The opinion of others, especially family and friends, is very important when making a decision. It’s just human nature. The same is true for consumers when searching for local businesses, products or services online. In fact, the importance of online reviews for consumers has been increasing over the past few years. According to the 2009 TMPDM/comScore Local Search Usage Study, 57 percent of consumers consider reviews important in their buying decisions, up from 52 percent in 2007.

Today, nearly all Internet Yellow Pages (IYP) sites and local search sites allow users to post reviews for local businesses, based on their experiences. An integrated IYP and social media site that is based on the value of consumer reviews, Yelp, has recently seen repercussions for such reviews. Just last week, Yelp was hit with a fraud lawsuit from a local business, claiming that Yelp salespeople were displaying bad reviews in an effort to get them to sign on for advertising, which would, in turn, remove the poor reviews.

“Mary Seaton, owner of a furniture store in San Mateo, took Yelp up on an offer to remove her negative reviews if she advertised at a cost of $350 per month for six months. During that time, her negative reviews were removed and positive ones showed up. After her contract expired, a negative review appeared, which Seaton said contained lies.”

This isn’t Yelp’s first time in the litigation spotlight; nearly a year ago, a similar allegation made by a local restaurant owner claimed Yelp offered to remove the poor reviews for a fee.

In my experience with Yelp, I’ve come to understand that its team monitors reviews for sabotage from competitors; however, it seems a long shot to assume that one of the fastest-growing consumer-usage sites was built based on fraudulent reviews. It would take a very extensive staff working around the clock to post continuous reviews of millions of local businesses. The logistics of this just don’t seem realistic. 

I agree with Greg Sterling when he says, “Like Google, Yelp is now a target because of its success and visibility. Some business owners are frustrated with Yelp because, again, like Google, positive or negative reviews can materially impact a business. The rampant proliferation of user-generated content and reviews is viewed by many SMBs as a positive thing but by others as a nuisance or even destructive.” 

Yelp saw a 202-percent growth in total monthly visitors from April 2008 to January 2010, according to comScore Media Metrix. At one time, the now most-trusted and -used search engine, Google, received the same flack for its rapidly growing usage and the impact it was making on businesses. This also seems to be the case for Yelp, as it continues to grow.