Yelp
![]() | |
Type of business | Public |
---|---|
Traded as | |
Founded | October 2004 |
Headquarters | 350 Mission Street, , U.S. |
Owner | Jeremy Stoppelman (6.3%) |
Founder(s) | |
Key people |
|
Industry | Local search, business ratings and reviews, online food delivery, local homeowner services |
Products | Online advertising |
Revenue | ![]() |
Operating income | ![]() |
Net income | ![]() |
Total assets | ![]() |
Total equity | ![]() |
Employees | 4,872 (2023) |
URL | yelp |
Native client(s) on | iOS, Android, Windows |
References:[1][2] |
Yelp Inc. is an American company that develops the Yelp.com website and the Yelp mobile app, which publishes crowd-sourced reviews about businesses. It also operates Yelp Guest Manager, a table reservation service. It is headquartered in San Francisco.
Yelp was founded in 2004 by former PayPal employees Russel Simmons and Jeremy Stoppelman. It has since become one of the leading sources of user-generated reviews and ratings for businesses. Yelp grew in usage and raised several rounds of funding in the following years. By 2010, it had $30 million in revenue, and the website had published about 4.5 million crowd-sourced reviews. From 2009 to 2012, Yelp expanded throughout Europe and Asia. In 2009, it entered unsuccessful negotiations to be acquired by Google. Yelp became a public company via an initial public offering in March 2012 and became profitable for the first time two years later.[3][4]
As of December 31, 2023, approximately 287 million reviews have been contributed to Yelp. In 2023, the company had over 36 million desktop unique visitors and over 60 million mobile web unique visitors. Yelp estimates that over 55% of its audience has an annual household income of more than $100,000.[5]
The company has been accused of using unfair practices to raise revenue from the businesses that are reviewed on its site – e.g., by presenting more negative review information for companies that do not purchase its advertising services or by prominently featuring advertisements of the competitors of such non-paying companies or conversely by excluding negative reviews from companies' overall rating on the basis that the reviews "are not currently recommended".[6] There have also been complaints of aggressive and misleading tactics by some of its advertising sales representatives. The company's review system's reliability has also been affected by the submission of fake reviews by external users, such as false positive reviews submitted by a company to promote its own business or false negative reviews submitted about competing businesses – a practice sometimes known as "astroturfing", which the company has tried to combat in various ways.
Company history (2004–present)
[edit]Origins (2004–2009)
[edit]![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/5d/Jeremy_Stoppelman_LeWeb_conference.jpg/170px-Jeremy_Stoppelman_LeWeb_conference.jpg)
Two former PayPal employees, Jeremy Stoppelman and Russel Simmons, founded Yelp at a business incubator, MRL Ventures, in 2004.[7][8] Stoppelman and Simmons conceived the initial idea for Yelp as an email-based referral network, after Stoppelman caught the flu[9] and had a difficult time finding an online recommendation for a local doctor.[8][10][11] Max Levchin, the co-founders' former colleague as founding chief technology officer of PayPal and founder of MRL Ventures, provided $1 million in Angel financing.[12][8] MRL co-founder David Galbraith, who instigated the local services project based on user reviews, came up with the name "Yelp".[13] Stoppelman explained that they decided on "Yelp" for the company's name because "it was short, memorable, easy to spell, and was familiar with 'the help' and 'yellow pages'".[14][15]
According to Fortune, Yelp's initial email-based system was "convoluted".[8] The idea was rejected by investors and did not attract users beyond the cofounders' friends and family.[16] Usage data showed that users were not answering requests for referrals, but were using the "Real Reviews" feature, which allowed them to write reviews unsolicited.[8] According to The San Francisco Chronicle, "the site's popularity soared" after it was re-designed in late 2005 with the distinctive Burst logo.[17][18] Yelp raised $5 million in funding in 2005 from Bessemer Venture Partners and $10 million in November 2006 from Benchmark Capital.[8] The number of reviewers on the site grew from 12,000 in 2005, to 100,000 in 2006.[16] By the summer of 2006, the site had one million monthly visitors.[16] It raised $15 million in funding from DAG Ventures in February 2008.[19][20] In 2010, Elevation Partners invested $100 million; $75 million was spent on purchasing equity from employees and investors, while $25 million was invested in sales staff and expansion.[21] Yelp grew from 6 million monthly visitors in 2007 to 16.5 million in 2008 and from 12 to 24 cities during the same time period. By 2009, the site had 4.5 million reviews.[22] By 2010, Yelp's revenues were estimated to be $30 million and it employed 300 people.[16]
Private company (2009–2012)
[edit]Yelp introduced a site for the United Kingdom in January 2009[23] and one for Canada that August.[22] The first non-English Yelp site was introduced in France in 2010; users had the option to read and write content in French or English.[24] From 2010 to 2011, Yelp launched several more sites, in Austria, Germany, Spain, and the Netherlands. International website traffic doubled during the same time period.[25] An Australian website went live in November 2011.[7] It was supported through a partnership with Telstra, which provided one million initial business listings,[26] and was initially glitchy.[27] By the end of 2012, Yelp was publishing reviews for establishments in 20 countries, including Turkey[28] and Denmark.[29] Yelp's first site in Asia was introduced in September 2012 in Singapore,[9] which was followed by Japan in 2014.[30]
In December 2009, Google entered into negotiations with Yelp to acquire the company,[31][32] but the two parties failed to reach an agreement.[33][34] According to The New York Times, Google offered about $500 million, but the deal fell through after Yahoo offered $1 billion.[35] TechCrunch reported that Google refused to match Yahoo's offer. Both offers were later abandoned following a disagreement between Yelp's management and board of directors about the offers.[36] In June 2015, Yelp published a study alleging Google was altering search results to benefit its own online services.[37][38]
Yelp began a service called Yelp Deals in April 2011,[39] but by August it cut back on Deals due to increased competition and market saturation.[40] That September, the Federal Trade Commission investigated Yelp's allegations that Google was using Yelp web content without authorization and that Google's search algorithms favored Google Places over similar services provided by Yelp.[41][42] In order to avoid an FTC anti-trust lawsuit, in January 2014, Google agreed to allow services like Yelp the ability to opt out of having their data scraped and used on Google's websites.[43]
Public entity (2012–present)
[edit]![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/4d/Salesforce_East_2021.jpg/220px-Salesforce_East_2021.jpg)
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/79/PacBell_Building%2C_northeast_corner.jpg/170px-PacBell_Building%2C_northeast_corner.jpg)
Having filed for an initial public offering (IPO) with the Securities Exchange Commission in November 2011,[44][45][46] Yelp's stock began public trading on the New York Stock Exchange on March 2, 2012.[47][48][49][50][51] In 2012, Yelp acquired its largest European rival, Qype, for $50 million.[52][9] The following year, CEO Jeremy Stoppelman reduced his salary to $1.[53][54] Yelp acquired start-up online reservation company SeatMe for $12.7 million in cash and stock in 2013.[55][56][57][58] Yelp's second quarter 2013 revenue of $55 million "exceeded expectations", but the company was not yet profitable.[59][60]
In 2012/13, Yelp moved into its new corporate headquarters, occupying about 150,000 square feet on 12 floors of 140 New Montgomery (the former PacBell building) in San Francisco.[61]
The company was profitable for the first time in the second quarter of 2014,[59] as a result of increasing ad spending by business owners and possibly from changes in Google's local search algorithm.[62] The algorithm dubbed Google Pigeon made authoritative local directory sites like Yelp and TripAdvisor more visible.[63] Over the course of the year, Yelp websites were launched in Mexico, Japan, and Argentina.[64] Also in 2014, Yelp expanded in Europe through the acquisitions of German-based restaurant review site Restaurant-Kritik and French-based CityVox.[65][66][67]
In early February 2015, Yelp announced it bought Eat24, an online food-ordering service, for $134 million.[68][69][70] Then in August 2017, Yelp sold Eat24 to Grubhub for $287.5 million.[71][72] The acquisition resulted in a partnership to integrate Grubhub delivery into the Yelp profiles of restaurants.[73]
In late 2015, a "Public Services & Government" section was introduced to Yelp, and the General Services Administration began encouraging government agencies to create and monitor official government pages.[74] For example, the Transportation Security Administration created official TSA Yelp pages.[75][76] Later that year Yelp began experimenting in San Francisco with consumer alerts that were added to pages about restaurants with poor hygiene scores in government inspections.[77] Research conducted by the Boston Children's Hospital found that Yelp reviews with keywords associated with food poisoning correlates strongly with poor hygiene at the restaurant. Researchers at Columbia University used data from Yelp to identify three previously unreported restaurant-related food poisoning outbreaks.[78]
