Yelp removes categories, not grievances
Yelp's moderators are not weighing whether a review was fair. They are checking whether it lands in one of a small number of published categories, and a report that does not name one of those is a report that goes nowhere however strongly it is worded.
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What Yelp is actually deciding
Four points from Yelp's own moderation and review policy pages. The third is the one that separates a successful report from a wasted one.
A review comes down when it clearly violates the Content Guidelines, and not otherwise.
The question a moderator asks is which guideline, so that is the question your report has to answer in the first line.
Conflict of interest covers current and former employees, competitors and peers, and friends or family of the owner.
It is the broadest and most winnable category, and the one owners most often describe vaguely instead of evidencing.
Mere suspicion is usually not enough. It has to be clear to a moderator, which means specific evidence.
A screenshot, a name, a date, an employment record. A paragraph beginning we are fairly sure is not a report, it is a feeling.
Yelp says it does not typically take sides in factual disputes and generally lets users stand behind their reviews.
So the review that describes an event differently from your records is not a removal case. It is a reply case.
Building a report Yelp can act on
The work is in step two. Steps three and four take a minute each.
Match the review to a published category
Conflict of interest, threatening or lewd content, private information about an employee or a customer, or a post about hours and policies rather than an experience. If none fits, stop here.
Gather the evidence before you open the form
For a conflict of interest that means the connection, spelled out: the account name and the former employee it belongs to, the competing business, the family relationship. Specific evidence is what Yelp asks for.
Report the review from your business account
Open Reviews in the business account, find the review and report it, giving the category and the evidence together rather than a general complaint.
Expect a category decision, not a judgement on fairness
Reporting a questionable review does not guarantee removal. The moderator is checking a rule, not adjudicating your Saturday.
Reply publicly while you wait
A public comment is visible to everyone on your page and stays useful whether or not the report succeeds, which is more than can be said for the report.
The two lists Yelp publishes
What Yelp says it removes
- Reviews posted by someone with a conflict of interest, including current or former employees, competitors or peers, and friends or family of the owner.
- Hate speech, lewd commentary and threatening language.
- Private information about employees or customers.
- Posts that speak only to hours, offerings or policies, which Yelp does not treat as a review at all.
What Yelp says it will not remove
- A critical review that does not clearly violate the Content Guidelines.
- A review whose account of events differs from yours, because Yelp does not typically take sides in factual disputes.
- A review you suspect came from a competitor but cannot evidence, because suspicion is usually not enough.
- A review you find offensive, since Yelp allows a wide range of perspectives.
What GetSetReply does not sell you
GetSetReply does not remove Yelp reviews. What Yelp publishes is a reporting form you can use yourself, and a public comment box that in our view does more good than the form.
- We do not file Yelp reports, and we do not offer removal as a service or as an add-on.
- Yelp reviews arrive in your queue with a public comment drafted for you to check and post.
- Nothing is published on your behalf, and no review is removed on your behalf.
Two related pages
One covers the Yelp connection. The other is the wording for the review most people arrive at this page holding.
Yelp is one of the places we watch
Every platform below lands in the same queue, so a Yelp review and a review from anywhere else are read, drafted and answered in one place.
- Yelp
- TripAdvisor
- DoorDash
- Trustpilot
- Etsy
- Square
Yelp removal questions
Answered from Yelp's published review policies, cited with a date below.
Will Yelp remove a bad review if I report it?
Only if it clearly violates the Content Guidelines. Reporting a review you consider questionable does not guarantee removal.
What is a conflict of interest review?
Yelp names reviews from current or former employees, from competitors or peers, and from friends or family of the business owner. It is the category most reports should be aimed at.
Is it enough to say I think a competitor wrote it?
No. Yelp says it has to be clear to its moderators that there is a conflict of interest, so provide specific evidence rather than a suspicion.
The review describes something that never happened. Will Yelp take it down?
Usually not. Yelp says it does not typically take sides in factual disputes and generally allows users to stand behind their reviews. The remedy there is a public comment.
Can I pay anyone to remove a Yelp review?
Treat any offer to do so as a warning sign. Nobody outside Yelp can take a review down, and while the FTC's consumer reviews rule does not itself cover paying a customer to withdraw a truthful negative one, the FTC says doing that may be an unfair or deceptive practice under the FTC Act.
Where the Yelp removal facts came from
Yelp's own review policy pages for business owners, plus the federal Q and A behind the answer about paying, all read on the date shown.
When the report fails
Say something better than nothing
Connect the page and the review that stayed up arrives with a public comment already drafted for you.