It’s unfortunate that this happens. Even those on this very forum are guilty of doing this to their local competition. Sad.
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Gotta be careful with yelp anyway, they pulled off 2 great reviews from my profile. They use some algorithm which is supposed to detect fake reviews, at least that’s what they told me when I called about it.
I just took a look at the Yelp! page in question here. IMHO, I don’t think those reviews were fake (not most of them, anyway). Most of the reviewers who left negative reviews had a lot of reviews “under their belt”. A competitor would have to go through a lot of trouble to set up all of those accounts, and then make sure to use those accounts to leave reviews for a wide variety of other businesses first, and continue to use those accounts afterward for additional businesses.
The other possibility is that these reviewers were friends with a competitor. But I think that theory is a bit of a stretch. I have a lot of friends, and maybe a few of them would be willing to leave me a fake positive review to help my business (not something I would ever ask anyone to do, btw). But I don’t think any of them would be willing to smear my competitors with false reviews (then again, I have nicer friends than most).
I believe the main factor Yelp! uses in their algorithm is whether or not a particular account has been used to leave other reviews. Its a pretty accurate measure of whether or not a review has been “solicited”. Unfortunately, they will filter out reviews if you ask a customer for one, and they sign up for yelp just to leave you a review.
All this being said, I do believe that a lot of Yelp! reviewers tend to be on the judgmental and unreasonable side. There seems to be a growing culture of reviewers that expect miracles and are entitled to being treated like royalty. I’ve also seen a growing trend towards “4 stars is the best rating anyone can expect from me, because 5 stars represents some mythical level of service that is unreachably high” (especially when it comes to food service). I’ve read quite a few reviews that sound just like this:
“Perfect stop for that home cooked meal feeling everyone loves. Stopped by with girlfriend and kids. No complaints about service or wait time on food. Worth the money and thirty minute drive!” - [B]4 stars[/B]
Alex, I am going to leave all your competitors one star reviews. That’s just the kind of friend I am. Your welcome 
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From my experience yelp reviewers are not my target market. They try abs leverage the “power” they think they possess. I want clients that are busy professionals not yelpers as the yelp rep called them
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I have completely given up on yelp. Simply having a free account with them is good enough for the SEO exposure you will get from them.
I tend to read online reviews with a skeptical eye looking for either fakes or kooks. I have a review from a woman who isn’t in an area I service who says my site says I don’t service her area, she gave me 1 star, kook!
I also have a competitor who gives add on services for free in exchange for positive reviews.
As long as people are able to game the system, someone will.
the bad reviews all look to be written by the same person
http://m.ebay.com/itm/221352342862?nav=SEARCH&sbk=1
FYI
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Tell me about it, I have 12 reviews from real customers and they have all been “filtered”…really frustrating…
When I called about it some sales person went into hardcore sales mode trying to get me to advertise with them. Yeah right!
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lol, yah just underscores the fact that natural google ranking is where time is best spent.