On November 2, 2016, concurrent with its earnings report for Q3 2016, Yelp announced it would drastically scale back its operations outside North America and halt international expansion. This resulted in the termination of essentially all international employees across Yelp's 30+ international markets from the sales, marketing, public relations, business outreach, and government relations departments. Overseas employees now primarily consist of engineering and product management staff. These layoffs affected only 175 individuals or 4% of its total workforce.[79][80][81]
In March 2017, Yelp acquired the restaurant reservation app Nowait for $40 million.[82] In April 2017, Yelp acquired Wi-Fi marketing company Turnstyle Analytics for $20 million.[83][84][85]
In early 2020, Yelp listed space at 55 Hawthorne Street, San Francisco, for 235 employees as available for sublease.[86] Business closures and stay-at-home orders during the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States caused a massive decline in searches on Yelp (down 64–83% from March to April, depending on category) and company revenues. On April 9, the company announced it would lay off 1,000 employees, furlough about 1,100 with benefits, reduce hours for others, cut executive pay by 20–30%, and stop paying the CEO for the rest of 2020.[87]
In September 2021, Yelp announced that it was relocating its corporate headquarters to a smaller space at 350 Mission Street to be subleased from Salesforce.[88]
On June 1, 2023, Yelp decided to close its offices in Phoenix, Arizona and Hamburg, Germany. According to an announcement made by the company, less than 6 percent of the available workstations in these offices were being utilized. This move comes after Yelp had already shut down its New York, Chicago, and Washington, D.C. offices.[89]
As of mid-2023, Yelp maintains a single remaining office in the United States in San Francisco. Additionally, the company will continue its operations in Toronto, Canada, and London, United Kingdom. The closure and downsizing of these offices are expected to result in approximately $27 million in annual cost savings for Yelp during the 2023–24 fiscal year.[90] As of February 2024, its website listed reviews for establishments in 32 countries.[91]
Features
[edit]Screenshot ![]() The homepage of Yelp's iPhone app. | |
Type of site | Local online reviews |
---|---|
Available in | 15 languages[92] |
Owner | Yelp, Inc. |
URL | www |
Commercial | Yes |
Registration | Optional |
Users | 142 million unique visitors per month |
Launched | 2004 |
Current status | Online |
Written in | Python, Java, and a custom framework |
Yelp's website, Yelp.com, is a crowd-sourced local business review and social networking site.[8] The site has pages devoted to individual locations, such as restaurants or schools, where Yelp users can submit a review of their products or services[93] using a one to five stars rating scale.[16] Businesses can update contact information, hours, and other basic listing information or add special deals.[16][22] In addition to writing reviews, users can react to reviews, plan events, or discuss their personal lives.[8]
78% of businesses listed on the site had a rating of three stars or better,[94] but some negative reviews were very personal or extreme.[16] Some of the reviews are written entertainingly or creatively.[17] As of 2014, users could give a "thumbs-up" to reviews they liked, which caused these reviews to be featured more prominently in the system.[95] As of 2008, each day a "Review of the Day" was determined based on a vote by users.[96]
72% of Yelp searches are done from a mobile device.[94] The Yelp iPhone mobile app was introduced in December 2008.[97][98] In August 2009, Yelp released an update to the iPhone app with a hidden Easter Egg augmented reality feature called Monocle, which allowed users looking through their iPhone camera to see Yelp data on businesses seen through the camera.[99] Check-in features were added in 2010.[100]
Yelp users can make restaurant reservations in Yelp through Yelp Reservations, a feature initially added in June 2010; in 2021 the service was consolidated with others into "Yelp Guest Manager".[101][102] Yelp's reservation features have been done through SeatMe, which was acquired by Yelp in 2013.[55] Prior to that, Yelp had offered reservation services through OpenTable.[103] In 2013, features to have food ordered and delivered were added to Yelp[104] as well as the ability to view hygiene inspection scores[105] and make appointments at spas.[106] Yelp's content was integrated into Apple Inc.'s Siri "virtual assistant" and the mapping and directions app of Apple's September 2012 release of the iOS 6 computer operating system.[107][108]
In March 2014, Yelp added features for ordering and scheduling manicures, flower deliveries, golf games, and legal consultations, among other things.[109] In October 2014, the company, working in collaboration with hotel search site Hipmunk, added features to book hotels through Yelp.[106][65]
Yelp started a 7–10% cash-back program at some US restaurants in 2016 through a partnership with Empyr, which links credit card purchases to online advertising.[110][111][112]
On February 14, 2017, Yelp launched Yelp Questions and Answers, a feature for users to ask venue-specific questions about businesses.[113]
In June 2020, Yelp launched a COVID-19 section that enables businesses to update their health and safety measures as well as their service offering changes.[114] Starting January 2021, users can provide detailed feedback regarding what health and safety measures the business has implemented through editing in the COVID-19 section on Yelp business pages.[115][116]
In April 2023, Yelp introduced Yelp Guaranteed, which provides a refund of up to $2,500 if something goes wrong with a project. It also improved its search features with AI and added the option to add video to reviews.[117] In April 2024, Yelp released Yelp Assistant, an AI chatbot that helps users find a professional for a project. It also introduced an API that allows developers to search Yelp data from other applications, and made other improvements.[118]
Features for businesses
[edit]Yelp added the ability for business owners to respond to reviews in 2008.[16][119] Businesses can respond privately by messaging the reviewer or publicly on their profile page. In some cases, Yelp users that had a bad experience have updated their reviews more favorably due to the business's efforts to resolve their complaints. In some other cases, disputes between reviewers and business owners have led to harassment and physical altercations.[16] The system has led to criticisms that business owners can bribe reviewers with free food or discounts to increase their rating. However, Yelp users say this rarely occurs.[96] A business owner can "claim" a profile, which allows them to respond to reviews and see traffic reports.[16] Businesses can also offer discounts to Yelp users that visit often using a Yelp "check in" feature.[100][120] In 2014, Yelp released an app for business owners to respond to reviews and manage their profiles from a mobile device.[121] Business owners can also flag a review to be removed, if the review violates Yelp's content guidelines.[122]
Yelp's revenues primarily come from selling ads and sponsored listings to small businesses.[11][16] Advertisers can pay to have their listing appear at the top of search results or feature ads on the pages of their competitors.[16][22][119] In 2016, advertising revenue grew at a rate of 30% year over year.[123] Yelp will only allow businesses with at least a three-star rating to sign up for advertising.[17] Originally a sponsored "favorite review" could place a positive review above negative ones,[16] but Yelp stopped offering this option in 2010 in an effort to deter the valid criticism that advertisers were able to obtain a more positive review appearance in exchange for pay.[124][125]
On June 5, 2020, Yelp launched a tool to allow businesses on the platform to identify themselves as black-owned, allowing customers to search for black-owned companies they want to support.[126][127] There were more than 2.5 million searches for black-owned businesses on Yelp from May 25 to July 10.[128] Searches for black-owned businesses were up 2,400% in 2020.[129] In August 2021 Yelp added a feature to let users filter businesses based on their COVID precautions.[130]
Relationship with businesses
[edit]A Harvard Business School study published in 2011 found that each "star" in a Yelp rating affected the business owner's sales by 5–9%.[131][132] A 2012 study by two University of California, Berkeley economists found that an increase from 3.5 to 4 stars on Yelp resulted in a 19% increase in the chances of the restaurant being booked during peak hours.[133] A 2014 survey of 300 small business owners done by Yodle found that 78% were concerned about negative reviews. Also, 43% of respondents said they felt online reviews were unfair, because there is no verification that the review is written by a legitimate customer.[132]
Controversy and litigation
[edit]Yelp has a complicated relationship with small businesses.[134] Criticism of Yelp continues to focus on the legitimacy of reviews, public statements of Yelp manipulating and blocking reviews in order to increase ad spending, as well as concerns regarding the privacy of reviewers.
