Can you remove Yelp reviews? What business owners can do
No, you can't remove Yelp reviews from your own business page. You can report a review, and Yelp's moderators remove it only if it clearly breaks Yelp's Content Guidelines. Yelp says it won't remove reviews just because they're critical, and it doesn't take sides in factual disputes.
What Yelp will remove
Yelp names three main reasons it removes a review:
| Reason | Examples Yelp gives |
|---|---|
| Conflict of interest | The reviewer appears to be a competitor or former employee, is connected to the business, was paid or rewarded, or is promoting a business |
| Not the reviewer's own experience | Someone else's experience, something they heard or saw on the news, a review mainly disputing another review, a review meant for a different business, or copied text. Reviews only about hours, offerings or policies can be removed too. |
| Inappropriate material | Hate speech, lewd comments, threats, or private information about staff or customers |
How to report a Yelp review
- Claim your free business page on Yelp, if you haven't. You may need it to report from a business account.
- Log in at biz.yelp.com and open the Reviews section.
- Find the review, select the three dots (More options) and choose "Report review".
- Explain which guideline you think it breaks, with any details that help moderators check.
- Moderators can take several days.
- Hover over the flag icon next to the review to see the status of your report.
- Yelp emails its decision to the address registered on your account.
- For a review you believe is defamatory and that moderators didn't remove, Yelp says it acts on a final court order.
Recommended and not recommended reviews
Separately from moderation, Yelp's automated recommendation software decides which reviews to show as recommended. Reviews it doesn't recommend are shown separately and are less visible. Yelp says reviews that seem to have been prompted by the business may not be recommended.
What to do instead
- Reply publicly and professionally from your Yelp business account. Thank them, address the complaint and keep it short.
- Offer to sort it out offline by direct message.
- Learn from fair criticism. Future customers read your replies as well as the review.
- Put your effort into Google reviews, which you are allowed to ask every customer for.
Sources
- Yelp for Business: When should I report a review?
- Yelp for Business: How do I report a review?
- Yelp for Business: How do we moderate content at Yelp?
- Yelp Support: Don't ask for reviews
- Yelp Support: Will Yelp remove a false or defamatory review?
Citing these figures? Please link to this page. If you spot a figure that's out of date, email hello@flexilocal.com.
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