If you’re wondering how to buy Yelp reviews, check out this guide first! We discuss everything you need to know, including the risks involved.
Money can buy many things, but it can’t buy you a good reputation… at least not on Yelp’s watch.
Can you buy Yelp reviews? You can find people selling them, but purchasing reviews violates Yelp’s rules and can seriously damage your reputation. The smarter approach is to earn genuine customer feedback and build a strong presence across the review sites that matter to your business.
That may seem like a shame at first glance. After all, wouldn’t things be simpler if you could pay for some positive reviews to appear on your company’s Yelp page or even give your regular customers discounts or free stuff in exchange for writing reviews? Those posts would get new people to come in, and they would be so impressed by your service that they would go home and write their own real reviews, right?
Unfortunately, it doesn’t work that way. Because while it’s possible that paying for a few Yelp reviews could go undiscovered, and the resulting reviews could help you improve your business, it’s much more likely that this strategy will cause massive and lasting damage to your reputation. There’s a better way to build trust and earn reviews from real customers, which we’ll get to in a moment. But first, a little more info…
Get Real Customer Reviews Without Buying Them
Buying reviews is a shortcut that can cost you customers’ trust. ReputationStacker gives businesses a better approach: automatically request honest feedback from real customers by email and text, with reminders that keep requests from slipping through the cracks. On average, ReputationStacker clients triple their reviews within three months.
Use automated review requests to collect genuine customer reviews on Google, Facebook, and other important review sites.
How Yelp Works
With no disrespect to Facebook or Angie’s List, Yelp just may be the most trusted of all review sites. Yelp’s trustworthiness is part of what makes it so popular. Millions of people use Yelp to research local businesses, which makes the authenticity of its reviews particularly important.
The site caters to consumers, and its staff recognizes that people won’t value reviews if they don’t know that they can trust them. That’s why Yelp has such strict policies around fake reviews, which include those written by business employees themselves and reviews that have been bought rather than earned.
The Secret Formula
The site uses a sophisticated algorithm to analyze the reviews posted and then filters out reviews it suspects of being fake, incentivized or in any way untruthful. The site errs on the side of caution, which is why a lot of actual, real reviews end up filtered out along with fake ones.
It uses a lot of different data points to identify which reviews are fake. But Yelp doesn’t share much about how the system works, which means you can’t easily fool it. Even paying people with active Yelp profiles to write reviews can put your business’s reputation at risk.
A Few Yelp Scenarios
So let’s say you decide to roll the dice and buy some Yelp reviews. The best-case scenario is that they’re posted to your Yelp page, and people see them. That’s unlikely, though.Yelp’s filters can prevent purchased reviews from appearing to customers at all. In that case, you’re out the money you spent buying those reviews and have nothing to show for it. And trust us; you’re lucky if that’s all that happens…
Because the alternative is worse. Yelp has a Consumer Alerts program that’s designed to let people know about a business’s shady dealings. If the system flags your page for false reviews, the site will post a large banner on your page informing all visitors that they don’t particularly trust you. The banner will stay in place for at least 90 days, meaning that potentially thousands of customers will see it and forever remember that you were at least suspected of trying to buy reviews.
Buying fake reviews can also run afoul of the Federal Trade Commission’s rule on consumer reviews and testimonials. It’s simply not worth the risk.
Why Yelp Works
If you were thinking about paying for Yelp reviews, all of that probably sounds like bad news. It’s really not, though. It’s just a reminder of the power of Yelp and why using it wisely can improve your online reputation.
People who use Yelp frequently know about the site’s devotion to only letting real reviews from real consumers post on its pages. That trust is exactly why it’s worth earning reviews the right way: provide a great customer experience, keep your Yelp profile up to date, and respond thoughtfully when customers post feedback.
Getting Good Reviews, the Right Way
The best way to earn trust on Yelp is to give customers a great experience and let them decide whether to leave a review.