Astroturfing
[edit]As Yelp became more influential, the phenomenon of business owners and competitors writing fake reviews, known as "astroturfing", became more prevalent.[95][135] A study from Harvard Associate Professor Michael Luca and Georgios Zervas of Boston University analyzed 316,415 reviews in Boston and found that the percentage of fake reviews rose from 6% of the site's reviews in 2006 to 20% in 2014.[131] Yelp's own review filter identifies 25% of reviews as suspicious.[136]
Yelp has a proprietary algorithm that attempts to evaluate whether a review is authentic and filters out reviews that it believes are not based on a patron's actual personal experiences, as required by the site's Terms of Use.[16][137] The review filter was first developed two weeks after the site was founded and the company saw their "first obviously fake reviews".[136] Filtered reviews are moved into a special area and not counted towards the businesses' star-rating.[136] The filter sometimes filters legitimate reviews, leading to complaints from business owners.[95] New York Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman said Yelp has "the most aggressive" astroturfing filter out of the crowd-sourced websites it looked into.[136] Yelp has also been criticized for not disclosing how the filter works,[136] which it says would reveal information on how to defeat it.[16]
Yelp also conducts "sting operations" to uncover businesses writing their own reviews.[138] In October 2012, Yelp placed a 90-day "consumer alert" on 150 business listings believed to have paid for reviews. The alert read "We caught someone red-handed trying to buy reviews for this business".[139][140] In June 2013, Yelp filed a lawsuit against BuyYelpReview/AdBlaze for allegedly writing fake reviews for pay.[141][142] In 2013, Yelp sued a lawyer it alleged was part of a group of law firms that exchanged Yelp reviews, saying that many of the firm's reviews originated from their own office. The lawyer said Yelp was trying to get revenge for his legal disputes and activism against Yelp.[134] An effort to win dismissal of the case was denied in December 2014.[143] In September 2013, Yelp cooperated with Operation Clean Turf, a sting operation by the New York Attorney General that uncovered 19 astroturfing operations.[136] In April 2017, a Norfolk, Massachusetts, jury awarded a jewelry store over $34,000 after it determined that its competitor's employee had filed a false negative Yelp review that knowingly caused emotional distress.[144]
In December 2019, Yelp won a court case that challenged the company's explanation of how its review recommendation software worked. The court ruling stated that "None of the evidence presented at the trial showed anything nefarious or duplicitous on the part of Yelp in connection with the assertions made in the Challenged Statements."[145] This was one of a number of court cases that ruled in favor of Yelp over the years.[146]
Alleged unfair business practices
[edit]Yelp has a complicated relationship with small businesses.[134] There have been allegations that Yelp has manipulated reviews based on participation in its advertising programs.[147] Many business owners have said that Yelp salespeople have offered to remove or suppress negative reviews if they purchase advertising.[95][148] Others report seeing negative reviews featured prominently and positive reviews buried, and then soon afterwards, they would receive calls from Yelp attempting to sell paid advertising.[149]
Yelp staff acknowledged that they had allowed their advertising partners to move their favorite review to the top of the listings as a "featured review", but said the reviews were not otherwise manipulated to favor the partner businesses.[93] Such featured reviews were shown with a strip above them that said "One of [Insert Business Here]'s Favorite Reviews" and "This business is a Yelp sponsor."[93] The company also said it might have had some rogue salespeople that misrepresented their practices when selling advertising services.[93] In response to the criticism of their allowing their advertising partners to manipulate the review listing, Yelp ceased its "featured review" practice in 2010.[124]
Several lawsuits have been filed against Yelp accusing it of extorting businesses into buying advertising products. Each has been dismissed by a judge before reaching trial.[95] In February 2010, a class-action lawsuit was filed against Yelp alleging it asked a Long Beach veterinary hospital to pay $300 a month for advertising services that included the suppression or deletion of disparaging customer reviews.[150] The following month, nine additional businesses joined the class-action lawsuit,[151] and two similar lawsuits were filed.[152] That May the lawsuits were combined into one class-action lawsuit,[153] which was dismissed by San Francisco U.S. District Judge Edward Chen in 2011. Chen said the reviews were protected by the Communications Decency Act of 1996 and that there was no evidence of manipulation by Yelp.[154] The plaintiffs filed an appeal.[155] In September 2014, the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit upheld the dismissal, finding that even if Yelp did manipulate reviews to favor advertisers, this would not fall under the court's legal definition of extortion.[156][157][158]
In August 2013, Yelp launched a series of town hall style meetings in 22 major American cities in an effort to address concerns among local business owners. Many attendees expressed frustration with seeing Yelp remove positive reviews after they declined to advertise, receiving reviews from users that never entered the establishment, and other issues.[155][159] A 2011 "working paper" published by Harvard Business School from Harvard Associate Professor Michael Luca and Georgios Zervas of Boston University found that there was no significant statistical correlation between being a Yelp advertiser and having more favorable reviews.[132][160] The Federal Trade Commission received 2,046 complaints about Yelp from 2008 to 2014,[132] most from small businesses regarding allegedly unfair or fake reviews or negative reviews that appear after declining to advertise.[161] According to Yelp, the Federal Trade Commission finished a second examination of Yelp's practices in 2015 and in both cases did not pursue an action against the company.[162][163]
Journalist David Lazarus of the Los Angeles Times also criticized Yelp in 2014 for the practice of selling competitors' ads to run on top of business listings and then offering to have the ads removed as part of a paid feature.[164]
In 2015, San Francisco filmmaker Kaylie Milliken was reportedly producing a documentary film titled Billion Dollar Bully about Yelp's alleged business practices.[165]
In 2018, in the case Hassell v. Bird, the California Supreme Court held by a narrow 4–3 margin that a business cannot force Yelp to remove a review, even if the review is defamatory of the business.[166][167]
A 2019 investigation by Vice News and the podcast Underunderstood found that in some cases, Yelp was replacing restaurant's direct phone numbers with numbers that routed through GrubHub, which would then charge restaurants for the calls under marketing agreements GrubHub has with restaurants.[168]
Political expression and politically motivated ratings
