Recently, Yelp filed a private antitrust complaint against Google with the European Commission (EC). Now it's attempting to appeal to Google's own employees to agitate for change from within the company. This attempt is both naïve and shrewd at the same time. Check out the “Focus on the User” video below, which makes several points: Google is an essential tool [...]
In a report by the Financial Times (paywall), Yelp is complaining to the European Commission (EC) that Google "abused its dominance in local search" and is seeking a formal Statement of Objections against the company due to antitrust charges. The complaint is almost exactly like the claims that were made against Google in the shopping search context [...]
We know that reviews have grown in importance lately, but so have the efforts to game the system as well. According to third-party analysis and reporting, platforms that are seeing this growing problem includes both Google Maps and Amazon. There was a Washington Post report that came out on April 23 that found that the buying of fake reviews [...]
In a report that appears in Reuters, Google’s parent Alphabet, has been considering a sale of reviews publication Zagat. The company was purchased back in September, 2011 for a reported $151 million after a failed deal to acquire Yelp. At the time of purchase, Google needed local reviews content to better compete in local search with rivals, like Yelp [...]
Google is integrating third-party reviews into the Knowledge Graph for hotels. Supposedly, this has been happening since 2016 and is entirely opt-in for the provider. Google directly works with the third-party review source in order to integrate the content. In the example found below, TripAdvisor for Southern California hotel Terranea are available under the "view Google reviews" [...]
In an age where reviews have become more important to both customers and as a local ranking factor, multiple companies have emerged to monitor reviews, as well as help small business owners obtain them. Yelp is trying to stop many of those efforts. The following piece is from the reputation management companies: Yelp isn't the only [...]
If your business listing has more content, it'll naturally see more engagement, rank higher, and perform better overall. As more searches take place on mobile devices, marketers are going to h ave to expose more local business attributes and enhanced data for discovery and competitive advantage. Based on previous research done by Google, 50 percent of smartphone users [...]
A letter has been sent to the Federal Trad Commission (FTC) by Yelp, asserting that Google improperly used Yelp images in local search results in violation of its 2013 antitrust settlement with the regulatory agency. Aside from the FTC, Yelp sent the letter to several members of Congress and state attorneys general, according to a report in The [...]
Two of the most powerful local search and review sites online are Yep and TripAdvisor. Based on information found in the consumer survey data from Burke, review sites drive more immediate actions, such as phone call, store visit, website visit, email, than social media or search. This behavior for consumers is because of review site content, [...]
Nelsen has released a new consumer survey, which was commissioned by Yelp, which argues that review sites are driving higher conversions than social media and search. 2,000 US adults were surveyed, and they found that 92 percent of respondents said that they made a purchase after visiting Yelp “at least sometimes, frequently or almost always.” This is understandable [...]