Why Google Reviews Will Overtake Yelp Reviews
There are many different online review sites, some of them are more popular than others. The most popular in most cases, is Yelp. As an online review service it looks nice and has a lot of features but it isn’t going to last. Google is starting to take over Yelp’s function and there is good reason behind it. Let’s take a look at why Google is going to become the most powerful force in online reviews.
Yelp Information Isn’t Used On Google Maps
Google maps is the navigation work horse of the current time. Almost all phones have Google Maps preinstalled to help you find your way around. When it comes to finding local businesses on Google Maps, all of the data comes directly from Google sources such as Google Places. No matter how stellar your Yelp page is for your business, none of it will show up on your Google Maps page. With how often people turn to this powerful service for finding new businesses, it is obvious that Google has made great strides in this arena.Yelp Filters Reviews
Yelp utilizes a software to filter reviews on local business listings. According to Yelp, the software looks at reviews to see if they appear real and if the user is active. Reviews that the software doesn’t find helpful are sorted into a category marked as not recommended. Not recommended reviews are not at first visible to those who are viewing a business’s listing.
A lot of filtered reviews either appear to be from new users or ones who have not posted in a while. Social reviews are supposed to be only filtered when they are fake. Google does not have a bias towards active users or established users. Instead, the only thing that they target in social reviews, is fake reviews.Yelp Is Overly Aggressive In Selling Ads
If you own a business that has a Yelp listing, you have probably received a call (or email) from your sales representative. This person calls and talks to you about buying advertisements on Yelp. Often times these reps will have a huge focus on getting you to buy this advertisement. When Yelp users have said that they are not interested the sales reps have continued to try and sell.
Yelp has offered deals to remove reviews or just continued to send spam messages to buy ads in hopes that businesses will subscribe. Google does not have such a large focus on selling ads. They also do not offer shady business tactics to get you to buy ads.Yelp Reviews Do Not Appear First In Google
When most people are looking for social reviews of local businesses they do not typically go directly to Yelp. Instead, they go to Google where they then look at reviews. Google gives preference to Google services and as such, shows their reviews first. So focusing on Google social reviews is far more important for your business than Yelp as they are becoming higher priority.- Yelps Terms of Service are Shady
In the Yelp Terms of Service there is a section that states that they can terminate your page and/or account at any time, for any reason. With this in mind, your account is being held at the mercy of the company. While Google may have the ability to terminate your account when they think it is appropriate, they have not exhibited shady business practices.
If you go to ask Yelp a question about their terms of service and what is allowed and not, chances are you will get a vague answer. This is because they want to leave room to terminate your account if they need to. They also are constantly looking for ways to leverage you into buying advertisements. Getting an answer from Google is typically easy, and if you can’t get it from Google directly, there are probably others who have.
Yelp reviews have often been heralded as the best way to get information on local businesses. However, there have also been articles on practices that Yelp uses that might seem underhanded or dodgy. Whether you believe in the power of Yelp or not, Google is starting to become the better alternative to their services. Google is taking the social review world by storm.
At Smiley, we help our merchants gain authentic 5-star reviews for Google, Facebook, as well as Yelp reviews. Find out how we can help grow your business, click here to contact us.