[edit]Eater reported that between 2012 and 2015, a number of users who review restaurants on the site have posted reviews that contained comments about the political activities and political views of businesses and their owners or have submitted ratings affected by political motivations. The article found that in some instances, the Yelp review area for a business has become flooded with such review submissions after a business was involved in politically sensitive action. Yelp has removed reviews of this nature and has tried to suppress their submission.[169]
Litigation over review content
[edit]According to data compiled in 2014 by the Wall Street Journal, Yelp receives about six subpoenas a month asking for the names of anonymous reviewers, mostly from business owners seeking litigation against those writing negative reviews.[132] In 2012, the Alexandria Circuit Court and the Virginia Court of Appeals[170] held Yelp in contempt for refusing to disclose the identities of seven reviewers who anonymously criticized a carpet-cleaning business. In 2014, Yelp appealed to the Virginia Supreme Court.[161][171] A popular public argument in favor of Yelp at the time was that a ruling against Yelp would negatively affect free speech online. The judge from an early ruling said that if the reviewers did not actually use the businesses' services, their communications would be false claims not protected by free speech laws.[172] The Virginia Supreme Court ruled that Yelp, a non-resident company in the state of Virginia, could not be subpoenaed by a lower court.[173] Also in 2014, a California state law was enacted that prohibits businesses from using "disparagement clauses" in their contracts or terms of use that allow them to sue or fine customers that write negatively about them online.[174][175]
Investigations
[edit]A 2020 Business Insider investigation questioned the culture, ethics and practices within Yelp.[176][177] An April 2022 Vice article highlighted that some Elite reviewers use their status to sell reviews.[178]
Community
[edit]According to Inc. Magazine most reviewers (sometimes called "Yelpers"[17]) are "well-intentioned" and write reviews in order to express themselves, improve their writing, or to be creative. In some cases, they write reviews in order to lash out at corporate interests or businesses they dislike.[16] Reviewers may also be motivated by badges and honors, such as being the first to review a new location,[17] or by praise and attention from other users.[119] Many reviews are written in an entertaining or creative manner.[17] Users can give a review a "thumbs-up" rating, which will cause it to be ranked higher in the review listings.[95] Each day a "Review of the Day" is determined based on a vote by users.[96] According to The Discourse of Online Consumer Reviews many Yelp reviewers are internet-savvy adults aged 18–25 or "suburban baby boomers".[179]
Reviewers are encouraged to use real names and photos.[179] Each year members of the Yelp community are invited or self-nominated to the "Yelp Elite Squad" and some are accepted based on an evaluation of the quality and frequency of their reviews.[180][181] Members may nominate other reviewers for elite status. Users must use their real name and photo on Yelp to qualify for the Elite Squad.[96] To accept a nomination, members must not own a business. Elite Squad Yelpers are governed by a council and estimated to include several thousand members. Yelp does not disclose how the Yelp Elite are selected.[17][180] Elite Squad members are given different color badges based on how long they've been an elite member.[181] The Yelp Elite Squad originated with parties Yelp began throwing for members in 2005,[181] and in 2006 it was formally codified;[180] the name came from a joking reference to prolific reviewers that were invited to Yelp parties as the "Yelp Elite Squad"."[8][16] Members are invited to special opening parties, given gifts, and receive other perks.[8][181] As of 2017, there are over 80 local Elite Squads in North America.[180]
As of 2017, Yelp employed a staff of over 80 community managers that organize parties for prolific reviewers, send encouraging messages to reviewers, and host classes for small business owners.[16] Yelp reviewers are not required to disclose their identity, but Yelp encourages them to do so.[8]
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ "Yelp, Inc. 2023 Form 10-K Annual Report". U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. February 27, 2024.
- ^ "Yelp, Inc. SCHEDULE 14A INFORMATION". U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. April 22, 2022. Archived from the original on June 25, 2022. Retrieved June 25, 2022.
- ^ "Yelp, Form 424B4, Filing Date Mar 2, 2012". secdatabase.com. Archived from the original on May 2, 2018. Retrieved May 1, 2018.
- ^ "Yelp, Form 8-K, Current Report, Filing Date Jul 30, 2014". secdatabase.com. Archived from the original on May 2, 2018. Retrieved May 1, 2018.
- ^ Yelp, Inc. (February 27, 2024), Yelp, Inc., 2023 Form 10-K Annual Report (PDF), U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, pp. 1, 43, 50
- ^ "Yelp Rating System". Yelp. Archived from the original on September 7, 2014. Retrieved February 14, 2020.
- ^ a b Rubin, Courtney (November 30, 2011). "Yelp Goes Live in Australia as It Prepares for IPO". Inc. Archived from the original on April 18, 2021. Retrieved May 8, 2021.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k O'Brien, Jeffrey M. (July 10, 2007). "Yelp's Ambitious Plan to Take Over the Local Ad Market". Fortune. Archived from the original on August 17, 2014.
- ^ a b c Loten, Angus (November 14, 2012). "Search for Doctor Leads to Yelp". The Wall Street Journal. Archived from the original on January 15, 2015.
- ^ Graham, Jefferson (June 12, 2007). "'Yelpers' review local businesses". USA Today. Archived from the original on June 22, 2009.
- ^ a b My Big Break: Yelp's 'Aha' moment. Newsweek. October 21, 2009. Archived from the original on July 25, 2013 – via YouTube.
- ^ "Yelp". Bessemer Venture Partners. October 3, 2005. Archived from the original on May 8, 2021. Retrieved May 8, 2021.
- ^ Malik, Om. "What do Yelp and Twitter have in common?".
- ^ Inside Yelp: How The Company Got Its Name. Yelp. February 22, 2013. Archived from the original on December 19, 2021 – via YouTube.
- ^ Bruce, Ian (August 26, 2019). "B2B Social Review Sites Are Becoming Mainstream: Here's What to Consider". Forrester Research. Archived from the original on May 8, 2021. Retrieved May 8, 2021.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Chafkin, Max (February 1, 2010). "You've Been Yelped". Inc. Archived from the original on May 8, 2021. Retrieved May 8, 2021.
- ^ a b c d e f g Maddan, Heather (June 18, 2006). "Casting the Net: Yelp is on the way". San Francisco Chronicle. Archived from the original on February 26, 2010.
- ^ "Yelp Brand Identity". read.cv. Archived from the original on July 17, 2023. Retrieved July 17, 2023.
- ^ McCarthy, Caroline (February 27, 2008). "Yelp yanks another $15 million". CNET. Archived from the original on May 9, 2021. Retrieved May 8, 2021.
- ^ McCarthy, Megan (February 2, 2008). "A Mighty Yelp! Review Site Gets $15M". Wired. Archived from the original on September 24, 2008.
- ^ MacMilan, Douglas; Burrows, Peter (January 27, 2010). "Yelp Gets Up to $100 Million From Elevation Partners". Bloomberg News. Archived from the original on January 7, 2013.
- ^ a b c d Miller, Claire Cain (January 8, 2009). "Yelp Jumps the Pond". The New York Times. Archived from the original on July 15, 2014.
- ^ Kiss, Jemima (January 7, 2009). "Reviews site Yelp is coming to the UK – and bringing the parties". The Guardian. Archived from the original on September 30, 2013. Retrieved January 6, 2013.
