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No Soliciting – Yelp Says You Shouldn’t Ask For Reviews

December 13, 2017 //  by Alyson Harrold//  Leave a Comment

Updated March 3, 2025

Reading Time: 2 minutes

If You Have To Ask, You’ll Never Know

Review websites are important to all types of business. Having a good score on Yelp or Google My Business is a major contributing factor behind if you get a click on your site or not. As part of that asking for reviews has been something that we have recommended in the past when trying to improve your online presence. However, according to recent communication from Yelp, this is now seen as soliciting and if you’re caught asking for reviews your account could be penalized.

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Don’t Ask, Don’t Get

Yelp’s view is that by asking for reviews you are tacitly asking for positive reviews and thereby influencing the reviews that your company is given. So in their view, any program designed to promote reviews on your help page is tantamount to fabricating positive reviews.

From Yelp’s point of view, impartiality is key. If users of their platform think that the reviews on Yelp.com are biased then they won’t use Yelp. Then Yelp dies. So, you can understand why they want to protect the integrity of their review process.

A Little Coffee Money

Google has a similar policy when it comes to reviews on their Google My Business profile, however, it stops well short of banning asking customers if they will review your company. Google specifically detail that any kind of ‘reward’ given to a reviewer (from the company they are reviewing) would break their terms and conditions.

Google, as with Yelp, take the onus on encouraging reviews themselves. Offering rewards to anyone who reviews ANY businesses. Which should promote a health review ecosystem of unbiased reviews.

A Step Too Far for Yelp?

Yelp has made their share of controversial moves before to protect their business and this latest one is sure to ruffle some feathers. Specifically of third-party agencies that are designed to stimulate more reviews for their clients’ various different profiles.

What do you make of Yelp’s diktat? Do you think it will help to protect their business, or is the beginning of the end for the review platform?

Category: Content// Author: Alyson Harrold

About Alyson Harrold

Alyson is Co-CEO and Chief Storyteller. Prior to forming the agency, her career spanned media (NBC-TV affiliates and city magazine, international ad agency) and positions like C-Suite financial services marketer and digital marketing consultant. Alyson learned how the right medium with the right message can attract the right audience. With her team, Alyson helps brands have meaningful customer interactions. Now she teaches those lessons—among others—as a UC Berkeley Extension instructor in her SEO and Digital Marketing courses since 2014. Alyson shares her knowledge as a speaker at preeminent digital marketing conferences around the country like Digital Growth Unleashed and more.

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