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businesses pay for different sorting of review?

Category: Site Questions & Updates

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Photo of vlad k.

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8/14/2007 vlad k. says:

i was talking to a friend the other day and they told me that if a business pays http://yelp.com some $$, then yelp will sort the reviews for that business w/ the better reviews on top.  i'm hoping this isn't true, right?!

*v
Photo of Selino V.

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8/14/2007 Selino V. says:

money IS the truth
Photo of Sharon J.

Elite '09

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8/14/2007 Sharon "ask me about AVON" J. says:

If yelp didn't make money, then there would be no yelp. I say let the business pay whatever they'd like. If it's a crappy place, all the sorting in the world won't make it on top.
Photo of vlad k.

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8/14/2007 vlad k. says:

hmmmm.  i don't know if i agree with that.  it would be one thing if the users knew that this behind the scenes sorting was going on... but if it's done secretly, it seems kind of shady.
Photo of Omid T.

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8/14/2007 Omid "The Rock, Skipper, Urban Zen Master" T. says:

It is not true.

There is an algorithm of what shows up first - I don't know what it is, but it's something along the lines of  newest reviews, most U/F/C'ed reviews, then old ones without votes in chronological order.
Photo of Amanda C.

Elite '09

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8/14/2007 Amanda "San Francisco was founded by a goat" C. says:

Go to Notorious for Hair and it says "Notorious for Hair thanks SO AND SO for this review" and it puts a really positive review on top. It's the only one I remember seeing but I know others do it as well. I don't think it sorts the rest of them but I think it allows them to pick which review is shown first.
Photo of Brian B.

Elite '09

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542

8/14/2007 Brian "A 'Space Cowboy' but rarely a 'Gangster of Love'" B. says:

it means that notorious for hair is a sponsor and can select a review to put on top. i think this is fine. you can still go in and sort the reviews for that establishment any way you want.

to echo what someone else said, yelp wants to make money. it can't ALL be about blowing through $16 million so jt f can collect mental images for showertime at the elite events.
Photo of vlad k.

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8/14/2007 vlad k. says:

oh, ok.  if it's just a question of pushing one review to the top and it's clearly labeled that this review is put there because it is sponsored, i do think that's totally fine.  what i had been told was that *all* reviews are sorted differently, with no mention of why... that would be wrong.
Photo of Bonnie M.

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8/14/2007 Bonnie M. says:

http://www.yelp.com/bi...

They used to THANK me for my review but they've moved on. It's probably the closest I'll ever get to ROTD.

I remember reading an article about yelp (I think it was http://sfgate.com) and that businesses can pay but they'll be identified as a sponsored business, get to choose the first review that pops up, and also can add pics or an intro at the very top.

I really don't think it's a very big deal.
Photo of Neil K.

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8/15/2007 Neil "what does it take to get a drink in this place" K. says:

Absolutely, untrue - we do not change the ordering of all reviews for a business, advertiser or not. How do I know? I wrote the code the orders the review on our business pages. :)  For advertisers, we do allow them to call out a specific review (it changes from time to time to keep the page fresh), but its in a labeled box. There is no sorting changes to the rest of the reviews, and there is no removal of reviews unless they violate the TOS, for which the same rules apply to both advertisers and regular businesses.

Hope that helps!
-Neil (Yelp Developer)
Photo of vlad k.

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8/15/2007 vlad k. says:

thanks neil, that's really good to know! :)
Photo of Eddie H.

Elite '09

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8/15/2007 Eddie H. says:

you can always sort the reviews yourself by relevance and date... no big deal
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12/3/2007

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Photo of phil h.

Elite '09

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829

12/3/2007 phil h. says:

If a person only writes one review the review will eventually disappear from the business listing but will stay on the Yelper's personal page.  It's a way to weed out the 'one hit wonders' and/or fake reviews.
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12/3/2007

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Photo of Fallopian Swim Team D.

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12/3/2007 Fallopian Swim Team D. says:

"I wrote the code the orders the review on our business pages. :) "

Scary.
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12/3/2007

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12/4/2007

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12/4/2007

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