- ^ Miller, Claire Cain (May 5, 2010). "Bon Appétit! Yelp Goes to France". The New York Times. Archived from the original on January 17, 2013.
- ^ Schonfeld, Erick (May 21, 2011). "Yelp Moves To Spain As International Traffic Doubles". TechCrunch. Archived from the original on February 25, 2013.
- ^ Griffith, Chris (November 30, 2011). "Review site Yelp goes live in Australia". The Australian. Archived from the original on December 6, 2011.
- ^ Apostolou, Natalie (November 30, 2011). "Yelp lands in Aus with some help from Telstra". The Register. Archived from the original on December 31, 2012. Retrieved January 6, 2013.
- ^ Musli, Steve (December 12, 2012). "Yelp takes its reviews to Turkey". CNET. Archived from the original on July 14, 2014. Retrieved November 13, 2013.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link) - ^ McNichol, Tom (Fall 2012). "Word On the Street" (PDF). NYSE magazine. Archived from the original (PDF) on September 21, 2013. Retrieved September 15, 2013.
- ^ "Yelp goes live in Japan, its second country launch in Asia". The Next Web. April 9, 2014. Archived from the original on June 29, 2015. Retrieved September 8, 2015.
- ^ MacMillan, Douglas (December 18, 2009). "Google Bids for Yelp's Online Local Ad Communities". Bloomberg News. Archived from the original on August 31, 2011.
- ^ Miller, Claire (December 18, 2009). "Google Said to Be Near a Yelp Deal". The New York Times. Archived from the original on May 21, 2013.
- ^ Miller, Claire Cain (December 21, 2009). "Yelp Turns Down Google, for Now". The New York Times. Archived from the original on April 7, 2013.
- ^ McCarthy, Caroline (December 21, 2009). "Yelp bails on Google deal?". CNET. Archived from the original on October 1, 2013.
- ^ Kucera, Danielle (March 2, 2012). "Yelp's Stoppelman Leads IPO by Snubbing Google, Yahoo Offers". Bloomberg News. Archived from the original on September 21, 2013.
- ^ Arrington, Michael (October 1, 2010). "The Ugliest Girl at the Dance: How Yahoo Destroyed Yelp's Google Acquisition". TechCrunch. Archived from the original on January 1, 2013.
- ^ Bergen, Mark (June 29, 2015). "Google Manipulates Search Results, According to Study From Yelp and Legal Star Tim Wu". Vox Media. Archived from the original on July 2, 2015.
- ^ Fairless, Tom (June 29, 2015). "Study Suggests Google Harms Consumers by Skewing Search Results". The Wall Street Journal. Archived from the original on July 2, 2015.
- ^ Schonfeld, Erick (June 29, 2011). "Yelp Brings Local Deals to Mobile and Gives Groupon Now a Run for its Money". TechCrunch. Archived from the original on April 4, 2013.
- ^ MacMillan, Douglas (August 30, 2011). "Yelp Follows Facebook in Scaling Back Daily-Deal Service". Bloomberg News. Archived from the original on November 4, 2013.
- ^ Cheredar, Tom (September 21, 2011). "Yelp cooperating with FTC on antitrust lawsuit against Google". VentureBeat. Archived from the original on February 8, 2013.
- ^ Angotti, David (September 21, 2011). "Yelp Hopes to Serve Grilled Google: Antitrust Hearing Today". Search Engine Journal. Archived from the original on December 28, 2011.
- ^ Paul, Ian (January 4, 2013). "Google's FTC antitrust deal: Top takeaways and challenges". PC World. Archived from the original on July 14, 2014.
- ^ "Yelp! Inc, Form S-1, Filing Date Nov 17, 2011" (PDF). secdatabase.com. Archived (PDF) from the original on May 2, 2018. Retrieved May 1, 2018.
- ^ Rusli, Evelyn (November 17, 2011). "Yelp Files for I.P.O.". The New York Times. Archived from the original on January 11, 2013.
- ^ MacMillan, Douglas (November 17, 2011). "Yelp Files to Raise $100 Million in Initial Public Offering". Bloomberg News. Archived from the original on January 5, 2013.
- ^ "Yelp Prices Initial Public Offering" (Press release). PR Newswire. March 1, 2012. Archived from the original on May 8, 2021. Retrieved May 8, 2021.
- ^ Gallagher, Dan (March 1, 2012). "Yelp prices IPO at $15/share, above expected range". MarketWatch. Archived from the original on May 8, 2021. Retrieved May 8, 2021.
- ^ "Yelp! Inc, Form 424B4, Filing Date Mar 2, 2012" (PDF). secdatabase.com. Archived (PDF) from the original on May 2, 2018. Retrieved May 1, 2018.
- ^ Rusli, Evelyn (March 1, 2012). "Yelp Prices Its Offering at $15 a Share". The New York Times. Archived from the original on December 26, 2012.
- ^ Pepitone, Julianne (March 2, 2012). "Yelp shares soar more than 60% in IPO". CNN. Archived from the original on May 5, 2012.
- ^ "Yelp! Inc, Form 8-K, Current Report, Filing Date Oct 24, 2012". secdatabase.com. Archived from the original on May 2, 2018. Retrieved May 1, 2018.
- ^ "Yelp! Inc, Form 8-K, Current Report, Filing Date Feb 8, 2013". secdatabase.com. Archived from the original on May 2, 2018. Retrieved May 1, 2018.
- ^ Grove, Jennifer (February 8, 2013). "Yelp CEO takes $1 Salary". CNET. Archived from the original on September 21, 2013. Retrieved February 14, 2013.
- ^ a b "Yelp! Inc, Form 8-K, Current Report, Filing Date Jul 24, 2013". secdatabase.com. Archived from the original on May 2, 2018. Retrieved May 1, 2018.
- ^ Milot, Stephanie (July 19, 2013). "Yelp Buys Online Reservation Service SeatMe". PC Magazine. Archived from the original on September 25, 2013.
- ^ Kastrenakes, Jacob (July 18, 2013). "Yelp to acquire restaurant reservation service SeatMe to take on OpenTable". The Verge. Vox Media. Archived from the original on February 2, 2017.
- ^ Kumparak, Greg (July 13, 2013). "Yelp To Acquire Online Reservation Service SeatMe For Up To $12.7M". TechCrunch. Archived from the original on February 2, 2017.
- ^ a b "Yelp! Inc, Form 10-Q, Quarterly Report, Filing Date Aug 2, 2013". secdatabase.com. Archived from the original on May 2, 2018. Retrieved May 1, 2018.
- ^ Roberts, Daniel (September 19, 2013). "Yelp CEO Jeremy Stoppelman ignored advice from Peter Thiel and Elon Musk and succeeded anyway". CNN. Archived from the original on August 19, 2014. Retrieved September 25, 2013.
- ^ Simonson, Sharon (August 19, 2013). "Yelp Occupies 140 New Montgomery". The Registry SF. Archived from the original on January 22, 2015. Retrieved February 8, 2015.
- ^ Crum, Chris (July 30, 2014). "Yelp Becomes Profitable For First Time Since Going Public". WebProNews. Archived from the original on August 17, 2014. Retrieved September 1, 2014.
- ^ "Google's Pigeon Update Solves Yelp Problem, Boosts Local Directories". searchengineland.com. July 25, 2014. Archived from the original on June 3, 2016. Retrieved May 18, 2016.
- ^ Marx, Rebecca (July 28, 2014). "The Toxic, Abusive, Addictive, Supportive, Codependent Relationship Between Chefs and Yelpers". San Francisco Magazine. Archived from the original on September 17, 2014.
