Does anyone else find that their best restaurant experiences come from places that only show up on a yelp search several pages down (if at all)? A number of years ago I stopped using yelp to find places to eat in my hometown because I found that the app completely overlooked smaller, locally run places for big name places near tourist hot spots.
Yelp craters 30% as advertisers abandon the site
31–40 of 464 posts
Re: Yelp craters 30% as advertisers abandon the site
#32Earlier quoted context omitted.
The problem I have with yelp is really the central idea of it. Who said random people are good at reviewing restaurants? Everyone's meaning of good is different, everyone's expectation for everything is on different scales with different meanings. Consolidating it all into a simple interface doesn't work. I really want two different services, one for finding something I'll be very happy with and may return to (usuall…
There are people that are influential on yelp. I know people that get preferential treatment by the owners of higher end restaurants because their rating carries so much weight. It's pretty interesting. Tagging along with one guy we got to skip lines at special events, no wait times. The chef and owner would see him and greet him.
It seems kind of like frequent flier miles for eating out. I know a dedicated yelper who gets all kinds of perks and special treatment, but she has to write a lot of reviews to maintain her status. Which I guess is OK if (like air travel) your meal is a business expense.
Re: Yelp craters 30% as advertisers abandon the site
#33Great news! I run a local service company and stopped advertising with Yelp several months ago. No transparency how clicks go to $12 when they used to be $5. That's not even a click to your site, just your Yelp profile still on their site!
On top of it, my 5 star reviews keep getting filtered, even ones that have shown for months. Meanwhile two recent 1-star reviews we got with people from brand new accounts still show just fine.
GOOD RIDDANCE, hope they go BK. They deserve it.
Re: Yelp craters 30% as advertisers abandon the site
#34I abandoned Yelp as a user pretty quick as it was just too much to filter through so many reviews by people who 1) Had some one off bad experience that is probably not representative of anything. 2) Wished that place they reviewed was like some other place that is kinda the same but ... it's twice the price so why are you comparing?
I think the trick is to not focus on how many stars a place has, but the number of reviews it has, especially when visiting a new place.
Re: Yelp craters 30% as advertisers abandon the site
#35Earlier quoted context omitted.
What do you use instead?
Google maps reviews is just as good if not better in some ways IMO. That's what I use as an alternative.
This is really really not true. I did a local comparison any Google map reviews were REALLY REALLY bad whereas Yelp knew what the good restaurants were. Not even close, at least in my area.
Re: Yelp craters 30% as advertisers abandon the site
#36If your business model is essentially extortion, you have to wonder about long-term viability.
The actual mob still seems to be doing well.
Re: Yelp craters 30% as advertisers abandon the site
#37In contrast to many posters here, I really like Yelp (as a user, at least, never been a restaurant owner). I sort by number of reviews and find places that are highly rated (4 stars or so) and almost always this has worked well. Other services I've tried are not nearly as easy to use or reliable.
Re: Yelp craters 30% as advertisers abandon the site
#38Re: Yelp craters 30% as advertisers abandon the site
#39I abandoned Yelp as a user pretty quick as it was just too much to filter through so many reviews by people who 1) Had some one off bad experience that is probably not representative of anything. 2) Wished that place they reviewed was like some other place that is kinda the same but ... it's twice the price so why are you comparing?
I absolutely loathe yelp reviews. Far too many people trying to act like professional reviewers spending 500 words on setting the scene of the restaurant only to end up on 2/5 stars because of something ridiculous like bad lighting. This is all within given context, but there's been so many reviews for smaller divey type places that get people slamming it over stuff only to end up with a single line of "food wasn't bad though".
Re: Yelp craters 30% as advertisers abandon the site
#40Earlier quoted context omitted.
The problem I have with yelp is really the central idea of it. Who said random people are good at reviewing restaurants? Everyone's meaning of good is different, everyone's expectation for everything is on different scales with different meanings. Consolidating it all into a simple interface doesn't work. I really want two different services, one for finding something I'll be very happy with and may return to (usuall…
There are people that are influential on yelp. I know people that get preferential treatment by the owners of higher end restaurants because their rating carries so much weight. It's pretty interesting. Tagging along with one guy we got to skip lines at special events, no wait times. The chef and owner would see him and greet him.
There's a fantastic South Park episode about this very thing.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CsXZ5htogKg (episode preview - safe for work)
https://vimeo.com/209623455 (short clip -- NSFW)