Most local businesses agree that word of mouth advertising and recommendations from friends are the best way to get new clients, and Google knows that too. So when Google dev1eloped their Places, they built reviews into the equation for determining which businesses should be given the highest rank. It’s not the only determining factor, but now more than ever, good – not just any – reviews are what you need to get on top and be seen in that lucky seven list of local businesses that show up on the first page for geo-targeted (local) business searches.

I’m bummed. I had a client who probably spent an hour writing a glowing review at Yelp about what I did for his business with my KickStart consultation program. It was a full page filled with all the details of how I helped him and the embarrassing results he got – embarrassing because he commanded 8 positions on the first page of Google. He was aglow and went on and on and on. It was the kind of review that every business wants to get.

Sadly, I’m guessing that Yelp considered it too good to be true, so they removed it. That’s not all that uncommon. They do it in an attempt to keep out spam. Unfortunately, though, it may appear that they are over-zealous, some say unfair, and then come the conspiracy theories about Yelp.

I don’t want that to happen to you, so I want to share two pieces of advice with you and give you a REVIEW TOOL for FREE that might help you get and keep the great reviews you deserve – it’s just not going to be on Yelp.

Why is that? Because it’s against Yelp’s policy to ask for reviews.

“But I’m not prompting them what to say and I’m not only asking those who had a good experience,” you may argue.

Doesn’t matter. Requested reviews are just not as credible as those that come spontaneously by your customers.

Also, Yelp knows that businesses will actually incentivize reviews with things like, “Leave a review and get a free latte on us!” And then how authentic are those? NOT!

For the good this does for consumers and for businesses who have to compete against the unethical review practices of their competitors, I stand behind Yelp’s decision on this. I think they are doing a great job keeping the platform trustworthy even though to the business owner like me who gets their authentic review filtered from time to time, it may not feel so fair at times.

(Honestly I wish Google would be so stringent.  Fake reviews are easy to fake there. Just go google “how to buy fake review on Google” and you’ll see. In November 2023, Google announced that they are revising their review algorithms so we’ll see if this changes.)

But don’t despair, I’ll also be giving you a tip on how you can drive new business from Yelp even without asking for a single review.

Shortly after I wrote the post on how to use QR for getting reviews, someone commented that they thought it was too early in the game for QR. While it’s true that most people still don’t know a QR code from a snowflake, I tend to disagree that it’s too early. QR codes have already taken over Japan and Europe and they are cropping up all over the U.S. in major name brand promotions today.

I think the time is now and the following video from CBS agrees. Watch and you’ll also learn what QR is, how to read QR codes, and who’s using them how.