- ^ a b "Yelp! Inc, Form 10-K, Annual Report, Filing Date Feb 27, 2015". secdatabase.com. Archived from the original on May 2, 2018. Retrieved May 1, 2018.
- ^ Snyder, Benjamin (October 28, 2014). "Yelp makes Europe its mission with back-to-back acquisitions". Fortune Magazine. Archived from the original on November 5, 2014. Retrieved November 13, 2014.
- ^ Chandler, Michele (October 28, 2014). "Yelp Says Oui, Adds French Online Review Site Cityvox". Investors Business Daily. Archived from the original on January 22, 2015. Retrieved November 13, 2014.
- ^ "Yelp! Inc, Form 8-K, Current Report, Filing Date Feb 10, 2015". secdatabase.com. Archived from the original on May 2, 2018. Retrieved May 1, 2018.
- ^ Isaac, Mike (February 10, 2015). "Yelp Buys Eat24, an Online Food-Ordering Service, for $134 Million". The New York Times. Archived from the original on April 28, 2015. Retrieved February 12, 2015.
- ^ Menton, Jessica (February 10, 2015). "Yelp Inc (YELP) Stock Leaps 7% After Review Website Buys Eat24 For $134M, Rival GrubHub Inc (GRUB) Drops 2%". International Business Times. Archived from the original on August 20, 2015. Retrieved June 17, 2015.
- ^ "Yelp! Inc, Form 8-K, Current Report, Filing Date Aug 3, 2017" (PDF). secdatabase.com. Archived (PDF) from the original on May 2, 2018. Retrieved May 1, 2018.
- ^ Kastrenakes, Jacob (August 3, 2017). "Yelp is selling Eat24 to GrubHub for $287.5 million". The Verge. Archived from the original on August 3, 2017. Retrieved August 3, 2017.
- ^ Oreskovic, Alexei (August 3, 2017). "Yelp's stock is skyrocketing on the news that it's selling Eat24 for $287.5 million to Grubhub". Business Insider. Archived from the original on August 4, 2017. Retrieved August 3, 2017.
- ^ Rein, Lisa (August 18, 2015). "The federal government wants you to review it on Yelp". Washington Post. Archived from the original on February 10, 2016. Retrieved February 9, 2016.
- ^ Griggs, Brandon (August 20, 2015). "Rude TSA agent? Review them on Yelp". CNN. Archived from the original on August 21, 2015. Retrieved August 20, 2015.
- ^ Berman, Russell (August 19, 2015). "Uncle Sam Wants You—to Write Reviews on Yelp". The Atlantic. Archived from the original on August 20, 2015. Retrieved August 20, 2015.
- ^ "How Yelp plans to clean up one of the restaurant industry's most dangerous flaws". Washington Post. October 27, 2015. Archived from the original on October 28, 2015. Retrieved October 27, 2015.
- ^ Ostrov, Barbara Feder (October 26, 2015). "Can Yelp help track food poisoning outbreaks?". CNN. Archived from the original on October 26, 2015. Retrieved October 27, 2015.
- ^ Sheivachman, Andrew (November 2, 2016). "Yelp Gives Up on International Growth, Layoffs Probable". Skift. Archived from the original on May 9, 2021. Retrieved May 8, 2021.
- ^ "Yelp! Inc, Form 8-K, Current Report, Filing Date Nov 2, 2016". secdatabase.com. Archived from the original on May 2, 2018. Retrieved May 1, 2018.
- ^ Hufford, Austen (November 2, 2016). "Yelp to Halt Global Expansion, Trim Workforce by 4%". Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. Archived from the original on November 20, 2016. Retrieved November 21, 2016.
- ^ Sawers, Paul (March 1, 2017). "Yelp acquires restaurant waiting list tech startup Nowait in a $40 million all-cash deal". VentureBeat. Archived from the original on November 23, 2022. Retrieved November 22, 2022.
- ^ "Yelp! Inc, Form 8-K, Current Report, Filing Date Apr 7, 2017". secdatabase.com. Archived from the original on May 2, 2018. Retrieved May 1, 2018.
- ^ Perez, Sarah (April 4, 2017). "Yelp acquires Wi-Fi marketing company Turnstyle Analytics for $20 million". TechCrunch. Archived from the original on April 4, 2017.
- ^ "Yelp Acquires Wi-Fi Marketing Company Turnstyle Analytics" (Press release). Business Wire. April 4, 2017. Archived from the original on May 10, 2021. Retrieved May 8, 2021.
- ^ "Mass layoffs at Yelp, Eventbrite show coronavirus' damage to SF tech". Archived from the original on December 27, 2020. Retrieved April 10, 2020.
- ^ Stoppelman, Jeremy (April 9, 2020). "Planning for Yelp's Future". Yelp. Archived from the original on April 9, 2020. Retrieved April 10, 2020.
- ^ DiFeliciantonio, Chase (September 9, 2021). "Yelp to relocate S.F. headquarters, aims for office return early next year". San Francisco Chronicle. Archived from the original on February 10, 2022. Retrieved April 10, 2022.
- ^ Dee-Ann Dyrbin (June 23, 2022). "Yelp closes three US offices, says remote work is its future". Associated Press. Archived from the original on June 24, 2022. Retrieved June 24, 2022.
- ^ Peck, Emily (June 1, 2023). "Yelp is down to one office in the U.S., as it leans into remote work". Axios. Archived from the original on June 2, 2023. Retrieved June 2, 2023.
- ^ "Browse 219 cities on Yelp, all around the world!". Retrieved February 28, 2024.
- ^ Marx, Rebecca (July 28, 2014). "The Toxic, Abusive, Addictive, Supportive, Codependent Relationship Between Chefs and Yelpers". San Francisco Chronicle. Archived from the original on September 17, 2014.
- ^ a b c d Metz, Cade (August 13, 2008). "Yelp 'pay to play' pitch makes shops scream for help". The Register. Archived from the original on August 20, 2008. Retrieved August 20, 2008.
- ^ a b "An Introduction to Yelp Metrics". Yelp. Archived from the original on August 25, 2016.
- ^ a b c d e f Banks, Sandy (April 20, 2013). "Turning a critical eye on Yelp". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on April 23, 2014.
- ^ a b c d McNeil, Donald G. (November 4, 2008). "Eat and Tell". The New York Times. Archived from the original on May 21, 2013.
- ^ MODI, MAULIK (December 1, 2019). "Yelp — What happened!!". Medium. Archived from the original on May 8, 2021. Retrieved May 8, 2021.
- ^ Schonfeld, Erick (December 10, 2008). "Citysearch vs. yelp on the iPhone: Can You Tell Them Apart?". TechCrunch. Archived from the original on March 31, 2013.
- ^ Chen, Brian (August 27, 2009). "Yelp Sneaks Augmented Reality Into iPhone App". Wired. Archived from the original on February 15, 2013.
- ^ a b Bergman, Cory (January 15, 2010). "Yelp adds check-ins on mobile app". AdWeek.
- ^ Bilton, Nick (June 3, 2010). "Yelp and OpenTable Join Forces". The New York Times. Archived from the original on September 19, 2012. Retrieved January 6, 2013.
- ^ Littman, Julie (October 25, 2022). "Yelp adds searchable 'veteran-owned' tag for businesses". Restaurant Dive. Archived from the original on December 9, 2022. Retrieved December 9, 2022.
