Yelp Official Blog

Lady Justice Needs a Lawsuit Filter....

In light of recent news, I wanted to share some thoughts about the lawsuit that was filed against Yelp this week.

There has been a long history of people accusing Yelp of monkeying around with reviews in exchange for money. The allegations are disappointing, not only because they are false, but because they ignore empirical evidence in favor of conspiracy theories.

You can see for yourself: thousands of businesses that advertise on Yelp have both negative and positive reviews. Despite these counter-examples to the contrary (virtually no advertiser on Yelp has a perfect reputation), extensive media explorations that end inconclusively, and the absence of any actual evidence to support this theory, this unfortunate and untrue meme has taken on a life of its own.

The reason 29 million people used Yelp last month to find a great local business is because of the trust they place in the reviews on our site. The entire value of the Yelp community to consumers and businesses hinges upon that trust -- and we would never do anything to jeopardize it. Simply put, Yelp does not remove or hide negative reviews in exchange for money and Yelp salespeople do not offer to do so. Additionally, Yelp treats review content equally for advertisers and non-advertisers alike. Advertisers pay for advertising and enhanced listings, and nothing more; and businesses are not penalized for declining to advertise.

At Yelp our motto is "connecting people with great local businesses." To do that, we aim to provide consumers with the best, authentic information we can about local businesses. We work hard to determine that information is genuine in order to protect consumers from fake, or shill reviews, and businesses from malicious reviews from competitors.

In fact, it's this difficult task that sometimes causes confusion or frustration for some business owners and can lead to these conspiracy theories or worse (see: lawsuit). Anytime a business owner is confused about Yelp -- especially if they decide to file a lawsuit -- we take it very seriously. That's why we empowered businesses owners with a voice on the website over two years ago and launched outreach and education efforts to the business community.

We know this lawsuit to be without merit, we will fight it vigorously, and we are confident we will prevail. And we will not be dissuaded from our mission of helping people connect with great local businesses in their communities. In fact, we will continue to expand to new markets both in the US and internationally, and to provide innovative new ways "to Yelp."

First Annual Yelp Hackathon

What do you get when you put a gaggle of engineers in a room for 48 hours with nerf guns, Chimay and a whole lot of imagination? Besides a few nap breaks, you get over 15 innovative projects created by our developer, systems and product teams!

A few weeks ago, we hosted our first Yelp Hackathon, an event that we plan to hold again moving forward (though this is contingent on whether deodorant is packed. You know who you are). It's an opportunity for our engineering team to spend time on projects that they think would be useful, funny or cool for Yelp - and in fact, we had an awards ceremony Friday that honored just that criteria. The winners included:

Useful: Adam D., Duncan C. and Shivaram L. analyzed Yelp's business queue - ie: changes that are submitted to a business listing, categories, etc - and found ways to effectively cut down its size.
Funny: Yelp CTO Russ S., Evan K. and Daniel C. created our very own Yelp MUD for HQ and San Francisco (for those of us who are non-techy: multi user dungeon). Basically, we're giving Dungeons and Dragons a run for its money.
Cool: John B., Bakun and Julien R. built an actual Yelp burst that lights up as reviews come in on the site as well as reflects how many stars that yelper gave for that business. We have it hanging in Yelp HQ so we are always reminded of the great reviews that keep rolling in!

But there were many more projects to come out of the Hackathon, including a pivot on "Review Highlights" that would let you see businesses that share the same term such as "Fried Chicken" or "Dirty Martini" so you can target your search for exactly what you're hungry (or thirsty) for even more. Another project, "Blend It", is a feature that recommends businesses based on other businesses. For example, if you enter the business Di Fara Pizza it will recommend like businesses. Think Pandora, but for local.

Of course, these are just a few of the creations that were conceived and built by our top-notch team. Some of these - as well as others not mentioned - you might see on the site in the very near future. But if you're interested in learning more, then find out what our engineers do day-to-day; and if you think you have what it takes for the next Yelp Hackathon, apply here!

New Categories for Business Owners

Yelp has grown a lot over the years. Every day, our community adds more businesses, writes more reviews, uploads more photos, updates more hours, etc. This enhances the richness of the Yelp experience for everyone, and it's part of why we exist -- to share local knowledge.

