How Long Does It Take To Remove A Yelp Review

If you have always wondered whether you tin remove Yelp reviews, the reply is yes! Faux and negative Yelp reviews can crusade irreparable impairment to a business concern's reputation. Even 1 less-than-stellar online review can carry serious consequences for a business concern's lesser line and power to stay open.

If your business has been the target of a faux or negative Yelp review, in that location are things you can do to permanently remove them and restore your online reputation. We recommend the following steps to remove unwanted Yelp reviews:

If yous know the customer and believe you can resolve the issue with stellar customer service, contact them via telephone to attempt to resolve the effect. Practice non respond to the review online straight.
Determine whether the review violates Yelp'southward Terms of Service and Content Guidelines. If there is a violation, you can flag and report the content to Yelp through your business organization Yelp account, and asking that they remove the review.
If appropriate, pursue more than aggressive legal strategies to remove the Yelp review, including, but not limited to, sending a settlement need, sending a cease and desist alphabetic character, or initiating litigation to obtain a court club to remove content.

At Minc Law, we regularly help clients navigate the challenges acquired by negative Yelp reviews. We accept extensive feel helping companies remove or reply to fake, negative, and defamatory reviews.

In this article, I will discuss the benefits of removing faux and negative Yelp reviews, how to do it, and how long the process takes.

When to Remove a Yelp Review

If your concern receives a negative Yelp review, information technology is imperative that you act quickly. The longer you wait to respond to the state of affairs, the more damage the online review tin crusade. But it is important to know that how you respond is as every bit important as when you answer.

Below, we take a closer look at your options for responding and what best practices are to remove negative reviews from Yelp.

In What Circumstances Can a Business organisation Remove Bad Yelp Reviews?

There are two primary ways to go a review removed:

The customer that posted the review can remove information technology, or
Yelp can remove the review.

If you are familiar with the customer that posted the review, you may try giving them a call. Do not respond directly to the review on Yelp, because that may depict more attention to the negative review. Typically, with a footling customer service, you lot may be able to satisfy the customer'south concerns and they might voluntarily remove the review before whatsoever of this is necessary.

Merely, if you are dealing with a particularly contentious customer reaching out to them could backlash. Some customers return to Yelp to get out fifty-fifty more defamatory and negative reviews, making the situation even worse.

Sometimes, contacting Yelp may be the nigh efficient method to remove the review. Yelp acts as the gatekeeper and you will need to provide them with a sufficient reason to remove the bad review. Not only practise business owners accept to comply with Yelp'southward rules, but consumers also must follow specific guidelines besides.

In Yelp's Terms of Service (TOS), they specifically state, "We reserve the right to remove, screen, edit, or reinstate User Content at our sole discretion for any reason or no reason, and without detect to y'all. For instance, we may remove a review if we believe information technology violates our Content Guidelines."

Their TOS also lists several reasons why reviews might violate their rules and result in removal. Namely, reviews cannot violate content guidelines, defame a business, nowadays false information (fake Yelp reviews), violate third political party rights, or threaten others.

Bank check to Meet if the Review Violates Yelp's Content Guidelines

Yelp's Content Guidelines delineate Yelp'southward expectations when it comes to reviews (and the types of reviews that may exist bailiwick to removal). Yelp recognizes that consumers and business organisation owners may non always agree, merely they wait a sure modicum of honesty and respect.

Yelp will remove reviews that violate their content guidelines, so it helps to know their rules. When it comes to removing negative reviews, these are some of Yelp'southward most pregnant content guidelines:

Inappropriate content. Yelp considers threats, online harassment, and hate speech inappropriate. If you spot a negative review with this type of language, you should flag the review.
Privacy. A review should non include photos of other customers (unless they have given permission) and should non list anyone'due south full name.
Personal experience. Reviews should exist written only about firsthand experience, not something that was "heard" from a third-party.
Demanding payment. Yelp should not be used for extortion. Reviews that threaten a business as a way to excerpt payment is a serious violation of Yelp's content guidelines.

When dealing with review websites like Yelp it is particularly important to sympathize their rules, because every user (whether a customer or business owner) must play by the platform'southward rules.

When nosotros contact any review site or review platform regarding negative content, we are careful to apply their language (when possible), peculiarly if we are reporting TOS violations. Doing so increases the gamble that the review site will thoroughly review the request and potentially remove the unwanted review.

How Can a Business Owner Tell When a Yelp Review is Defamatory?

A bad review (or any statement for that thing) may be considered defamatory if it communicates false facts that harm the reputation of another.

In most any defamation instance, a plaintiff must by and large prove that:

There is a imitation statement purporting to exist fact;
The false defamatory argument was published by the defendant;
The statement is of and concerning the plaintiff;
The defendant was negligent in publishing the statement (or the defendant acted with actual malice or reckless disregard if the plaintiff is a public figure);
The plaintiff suffered reputational and/or economic damages as a event of the publication.