- ^ Bilton, Nick (June 4, 2010). "Yelp and OpenTable Join Forces". Bits Blog. Archived from the original on September 6, 2015. Retrieved September 4, 2016.
- ^ Hsu, Tiffany (July 9, 2013). "Yelp launches food delivery and pickup service". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on September 7, 2013.
- ^ Bindley, Katherine (January 17, 2013). "Yelp Adds Health Department Grades to Restaurant Listings". HuffPost. Archived from the original on February 10, 2013.
- ^ a b Brennan, Emily (October 24, 2014). "On Yelp, Reviews With a Side of Bookings". The New York Times. Archived from the original on January 22, 2015.
- ^ "Yelp! Inc, Form 8-K, Current Report, Filing Date Aug 1, 2012". secdatabase.com. Archived from the original on May 2, 2018. Retrieved May 1, 2018.
- ^ Grove, Jennifer (September 19, 2012). "You may hate Apple Maps, but the Yelp integration is something to love". VentureBeat. Archived from the original on January 12, 2013. Retrieved January 10, 2013.
- ^ Solomon, Brian (March 24, 2015). "You Can Now Order Flowers, Manicures And Legal Advice Through Yelp". Forbes. Archived from the original on April 6, 2015. Retrieved April 10, 2015.
- ^ Broida, Rick (March 3, 2017). "Get cash back when you dine with Yelp". CNET. Archived from the original on December 30, 2017.
- ^ Graham, Jefferson (December 22, 2016). "Yelp introduces cash-back program for consumers". USA Today. Archived from the original on December 30, 2017.
- ^ "Empyr". Empyr. Archived from the original on December 4, 2020. Retrieved November 20, 2019.
- ^ Ha, Anthony (February 14, 2017). "Yelp launches new feature for asking and answering questions about any business". TechCrunch. Archived from the original on February 15, 2017. Retrieved February 15, 2017.
- ^ Akhil Kuduvalli, Head of Consumer Product; Tuesday, June 16 (June 16, 2020). "Helping Local Businesses Reopen During COVID-19 with New Products and Features". Yelp. Archived from the original on February 7, 2021. Retrieved February 3, 2021.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link) - ^ Akhil Kuduvalli, Head of Consumer Product; Tuesday, January 12 (January 12, 2021). "Yelp Will Now Display User Feedback on Health and Safety Practices of Local Businesses". Yelp. Archived from the original on January 29, 2021. Retrieved February 3, 2021.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link) - ^ "Yelp reviewers can now offer feedback on restaurants' COVID-19 health and safety practices". Nation's Restaurant News. January 11, 2021. Archived from the original on January 25, 2021. Retrieved February 3, 2021.
- ^ Malik, Aisha (April 25, 2023). "Yelp rolls out AI-powered search updates and the ability to add videos to reviews". TechCrunch. Retrieved July 23, 2024.
- ^ Lacy, Lisa (April 30, 2024). "Yelp Has a New AI Bot for Home Repairs, and It'll Quiz You on Your Needs". CNET. Retrieved July 23, 2024.
- ^ a b c Hansell, Saul (May 12, 2008). "Why Yelp Works". The New York Times. Archived from the original on November 26, 2013. Retrieved November 27, 2013.
- ^ Diana, Alison (November 23, 2010). "Yelp Intros Check In Offers". InformationWeek. Archived from the original on November 27, 2013. Retrieved January 6, 2013.
- ^ Hernandez, Barbara (December 18, 2014). "Yelp Gives Business Owners Stronger Voice". NBC Bay Area. Archived from the original on April 2, 2015. Retrieved December 19, 2014.
- ^ "How do I flag a review". Archived from the original on March 3, 2015.
- ^ "Yelp Investor Presentation Q2 2016" (PDF). Yelp. August 9, 2016. Archived (PDF) from the original on May 8, 2021. Retrieved May 8, 2021.
- ^ a b Eaton, Kit (April 5, 2010). "Yelp Tweaks Its System for Transparency—and Lawsuit-Dodging". Fast Company. Archived from the original on March 4, 2013. Retrieved January 6, 2013.
- ^ Chang, Andrea (April 6, 2010). "Yelp makes two major changes in the way reviews are posted". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on April 27, 2013. Retrieved January 6, 2013.
- ^ Brown, Dalvin (June 6, 2020). "Yelp adds tool search for black-owned businesses". USA Today. Archived from the original on December 5, 2020. Retrieved December 19, 2020.
- ^ Lyles, Taylor (June 5, 2020). "Yelp is adding a new tool to easily search for black-owned businesses". The Verge. Archived from the original on June 6, 2020. Retrieved June 8, 2020.
- ^ CLARKE, CHEVAZ (July 22, 2020). "Yelp searches for Black-owned businesses jumped 7,000% amid protests". CBS News. Archived from the original on May 8, 2021. Retrieved May 8, 2021.
- ^ Leary, Brenae (January 29, 2021). "Yelp Names black-Owned Businesses to Watch in 2021". Yelp. Archived from the original on May 8, 2021. Retrieved May 8, 2021.
- ^ Jones, Zoe Christen (August 5, 2021). "Yelp to allow users to filter businesses based on vaccination requirements". CBS News. Archived from the original on November 23, 2022. Retrieved November 22, 2022.
- ^ a b Gara, Tom (September 24, 2013). "Fake Reviews Are Everywhere. How Can We Catch Them?". The Wall Street Journal. Archived from the original on February 14, 2017.
- ^ a b c d e Loten, Angus (April 2, 2014). "Yelp Regularly Gets Subpoenas About Users". The Wall Street Journal. Archived from the original on April 22, 2016.
- ^ Doward, Jamie (September 1, 2012). "How online reviews are crucial to a restaurant's takings". The Guardian. Archived from the original on November 13, 2013.
- ^ a b c Clark, Patrick (September 9, 2013). "Yelp's Newest Weapon Against Fake Reviews: Lawsuits". Bloomberg News. Archived from the original on July 2, 2014.
- ^ Proserpio, Davide; Hollenbeck, Brett; He, Sherry (November 24, 2020). "How Fake Customer Reviews do — and Don't — Work". Harvard Business Review. Archived from the original on December 5, 2021. Retrieved June 27, 2022.
- ^ a b c d e f Roberts, Daniel (September 26, 2013). "Yelp's fake review problem". Fortune. Archived from the original on September 26, 2013.
- ^ Ma Evelyn Castino Quilas (June 19, 2014). "Sia Furler Seeks Revenge on Twitter and Yelp after Dry Cleaning Staff Ruins Fave Clothes". International Business Times. Archived from the original on July 14, 2014. Retrieved July 1, 2014.
- ^ "Yelp CEO Jeremy Stoppelman Reveals How The Review Site Catches Phonies (Video)". HuffPost. December 3, 2012. Archived from the original on July 14, 2014.
- ^ Streitfeld, David (October 18, 2012). "Buy Reviews on Yelp, Get Black Mark". The New York Times. Archived from the original on April 2, 2014. Retrieved November 27, 2013.
- ^ Vega, Cecilia. "Yelp Outs Companies That Pay for Positive Reviews". ABC News. Archived from the original on June 2, 2013. Retrieved June 6, 2013.
- ^ Pimental, Benjamin (September 18, 2013). "Yelp steps up campaign against fake reviews". MarketWatch. Archived from the original on September 22, 2013.
- ^ Kim, Suzanna (September 17, 2013). "Yelp Sues Firm Over Allegedly Posting Fake Review". ABC News. Archived from the original on September 24, 2013. Retrieved September 27, 2013.