But don’t put on blinders and focus solely on Yelp reviews. Yes, it’s an important review site, but so are Facebook, Google, TripAdvisor, and a number of industry-specific review sites. All of these sites together make up your entire online review profile, and they all get read by your potential customers, so it’s extremely important to focus on getting reviews on a variety of sites. Use an automated system like ReputationStacker to request authentic customer reviews on Google, Facebook, and other platforms that welcome review requests. Its email and text follow-ups make asking for reviews a consistent part of your customer experience.
Yelp discourages businesses from asking for reviews on its platform. Let Yelp users discover and review your business on their own, and focus your automated requests on Google, Facebook, and other review sites that allow them.
A consistent review-request process helps you earn authentic customer reviews without paying for fake ones. See how ReputationStacker’s automated review requests work.
Don’t Pay For Reviews; Earn Them Instead!
Though you may be wondering how to buy Yelp reviews, by now, you probably know that that isn’t the best idea for your business or your reputation as a business owner.
You can build trust on Yelp without purchasing or soliciting reviews: make your profile useful, deliver a great customer experience, and respond to the feedback customers choose to share.
We’ll go over a few of these ways in the following sections:
Make Customers Aware of Your Yelp Profile
It’s safe to say that the majority of your customers won’t go searching for your business on Yelp just to leave a review. Most customers simply won’t think about leaving a review, and others probably aren’t aware that you even have a Yelp page. So let them know! Yelp makes this easy by offering badges you can put on your website and in emails, as well as providing “Find Us On Yelp” stickers that you can put in your physical place of business.
Address Feedback – Respond to All Yelp Reviews
Responding to any current feedback on your Yelp page, no matter how little there may be, can show any visitors that your main concern is a quality product (or service) and happy customers!
Gaining Customer Trust
As we’ve discussed, customer trust plays a huge role in getting new Yelp reviews. If it’s positive reviews you’re after; you’re going to have to gain the trust of your customers. So, how do you do that? Besides being honest and not buying Yelp reviews, you can also be attentive to the needs and opinions of your customer base.
Addressing Negative Reviews
Negative reviews on your business’s Yelp page can actually be a good thing. Constructive criticism from previous customers can shed some light on your day-to-day business operations from an outside point of view.
While not always fun to hear, criticism gives you an opportunity to support your customers better and bring in visitors. On Yelp, you have the option to respond to any feedback you’re given. Take this as an opportunity to address any downfalls on your part and make them right with the customer.
A thoughtful response shows future customers that you take feedback seriously and work to make things right.
Consistency
You also want to be consistent. Customers expect products or services to be a certain way when they visit your business. Before you change the way your company operates or what you offer, consider if it will benefit and appeal to your customer base.
Staying open to the needs and wants of your customers will help generate more positive feedback on your Yelp page.
Buying Yelp Reviews: Frequently Asked Questions
Can you buy Yelp reviews?
You can find services selling Yelp reviews, but purchased reviews violate Yelp’s rules and put your reputation at risk. Fake-review schemes can also trigger FTC enforcement.
Can businesses ask customers for Yelp reviews?
Yelp discourages businesses from requesting reviews. Instead, keep your Yelp profile accurate, provide excellent service, and let customers choose to share their experiences.
What’s a better alternative to buying reviews?
Build a steady flow of authentic customer feedback. ReputationStacker automates review requests and follow-ups, while its review management tools help you organize customer feedback, respond to reviews, and understand what customers are saying.
The Final Word
Use your budget to improve your business and earn real customer reviews, not buy fake Yelp reviews. Paying for reviews (either with cash or by offering incentives to real customers) tends to backfire, thanks to Yelp’s sophisticated monitoring programs. Yelp filters suspicious reviews and can place a prominent Consumer Alert on businesses caught trying to manipulate reviews. You don’t need to take that risk. See how ReputationStacker helps you earn authentic customer reviews and manage your online reputation.