You lot should consider whether a reviewer may have any legal defenses to a defamation merits. For reviews, the legal defenses that frequently come up into play are the defense of stance and the substantial truth doctrine.

An stance is a statement that cannot be verified as either factual or false (e.m., "I take loftier standards and I believe their cashier was rude."). The substantial truth doctrine applies if the review is true, even if in that location may be minor inaccuracies.

Say a customer leaves a legitimate review, but they mistakenly say they visited your business organization at 2:30 p.m. when they were actually served at 3:00 p.m. This blazon of review would probable be covered past the defense of truth.

Reviews tin also be defamatory if they are fake. A review is fake if it is written by someone who was never a customer or conveys a client feel in their review that did not happen. Below, nosotros explicate how businesses tin can better spot fake Yelp reviews.

How Can Businesses Spot Fake Reviews on Yelp?

If you deal with a high volume of customers and are unsure whether a Yelp review is faux or legitimate, at that place are certain red flags that indicate yous are dealing with a fake review.

First, we recommend comparing the username and declared customer experience with your business organization records. If you cannot match the review to an actual customer or complaint, this is an indicator that the review could be fake.

You tin also spot faux reviews past:

Analyzing the user'south contour and activity,
Language they use, and the
Timing of their reviews.

Accounts that are new and appear to have been created for the sole purpose of creating a negative review about your business may simulated. The employ of fake satirical usernames should likewise enhance suspicion.

If you discover a pattern apropos the timing of reviews, that may also be a ruddy flag yous are dealing with imitation reviews. For case, a Yelp reviewer that publishes batches of bad reviews on multiple review websites all at once should arouse suspicion.

Some other red flag is if y'all see several bad reviews posted around the aforementioned time on the same business concern profile. Some individuals try posting multiple bad reviews under dissimilar usernames, so similar posts fabricated within a matter of minutes or days could signal a fake review.

Online Reputation Management Tip: It is wise to monitor your business's online reputation to that you can respond to negative reviews promptly. Some means to monitor your online reputation include (1) creating a Google Alert to monitor mentions of your business, (two) claiming all online business profiles, (iii) reviewing your social media accounts for damaging content, and (4) purchasing verbal match domains.

When Will Yelp Remove a Review For Violating Content Guidelines?

Removing a review for TOS violations is completely inside Yelp's discretion. Technically, Yelp tin can remove a review even if it does non violate one of their guidelines. On the other hand, Yelp may elect non to remove a bad review even if it does violate their guidelines.

The California Supreme Court antiseptic Yelp's right to turn down to remove a review in Hassell v. Bird, 5 Cal. 5th 522. To summarize the case, the plaintiff, Dawn Hassell, was an attorney that briefly represented the defendant, Ava Bird in a personal injury case. After some communication difficulties, Hassell terminated the representation and notified Bird of her decision.

Several months later, Bird posted a lengthy defamatory statement on Hassell Police force Group'south Yelp page. Hassell reached out to Bird, requesting that she edit or remove the review. Presently thereafter, Bird posted another defamatory review on Yelp under a different username. Hassell determined Bird was backside the second review too and responded by filing suit.

The Court determined that the statements were defamatory and ordered Bird to delete the reviews and ordered that she was prohibited from posting any boosted reviews about Hassell Law Group in the futurity. However, later several unsuccessful attempts to serve Bird with the order and remove the reviews, Hassell resorted to contacting Yelp and requesting that they remove Bird's defamatory review instead.

Yelp was served with copies of the court order and asked to remove the defamatory reviews fabricated by Bird (under two different bearding accounts). When Yelp refused to remove the reviews, they were held in antipathy of court. Yelp appealed, taking the case to the California Supreme Court.

The Supreme Court of California rejected Hassell'south arguments, determining that Yelp was immune from liability under Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act. Specifically, Yelp was not the publisher or speaker who created the defamatory reviews, so they had no obligation to comply with the courtroom order against Bird.

While the outcome was unfortunate for Hassell, not all cases end badly. The lesson learned in Hassell v. Bird is that Yelp does not similar to be treated as an antagonist or compelled to take action.

However, in our experience, that should not discourage business owners from filing lawsuits to get defamatory content removed. More often than not, if a business organization gets a court lodge showing content on Yelp is defamatory and a violation of its TOS, Yelp is usually amusing to removing the negative review voluntarily. If you accept a stiff instance and approach Yelp respectfully, they will reply. Many times the person who wrote the review will respond as well.

Reports of copyright infringement, privacy violations (ex. publication of private facts, fake light), and conflicts of interest are taken far more seriously than many other claims by businesses to remove bad yelp reviews. Yelp has also published the following commodity, "When Should I Written report a Review" that is worth reading on the bailiwick.