- ^ Farivar, Cyrus (December 10, 2014). "Bizarre Yelp lawsuit over alleged fake reviews to finally move ahead". ars technica. Archived from the original on January 10, 2015. Retrieved January 12, 2015.
- ^ "Quincy Center jeweler wins suit over Yelp review". Archived from the original on April 27, 2017. Retrieved April 26, 2017.
- ^ "Demetriades v. Yelp". Archived from the original on February 8, 2022. Retrieved February 8, 2022.
- ^ Liability, Eric Goldman · in Derivative; Marketing (March 1, 2020). "Yelp Finally Defeats a False Advertising Lawsuit Over Its Review Functionality-Demetriades v. Yelp". Technology & Marketing Law Blog. Archived from the original on February 8, 2022. Retrieved February 8, 2022.
- ^ Chang, Andrea (August 21, 2013). "Tempers flare at Yelp's town hall for small business owners in L.A.". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on September 29, 2013.
- ^ West, Jackson (March 1, 2010). "Yelp Blames Greedy Lawyers for Extortion Allegations". NBC News. Archived from the original on November 12, 2013.
- ^ Harris, Sophia (January 14, 2015). "Yelp accused of bullying businesses into paying for better reviews". CBC News. Archived from the original on January 17, 2015. Retrieved January 15, 2015.
- ^ Zetter, Kim (February 24, 2010). "Yelp Accused of Extortion". Wired. Archived from the original on December 22, 2012.
- ^ Ali, Sarmad (March 17, 2010). "Small Businesses Join Lawsuit Against Yelp". The Wall Street Journal. Archived from the original on January 16, 2013. Retrieved January 3, 2013.
- ^ Metz, Rachel (March 20, 2010). "Review site Yelp under fire in business' lawsuits". The Pantagraph. Associated Press. Archived from the original on September 23, 2015.
- ^ Davis, Wendy (May 4, 2012). "Business Owners Seek To Revive Payola Lawsuit Against Yelp". Media Post. Archived from the original on September 10, 2013.
- ^ Fowler, Geoffrey A. (October 28, 2011). "Yelp Is Cleared in Lawsuit". The Wall Street Journal. Archived from the original on December 16, 2012. Retrieved January 3, 2013. (subscription required)
- ^ a b Zara, Christopher (July 12, 2013). "Yelp Extortion Rampant, Say Small-Business Owners As Class-Action Lawsuit Against Review 'Bully' Appealed". International Business Times. Archived from the original on July 26, 2013. Retrieved August 4, 2013.
- ^ Egelko, Bob (September 4, 2014). "Yelp can manipulate ratings, court rules". San Francisco Chronicle. Archived from the original on September 26, 2014.
- ^ "Court Decides Yelp Can Change Ratings". The New York Times. Associated Press. September 4, 2014. Archived from the original on October 6, 2014.
- ^ "Court Sides With San Francisco-Based Yelp In Lawsuit From Small Business Owners". CBS News. September 4, 2014. Archived from the original on October 6, 2014.
- ^ Chang, Andrea (August 21, 2013). "Yelp gets an earful from L.A. business owners". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on August 26, 2013. Retrieved September 2, 2013.
- ^ Luca, Michael; Zervas, Georgios (November 8, 2013), Fake It Till You Make It: Reputation, Competition, and Yelp Review Fraud, archived from the original on September 22, 2014, retrieved September 28, 2014
- ^ a b Loten, Angus (April 2, 2014). "Yelp Reviews Brew a Fight Over Free Speech vs. Fairness". The Wall Street Journal. Archived from the original on December 17, 2014.
- ^ Winkler, Rolfe (January 6, 2015). "Yelp Says FTC Won't Act on Complaints About Its Reviews". The Wall Street Journal. Archived from the original on January 7, 2015.
- ^ O'Brien, Sara (January 7, 2015). "Yelp: You can trust our reviews". CNN. Archived from the original on January 7, 2015.
- ^ "Yelp's practices sound to some like extortion". Los Angeles Times. March 31, 2014. Archived from the original on February 11, 2015.
- ^ Zara, Christopher (March 11, 2015). "Yelp The Movie: San Francisco Filmmaker Takes On 'Billion Dollar Bully'". International Business Times. Archived from the original on March 15, 2015.
- ^ "California high court: Yelp can't be ordered to remove posts". AP News. July 2, 2018. Archived from the original on July 2, 2018. Retrieved July 7, 2018.
Online review site Yelp.com cannot be ordered to remove posts against a San Francisco law firm that a judge determined were defamatory, a divided California Supreme Court ruled Monday in a closely watched case that internet companies warned could be used to silence online speech.
- ^ , Text, archived from the original on November 19, 2018.
- ^ "Yelp is Screwing Over Restaurants By Quietly Replacing Their Phone Numbers". August 6, 2019. Archived from the original on September 21, 2020. Retrieved August 7, 2019.
- ^ McKeever, Amy (May 19, 2015). "Why Yelp Emerged as a Site for Social Protest". Eater. Eater. Archived from the original on May 21, 2015. Retrieved May 22, 2015.
- ^ D'Onfro, Jillian (April 4, 2014). "Yelp Is In Court Deal With Free Speech Issues Yet Again". Business Insider. Archived from the original on May 8, 2015.
- ^ Sherman, Eric (April 4, 2014). "Yelp battles to keep local reviewers anonymous". ABC News. Archived from the original on July 15, 2014. Retrieved July 4, 2014.
- ^ Healy, Allie (November 4, 2014). "Facebook, Google, Twitter side with Yelp in Virginia Supreme Court case, report says". Syracuse. Archived from the original on November 8, 2014. Retrieved November 13, 2014.
- ^ Duff, Greg (April 24, 2015). "Virginia Supreme Court Holds that Yelp! Cannot be Subpoenaed in Virginia". Foster Garvey. Archived from the original on January 3, 2020. Retrieved January 3, 2020.
- ^ Ryan, Laura (September 15, 2014). "Congress's Fight for Your Right to Yelp". National Journal. Archived from the original on September 15, 2014. Retrieved September 16, 2014.
- ^ Gross, Doug (September 12, 2014). "Yelp without fear, says new California law". CNN. Archived from the original on September 16, 2014. Retrieved September 16, 2014.
- ^ "Heavy drinking, sex tapes, and a pyramid scheme: Yelp insiders speak out about the company's high-pressure sales culture". Business Insider. Archived from the original on November 7, 2020. Retrieved November 7, 2020.
- ^ "Yelp sales tactics: Insiders say sales reps are misleading, aggressive". Business Insider. Archived from the original on November 1, 2020. Retrieved November 7, 2020.
- ^ "The Trusted Yelp 'Elite' Reviewers Who Sell Their Reviews for Cash". Vice. April 26, 2022. Archived from the original on April 28, 2022. Retrieved April 28, 2022.
- ^ a b Vasquez, Camilla (June 19, 2014). The Discourse of Online Consumer Reviews. Bloomsbury Publishing. ISBN 978-1-4411-9684-2. Archived from the original on May 1, 2016.
- ^ a b c d "Yelp's Online Reviewing Mafia". BusinessWeek. June 2, 2011. Archived from the original on March 8, 2013. Retrieved March 20, 2013.
- ^ a b c d Harris, Jen (May 1, 2015). "For some Yelp reviewers, it pays to be Elite". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on May 5, 2015. Retrieved May 8, 2015.
External links
[edit]- Official websites
- Yelp Reservations official website
- Business data for Yelp Inc.: