Yelp Says its Love is Not for Sale
Review site's CEO speaks with Press Here
By SAJID FAROOQ
Updated 11:57 AM PST, Fri, Apr 3, 2009
When Yelp gets picked on the business review site comes out swinging.
Ever since the East Bay Express put the food reviewer of record, which allows restaurant goers to review businesses, under the radar after complaints that the company was strong arming small businesses to advertise to avoid negative reviews.
Company CEO Jeremy Stoppelman told our friends at Press Here that there is no way companies can buy their way out of bad review or into a good review for that matter.
"Absolutely not. The only way you can have a great reputation on Yelp is to deliver a great product or have a great service that people love," he said. "And they talk about you on the site, share their five star reviews and their four star reviews and other people discover that information. "
Stoppelman denied any conflict of interest by allowing companies to advertise right next to their review. He said their money does not influence what users say about their product or service.
"Just like on Google when people do a search on Yelp they see an advertisement, a sponsored result on top that's clearly marked," he said. "And so that's what primarily businesses are paying for. There are some bells and whistles people get on their page. Things like a photo slideshow and they get to highlight their favorite review."
Stoppelman has been on a media blitz since the allegations have been written about by the likes of The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times and NBC. Check out a clip of his interview on the left or check out the full interview on Press Here's Web site. You can also download the show from the iTunes store.
First Published: Apr 2, 2009 4:08 PM PST
You Might Like
You have 2000 characters left