Benefits of Removing Bad Yelp Reviews

Removing negative Yelp reviews can benefit your business concern'due south conversion rate, growth, and online reputation. You do not take to take our discussion for it though, considering there is plenty of data to support why a business organization should cultivate positive reviews and remove negative ones.

Beneath, we take a look at some relevant statistics that highlight the importance of online reviews for businesses.

Increment Conversion Rates

Including customer reviews on a business organization website can increment conversion rates up to 270% and customers who read positive reviews spend 31% more on a business concern'southward products, on average.

On the other mitt, four out of five consumers changed their minds about a purchase after reading negative online reviews.

Propel Business organization Growth & Longevity

A one-star increment in your business organisation's Yelp page tin lead to a 5-nine% increase in revenue. Businesses can likewise lose upwardly to 22% of potential customers when a single negative review is found online. That loss of customers can spring to nearly 66% if iii or more negative articles are discovered.

In the employment context, 84% of task seekers emphasize that a company'due south online reputation influenced their job choice, while businesses with a negative online reputation spend on average 10% more per hire.

Eternalize Your Business'due south Online Reputation

Your business'southward online reputation matters more than than traditional advertising. In fact, an estimated 75% of consumers practice not trust traditional advertising practices (they are much more probable to trust online reviews). Moreover, online reviews impact the purchasing decisions of 67.vii% of consumers.

In addition to helping your business organization grow, removing negative reviews can also prevent a "monkey run into, monkey do" situation. For ameliorate or worse, consumers tend to follow patterns. People are more prone to post bad reviews if they see others posting bad reviews.

Steps to Submit a Asking to Yelp to Remove a Review

Before taking any steps towards removing a negative or fake Yelp review, y'all need to preserve evidence of the review. We recommend taking several clear screenshots that show all pertinent details of the review (the username, engagement of the review, and the review itself).

If yous have to take legal action, information technology is very of import that you accept evidence of the original negative or imitation review.

Once you have preserved evidence, you can review Yelp's Terms of Service to encounter if the review violates any of their content guidelines. If the review clearly violates any of Yelp's rules, you can report the review.

To study and remove a negative or false Yelp review, you will demand to:

Claim your concern page at biz.yelp.com;
Locate the review you wanted removed in the "Reviews" section of your Yelp business account; and
Select the three dots (the "More Options" button) and click "Written report Review."

Also, do not respond directly to the review on the platform. Not only does this decrease your chances of removing the review, just information technology can too draw more attention to the unwanted review.

1. Claim Your Yelp Business Page

To report a imitation or negative Yelp review, you must beginning "Claim your business organisation" on Yelp.

Challenge a Yelp business page and contour enables you to (1) respond to Yelp reviews via direct message or a public comment, (2) runway user views and custom leads that Yelp generates for your business, (three) add photographs and a link to your business organisation'due south website, and (4) update important business organisation information (ex. Business hours and phone number).

To claim your Yelp business profile:

Navigate to biz.yelp.com,
Click the cerise push 'Claim your business',
Then click 'Manage my gratis list',
Enter your business'south name and zip code,
Input your e-mail address and a countersign to create an business relationship,
Verify your Yelp concern page by entering your verification code.

After claiming your business Yelp page and profile, it is then time to locate the negative or defamatory review that you want removed.

2. Locate the Review You Want Removed

Click 'Reviews' on the left-hand side of your Yelp business page dashboard.

You can then sort through all by business organization reviews on your folio to locate the unwanted review(s).

3. Report the Review

After locating the unwanted Yelp review, click the three dots to the direct right of the review and select 'Study Review'.

Yelp moderators will evaluate the online review to determine if it violates their 'Content Guidelines'. This may take several days.

To keep rails of the review and its evaluation status, simply hover your mouse cursor over the flag icon that appears to the directly right of the review.

Once you accept reported the bad Yelp review via your business page, y'all may need to contact Yelp for further back up if you practise not receive a response. In the section beneath, I will talk over how long Yelp normally takes to respond to a review, on average. If yous take waited longer than average to receive a response, information technology may be worth reaching out.

Before contacting Yelp, you will need your case number from your original flag submission so they will know the online review you are referencing.

Hither is a link to their support form. Nosotros do not recommend submitting this without the back up of an expert unless y'all are extremely confident. You lot usually only get one shot at this.

Yelp does not have a support line for everyday Yelp users (consumers). They do accept a phone number for business support (877-767-9357), merely this department does not brand any decision regarding removing reviews. The correct customer support representative may know where to straight your request for removal back up.

Our firm has established a working relationship with Yelp'due south legal department and has their direct contact data. When advisable, we utilize these contacts to escalate bug for review.

