new doggie daycare center. I was in a conversation with the owner about local groomers. I explained that during my search for a good groomer, I had used Yelp. One of the local groomers who was reviewed on the site had a ton of negative comments listed. There were comments ranging from the cleanliness of the shop, to the friendliness of the staff. One comment that I found extremely disturbing was posted by a dog owner who said that when they returned to the shop to pick up their pet, they saw a dog hanging from the neck rope tether (not sure of the correct term here, but it's the rope they put around the animal's neck while grooming). Many other negative comments included postings about pets being returned with nicks and cuts to their skin. I was happy that I had read the reviews and immediately crossed that groomer off my list.

When I mentioned this to the daycare owner, she warned me to be careful about judging businesses based on comments posted on Yelp. She informed me that Yelp had been accused of (in a sense) “shaking down business owners” (my words, not hers). Yelp sales reps had been calling businesses to obtain advertising money to manipulate the comments. If they didn’t pay, their ads showed negative comments (placed at the top). It was also mentioned that comments on Yelp are sometimes posted by competitors. (How mean is that?) Maybe some of you are already aware of this but I was startled by this accusation and it really bothered me.

So, I thought I better get some additional information.

And, my research began......

Yelp Background:

Yelp provides online local search capabilities for its visitors. Each business listing result contains a 5-point rating, reviews from other site visitors, and details such as the business address, hours, accessibility, and parking. Site visitors can aid in keeping the business listings up to date, with moderator approval, and business owners can directly update their own business' listing information

The Yelp sites have listings for businesses throughout the United States and Canada and accept reviews of any business or service. Listings vary widely in nature with the site including listings for storefronts such as restaurants and shops; service businesses such as doctors, hotels, and cultural venues; and non-business locations such as schools, museums, parks, and churches.

Businesses may advertise with Yelp for preferred search result placement and extra listing features. For the advertising fee, the business may include an individualized message and photo slide show onto the web page for its listing as well as receive reports on listing traffic. Additionally, these advertisers, called "Sponsors" on the site, are allowed to highlight a specific review and communicate with reviewers