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Yelp’s Six-Year Conflict with Google

nytimes.com

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Re: Yelp’s Six-Year Conflict with Google

#151

Post by edoceo »

wbillingsley wrote: post #143
criddell wrote: post #107

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're describing me and it pretty much comes down to trust. I trust Google a lot more than I ever trusted Microsoft back when they were the bully.

Which seems foolish. Microsoft just dictated the format your save file was in. Google ensures that by default most users never have their own data to load into another product at all. You seem to trust them because they have their hands around your throat rather than just your wrist.

Google Takeout let's you grab your data from their systems, easy. Import is another story

Re: Yelp’s Six-Year Conflict with Google

#152

Post by dang »

kefka wrote: post #138
mhermher wrote: post #137

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is doxxing. Stop. This should be removed.

Doxxing? Not hardly. I typed in someone's username with "yelp" into google. Any hiring manager does that with prospective employees - why is it now verboten (and doxxing) to do with with usernames? No matter. I do believe his real name was probably unjustified. So I did redact his real name on all my posts. But I know it's available with that photo on Google's first page results. Still, it DOES NOT change that an eng…

Bringing in someone's personal details to use against them as ammunition in an argument may or may not be 'doxxing' but it's a shockingly bad thing to do on HN, clearly a violation of the guidelines and a bannable offence. We won't ban you this time, but please don't do it again.

Re: Yelp’s Six-Year Conflict with Google

#153

Post by oh_sigh »

ekianjo wrote: post #119
tuxracer wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> nobody if forced (except for perhaps android users) to use Chrome Unlike iOS you can install different browsers on Android directly from the Play Store. These can actually be different browsers with their own rendering engines not just alternative UIs on top of Chrome. Firefox on Android for example uses the actual Firefox rendering engine, not Chrome.

You can, but by default you get Chrome, which is about the same thing people were fighting Microsoft over in the Netscape-IE days, but this time on Android.

The difference being that Apple has a huge percentage of the market share and Android isn't the only game in town.

Re: Yelp’s Six-Year Conflict with Google

#154

Post by nradov »

putlake wrote: post #101
nradov wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Web publishers have gotten lazy. Instead of becoming more dependant on Google and then complaining about being marginalized they should put more effort into marketing directly to their target audience and finding non-advertising revenue models.

Even when publishers have a good brand, it doesn't change user behavior. How often do users directly go to Wikipedia to look something up? Google search is integrated into Chrome, Android, Google Home. Google is a monopoly. Yes, publishers should find non-advertising revenue models. Yes, they should find non-Google sources of traffic. But that's blaming the victim. The fact is that Google has started stealing more an…

Content isn't stolen when it's given voluntarily. Websites can block the Google crawler, or remove their pages from the search index.

Re: Yelp’s Six-Year Conflict with Google

#155

Post by themacguffinman »

annexrichmond wrote: post #89
mrunkel wrote: post #13

I find all this hand wringing over Google to be so tiring. Google is doing what is best for it's customers. Be that advertisers and/or searchers. If they stop doing that, they'll lose their market dominance. Last I checked, nobody is forced to use google to search for things, nobody if forced (except for perhaps android users) to use Chrome. I'm not a laissez-faire capitalist by any means, but I don't see that Google…

> Google is doing what is best for it's customers except it has been shown that the organic search results rank Yelp listings higher than Google's Local listings thus they are, in fact, displaying worse results at the top. Unless you believe Google's search product sucks I think this proves they aren't doing what's best for customers at all, they are doing what's best for them. Keep in mind they are trying to develop…

Except if you look at the screenshot in Stoppelman's tweet, it's clear that Google's Local listings are displayed as advertisements. The Local section is unambiguously tagged as "Sponsored". Yelp and Local rankings aren't comparable.

Unless you think Google shouldn't be allowed to run their own advertising systems?

Re: Yelp’s Six-Year Conflict with Google

#156

Post by themacguffinman »

redm wrote: post #9

"Mr. Stoppelman feels he has no choice. Like a lot of small internet companies, Yelp lives in a world where one company, Google, accounts for an outsize share of its business, and could destroy it at any time." That sums it up for Yelp and many others, myself included. Combine that reality with the black box that Google is, in many ways, and you have an inaccessible behemoth who's decisions decide the fate of many. G…

> Mr. Stoppelman feels he has no choice. Like a lot of small internet companies, Yelp lives in a world where one company, Google, accounts for an outsize share of its business, and could destroy it at any time.

The same could be said of Yelp:

"Mr. Restaurant Owner feels he has no choice. Like a lot of small restaurants, he lives in a world where one company, Yelp, accounts for an outsize share of its business, and could destroy it at any time."

Google's power in the consumer market is merely commensurate to the market value they create, just like Yelp.

Re: Yelp’s Six-Year Conflict with Google

#157

Post by benchaney »

kuschku wrote: post #125
benchaney wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The opposite is actually true. If you are being slandered on yelp you cannot just choose for it to end. On the other hand you can use another search engine or advertising firm without any problems.

If Google removed my page from its results, or penalizes it, how do I get the same users to see my website again? I mean, that’s what you’re saying. I can get the same users to see my site when they search for it without having to rely on Google.

That is not what I'm saying. I'm saying you can get users to see your site without having to rely on Google. There is no reason to expect that you would be able to get the same users.

Re: Yelp’s Six-Year Conflict with Google

#159

Post by gscott »

rb666 wrote: post #115
the_mitsuhiko wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Google Search for a start. Youtube is effectively standing alone in the space. Google Maps is completely dominating the space (in particular there is nothing that replaces the Earth product or the parts of Earth in maps). Gmail is taking over the world over here. Most local mail solutions are irrelevant at this point and the only real alternative to gmail even intentionally is outlook now. Chrome effectively took out…

Fastmail is actually an amazing alternative over Gmail. Have been using it for half a year now and will never go back. I use my own domain with it, so even if Fastmail disappears, I am still in control.

You are... until gmail decides not to accept mail from your mailserver.

Re: Yelp’s Six-Year Conflict with Google

#160

Post by anindha »

criddell wrote: post #111
timr wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Ah the irony. Yelp is the same website that bullied small businesses to pay for positive reviews" No, Yelp is accused of this. Nobody has ever shown it to be true. (I can also tell you, as someone who worked there, that it definitely is not true, but you don't have to take my word for it. You just have to not confuse accusations with facts.)

I came here looking for claims like these. It always has baffled me the number of first hand accounts of Yelp salesperson shenanigans with no documented examples. What do you think is the root of the accusations? Do yelp salespeople promise things they can't deliver?

I know of one cafe owner that had legitimate 5 star reviews removed. They were returned after the bad press.
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