Stop asking customers to review you on Yelp. Its software holds back reviews from new or one-time accounts, and Yelp discourages requests. Reply to the reviews you get, and gather testimonials for your own website.

Five reviews, one showing

The owner of a small business asked five happy customers to review it on Yelp, and all five did. A week later, one review shows on the business's page.

The other four sit behind a grey link at the foot of the page, among reviews that are not currently recommended. They do not count toward the star rating or the review count.

The customers were real and meant every word. Yelp's software held their reviews back anyway, for reasons unrelated to the business or its service.

What Yelp's software does

Yelp runs automated software over every review to decide which ones to recommend to readers. It looks at the review and at what Yelp knows about the person who wrote it.

Reviews from new accounts, from accounts with a single review, and from people Yelp knows little about are often held back. Yelp says the aim is to protect readers from fake or prompted reviews.

The software runs continuously. A held review can become recommended later if its writer goes on to use Yelp regularly, and a recommended one can drop out.

Why requested reviews get held back

Reviews written because the owner asked tend to share the features the software treats with suspicion:

A customer who already reviews restaurants and shops every month looks nothing like this, which is why an unprompted review from them is far more likely to stay.

Yelp discourages asking

Yelp tells business owners not to ask for reviews at all. It wants reviews from customers who chose to write them, and it forbids offering anything in return.

Asking is not against the law, but it runs against Yelp's guidelines, and the software is designed to notice the pattern that requests create.

Nothing is gained by pushing harder. Further requests produce further reviews from new accounts, and further reviews behind the grey link.

What it means for a small business

The star rating and review count rest on the recommended reviews alone, which for many small businesses means a handful written by regular Yelp users.

One unhappy regular can therefore weigh heavily, and there is no button to move a held review into view. Yelp does not change its software's decisions on request.

The practical response is to stop working against the software and put the effort where it counts: replies on Yelp, testimonials on your own site, and good service.

A worked example

A sound and lighting company in Vernon rents speakers, microphones and lights for weddings, school dances and banquets, and sends a technician to run the larger shows.

Most of its customers rent once: a couple for their wedding, a parent committee for a graduation. After a run of good events, the owner emailed each client a link asking for a Yelp review.

Eight clients wrote reviews, most from accounts opened that day. Within a week six sat behind the not currently recommended link, so the star rating rested on the other two and three older reviews.

The owner stopped asking for Yelp reviews and replied publicly to those that showed. Clients now get a short feedback form after each event, and those who agree are quoted on the website.

Couples planning a wedding read those testimonials beside photographs of real events, on a page the company controls, and the Yelp page carries replies that show the owner listens.

Replying to the reviews you have

Claim the business page through Yelp's free account for business owners. It lets you correct the details, add photographs and reply to reviews.

Reply publicly to recommended reviews, good and bad, briefly and politely. A calm public reply to a complaint is read by every later visitor, and can say more about the business than the complaint does.

Use a private message for anything personal, and never argue. Thank the writer, correct a factual error once, and offer to put things right.

Testimonials on your own website

Your website can carry what Yelp holds back. Ask customers for feedback directly, by email or a short form after the job, and ask permission before quoting them.

Show each testimonial with a first name, the type of job and the month, and keep the original message on file. Quote accurately, and include the occasional mild one.

Never write testimonials yourself or reword them into something the customer did not say. Specific, slightly imperfect praise reads as real; polished lines read as marketing.

At the counter

Replace a sign that asks for Yelp reviews with one that simply says the business is on Yelp. Regular Yelp users will know what to do with it.

Hand customers a feedback card or send a short email after the job, addressed to the business itself. Complaints that reach you first can be put right before they reach any review site.

Customers who already use Yelp will find you without being asked, and their reviews are the ones the software is most likely to show.

The counter-case

In some trades and neighbourhoods, many customers are active Yelp users. A downtown restaurant or cafe may see most of its reviews recommended without asking anyone.

For a business like that, Yelp deserves real attention: accurate details, good photographs, a menu or price list kept current, and prompt replies to every review.

Even there, asking for reviews runs against Yelp's guidelines. The attention belongs on the page itself and on the service that earns the reviews.

Feedback instead of requests

  1. Stop asking customers for Yelp reviews.
  2. Claim the Yelp page with a business owner account.
  3. Correct the details and add real photographs.
  4. Reply publicly to recommended reviews.
  5. Send a feedback form after each job.
  6. Quote customers on your site with permission.
  7. Change the counter sign to say you are on Yelp.

Step five is what replaces the requests. Feedback sent to the business reaches you first, gives you testimonials of your own, and asks nothing of Yelp's software.

Claiming a review page someone else started, and replying in a way the next reader respects, is the theme of a TripAdvisor page a traveller started for you.

Frequently asked questions

Why are my Yelp reviews not currently recommended?

Yelp's software holds back reviews it is less sure of, often those from new accounts, single-review accounts and people Yelp knows little about.

Do held-back reviews count toward my rating?

No. Reviews that are not currently recommended do not count toward the star rating or the review count shown at the top of the page.

Can I ask customers to review me on Yelp?

Yelp asks business owners not to, and its software is designed to notice the pattern that requests create, so requested reviews are often held back.

Can a held review become recommended later?

Yes. The software runs continuously, so a review can move into view if its writer becomes an active Yelp user, and a recommended one can move out.

What should I do instead of asking?

Claim the page, reply to reviews, send customers a feedback form of your own, and quote those who agree as testimonials on your website.

How should testimonials appear on my site?

With a first name, the type of job and the month, quoted accurately with permission, and with the original message kept on file in case anyone asks.

West Coast Media Solutions Inc. provides web design, web development, hosting, digital marketing, and business consulting to organisations across Canada, drawing on more than twenty-five years in the field.

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