How Do I Remove a Yelp Review That I Posted?

If you posted a customer review about a business and would like to remove it yourself, that is a relatively simple job. Yelp support provides a breakdown of the steps you will need to take:

Get to the Reviews section of your account;
Click Remove Review (the trash can icon) below the review you want to remove;
Click Confirm.

Length of Time to Wait Before the Yelp Review is Removed

In one case yous report a review, Yelp typically takes anywhere from 24 hrdue south to one week to review the request. If Yelp moderators decide the review should be removed, they will remove it immediately and notify the Yelp user that their review violated their guidelines. This is also typically the amount of time Yelp's back up squad takes to respond to escalations.

What Should You Do if Yelp Does Not Remove the Review?

For starters, do NOT respond to the unwanted review on Yelp. This can backlash, and lead to what is known equally the 'Streisand Effect', where more unwanted attention is drawn to the negative review. This may ultimately compromise your legal rights.

Before jumping into any litigation, yous volition want to effort to resolve the upshot with excellent customer service If that fails, several legal remedies may exist preferable to a lawsuit.

Achieve Out Privately to the Customer

You may exist able to become the review removed by practicing stellar customer service. If you call the customer, repent, and offer to make amends they may be amusing to removing the review.

Constructive customer service tends to resolve many situations because most dissatisfied customers just want to feel acknowledged.

Consider Pursuing Legal Remedies

If you lot accept reached out to the customer and Yelp to no avail, you still have options. Information technology tin can exist frustrating when your initial efforts evidence unsuccessful, but yous accept some legal tools at your disposal to get a negative review removed.

An experienced online defamation chaser tin ship the Yelp reviewer a cease and desist letter or make a settlement demand. Fifty-fifty if this fails, you can file a lawsuit to obtain a courtroom club to remove content from the net. Even so, filing a lawsuit should be a last resort. If y'all do not have a audio legal claim, you could trigger the Streisand Outcome and draw more negative attention to your business.

At Minc Law, we can aid you weigh your options and select the best legal strategy. Often, we tin can remove negative Yelp reviews afterwards clients accept failed themselves. We know how to obtain and compile the bear witness you lot need to make the most persuasive example to Yelp's legal team. We as well know how to approach unhappy customers to get them to amicably remove reviews without making the state of affairs worse.

What Can You Do to Improve Your Business'due south Online Reputation While Waiting For the Negative Yelp Review to Be Removed?

Your online reputation matters, so you should be working to strengthen your online presence. Do what you can (ethically) to obtain more positive Yelp reviews. In many cases, this volition effectively drown out a lot of severe negative effects of many negative reviews.

Online reputation management tactics are a great fashion to bolster your business's reputation. One method of bolstering your reputation entails getting more positive and legitimate reviews.

Three ways you can procure more positive Yelp reviews are:

Engage with your customers and go feedback,
Provide a high-quality service and/or product, and
Claim all online profiles, consummate them, and brand them easily accessible to consumers.

Some other way to improve your online reputation is to create positive content. This is something you tin can practise while waiting for a fake review to exist removed – and information technology can aid drown out negative reviews.

If you exercise not have the time to create positive content (or you are non well-versed in Search Engine Optimization) we recommend working with services similar Review Inc. to help strengthen your reputation.

For more than information on whether online reputation direction tactics are right for you and your business, make sure to read our blog post 'Removing Content: Online Reputation Management vs. Legal Services'.

Nosotros Can Help Your Business organisation Remove Bad Yelp Reviews

Bad Yelp reviews tin can happen to whatever business organization. How (and when) you reply makes all the difference. At that place are several things yous can practice to protect your business confronting negative reviews, but nosotros recommend seeking professional assist.

At Minc Law, our practice is dedicated to removing defamatory online reviews and other fake content. Not only can nosotros help you remove unwanted reviews, we know what it takes to stop online defamation and put an stop to internet attacks.

★★★★★

"Unbelievable! I am a C Suite executive who has dealt with the height law firms and Aaron, Daniel, and Kaelynn and team are superior in the quality and execution of matters than most of these firms. When I had an urgent issue arise related to defamatory content online, Aaron and his team jumped on the matter immediately and within a few days had the content down and deleted. Moreover, we have not stopped there and have initiated litigation to ensure that these are repercussions for such comments. I am writing this out of my own volition and at my urging because I would similar others to know that if y'all accept any bug with content online well-nigh yourself, yous don't have to feel helpless and can proactively place and hold those responsible accountable. Thank y'all Minc Police force business firm. From bottom of my middle."

Anonymous, Dec 11, 2022

If you would like a gratis consultation to discuss Yelp removal options, you can achieve us by calling (216) 373-7706, speaking with a Conversation representative, or filling out our online contact grade.

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