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Yelp craters 30% as advertisers abandon the site

cnbc.com

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Re: Yelp craters 30% as advertisers abandon the site

#71

Post by ghaff »

dragonwriter wrote: post #45
njarboe wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

FYI, Zagat's parent company is Google/Alphabet.

> FYI, Zagat's parent company is Google/Alphabet. No, it's not. Google sold Zagat in March to The Infatuation.

I forgot about that! I've been using Zagat since back in the day when you filled out a form for some city you were familiar with and they sent you a free restaurant guidebook for that city in exchange. I still think they're the best guide (except possibly for the local newspaper site) for people who have a somewhat foodie orientation. But they only cover a relatively small number of US cities.

Re: Yelp craters 30% as advertisers abandon the site

#72

Post by jack_pp »

tjr225 wrote: post #68
rwbt wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This might not be helpful, but I decided to rely on serendipity. Sometimes I feel like we think too much about finding the best of the 'best' and we rely on expert opinions of the crowd instead of taking a chance ourselves and trying out new things.

It is helpful, this just might not be the most receptive crowd. I agree with you 100% fwiw.

You might be surprised, I too agree

Re: Yelp craters 30% as advertisers abandon the site

#73

Post by ChuckMcM »

mlrtime wrote: post #9

I don't have any sympathy for a site that purposely cripples the web mobile site to force you to install their app. They lock you out of pictures after around 20 so you have to go to desktop or install their crappy app. Yelp will not be missed.

I don't disagree, what I wonder about is how management sees this as a better alternative than serving their customers. I expect it is a "damned if you do damned if you don't" type situation.

They are at a tremendous disadvantage as a 'web' experience because you're getting there through Google, Facebook, or Bing rather than landing directly on their page so they have already paid that platform to put you in front. The App means they have full control over the experience and can charge restaurants directly to move them around in the search results (more revenue).

So at some point I presume the go full "Yellow Pages" and just charge venues a monthly fee to appear at all in their pages. That works if they are generating significant foot traffic into the venue but fails if they can't connect the app/website use with the visit.

All in all I don't see how they can make a business here.

Re: Yelp craters 30% as advertisers abandon the site

#74

Post by thx11389793 »

rwbt wrote: post #49
faitswulff wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What do you use instead?

This might not be helpful, but I decided to rely on serendipity. Sometimes I feel like we think too much about finding the best of the 'best' and we rely on expert opinions of the crowd instead of taking a chance ourselves and trying out new things.

my personal method when out and about is "ask a stranger," with using my hand computer as a backup. i delight in answering these questions as well, so i'm inclined to believe people generally don't mind.

Re: Yelp craters 30% as advertisers abandon the site

#75

Post by ilikehurdles »

faitswulff wrote: post #17
mlrtime wrote: post #9

I don't have any sympathy for a site that purposely cripples the web mobile site to force you to install their app. They lock you out of pictures after around 20 so you have to go to desktop or install their crappy app. Yelp will not be missed.

What do you use instead?

Not the OP, and I find that yelp is in a better league than the competition (google, tripadvisor), but I tend to look on Eater.

Re: Yelp craters 30% as advertisers abandon the site

#76

Post by ilikehurdles »

pbhjpbhj wrote: post #52
5874-4b22-a4e0 wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Seems a lot of reviews are hidden. Suspect they hide good reviews unless the owner pays to be an advertiser.

I understood they do NOT hide reviews unless you pay; so if you get bad reviews you can sign up and hide them. But perhaps they do the other thing that you suggest too.

They don't do either of these things. There are some anecdotes online but no evidence of this happening.

Re: Yelp craters 30% as advertisers abandon the site

#77

Post by nasalgoat »

vinceguidry wrote: post #36
nasalgoat wrote: post #6

If your business model is essentially extortion, you have to wonder about long-term viability.

The actual mob still seems to be doing well.

They have a diverse portfolio of crimes to work with. Always something new!

Re: Yelp craters 30% as advertisers abandon the site

#79

Post by kjeetgill »

Upvoter33 wrote: post #37

In 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.

Seriously, and at the very least it's a good census of what's in the immediate area. I can't even search on Google without it recommending me places 4 miles apart from each other. I'm sure Google will get there but its immaturity is palpable.

Maybe I just like it because I never read reviews. Like YouTube, comments are poison to otherwise good content. People suck.

Re: Yelp craters 30% as advertisers abandon the site

#80

Post by ilikehurdles »

closetohome wrote: post #54
SnowingXIV wrote: post #15

Yelp is incredibly annoying as a business owner. After signing up to setup basic NAP consistency, they will automatically flag it as some sort of tag often incorrectly and then continue to call and email you asking to spend advertising dollars on their site for months. Even after asking them to no longer do so. I'm glad google reviews and others have taken their place.

I set up my business profile pretty thoroughly, and only ended up getting one or two sales calls and a couple of emails that I unsubscribed from. Maybe they hard-sell other business types more, but I didn't really get much. I did end up helping the restaurant down the block when they got scammed by a service claiming to be Yelp, that actually took over their profile and was making them pay to make changes to it. I th…

>I did end up helping the restaurant down the block when they got scammed by a service claiming to be Yelp, that actually took over their profile and was making them pay to make changes to it. I think a lot of supposed "Yelp scammed me" stories are actually that - third parties.

Yep. I suspect this too. It's the same thing that happens with spammy SEO services that effectively threaten to hurt your search rank unless you pay up.

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