To this end, our engineering team has just rolled out some new categories for business owners. This is a good thing for many of you who may fall further down the long tail: if your labeling is precise, you're more relevant to potential customers using Yelp to research your services. The more relevant you are, the more likely you are to convert that potential customer into a paying customer.

Applying a category to your business is a pretty simple process. For example, say you're an HVAC repair service provider. Just under your business name on your Yelp listing, there's a link that says either "[Edit]" or "[Add]" next to the "Category/Categories" line. Simply click this link, find the category that's most relevant to you (no more than 3 categories per business), and add the category. Our user support team will verify the update within a few weeks.

Here's the list of new categories:

Archery Climbing Tai Chi Horseback Riding Fishing Skydiving Go Karts Disc Golf Festivals Windshield Installation & Repair Oil Change Stations Auto Parts & Supplies Medical Spas Eyelash Service Swimming Lessons/Schools Flight Instruction Educational Services Private Tutors Videographers Check Cashing/Pay-day Loans Financial Advising Endodontists Periodontists

Cosmetic Dentists Osteopathic Physicians Proctologists Fertility Gerontologists Allergists Tattoo Removal Laser Eye Surgery/Lasik Home Health Care Heating & Air Conditioning/HVAC Landscape Architects Home Staging Security Systems Roofing Windows Installation Window Washing Tree Services Handyman Pool Cleaners Solar Installation Carpet Installation Home Theatre Installation Television Service Providers RV Rental

Vacation Rental Agents Junk Removal and Hauling Electronics Repair Recycling Center Marketing Advertising Public Relations Video/Film Production Office Cleaning Private Investigation Life Coach Career Counseling Departments of Motor Vehicles Police Departments Cheesesteaks Peruvian Soup Tapas/Small Plates Swimwear Discount Store Knitting Supplies Food Delivery Services Hot Tub and Pool

Get your Yelp Drinks! on in 11 cities and at 165 businesses

Some of you may have remembered that this past November, Yelp Austin first launched Yelp Drinks! -- a Happy Hour extravaganza featuring local bars and watering holes who served up 50% off bevvies for an entire week! And we have to say, at the time, we were pretty jealous. But today we're excited to announce Yelp Drinks! is taking off in 11 cities and at 165 participating bars and restaurants nationwide!

Starting March 1st through March 7th, Dallas, Denver, Detroit, Miami, Minneapolis, Philadelphia, San Diego, San Francisco and Washington DC, will be working with dozens of businesses to give you 50% off at least 3 adult beverages for the entire week.

Not to be outdone, Silicon Valley and the East Bay in California will be hosting Yelp Drinks! from March 8th - 14th and March 15th - 21st, respectively. That's 3 straight weeks of margaritas, Moscow Mules, and daiquiris in the Bay Area and we're SURE you can find something to celebrate!

Check out the cities listed above for participating bars, speakeasies and, er, rathskellers (God bless Thesaurus.com) and as always, please enjoy yourself responsibly.

Yelp Gets Some Sun...and some office space!

Imagine waking up in the morning to weather in the high 60s, going for a hike on a beautiful rocky mountainside, then driving past a world-famous shopping mall to work for one of the hippest, most exciting web 2.0 companies in the country...

This enticing day dream is becoming a reality for a rag-tag crew of Yelp employees relocating to Scottsdale, Arizona to open up Yelp's third office! That's right -- as the San Francisco Giants head down to spring training in Scottsdale they'll be accompanied by their city's favorite local business site! 

While the official office opening won't be until later this spring, we have ambitious growth plans and intend to add 200 employees in Arizona this year. That means we're looking to hire talented sales representatives to join the Yelp team. The position is a lot of fun, and being a part of a fast-growing web company with great career support and growth potential is an added bonus!

We'll keep you posted with newfangled photos when we officially launch -- but in the meantime, enjoy some of these snapshots of our temporary space!  We're aiming to make the new space a little more Yelp-y, and a little less... uh, cubicle-y. So don't you worry, the keg-a-rator is already on its way.

You can read more about our Scottsdale adventures here, but also keep an eye out for more on Yelp's newest chapter in the Valley of the Sun -- and don't forget to apply if you're a smart, ambitious and capable professional in the area!