Is Yelp for small businesses a scam?

Ugh, just got off the phone with a Yelp salesperson who would not take no for an answer. They were pushing this two-week trial, but honestly, what’s the point? Two weeks is not nearly enough time to land a new client, and frankly, the whole thing felt like a waste of money.

On top of that, they charge based on clicks and calls to your business. Sounds great in theory, but then I read some scary stuff online about Yelp potentially inflating those numbers with bots. They could be charging me for fake leads!

The whole experience left me feeling super skeptical, especially considering the horror stories I have heard about Yelp. They can make things really difficult for businesses that do not renew their contracts, and some people even deal with suspicious bad reviews that stick around forever. Plus, there is talk of them hiding positive reviews, which would not exactly help my overall score.

I mean, I set up a Yelp page for my business (even got a great first review from a client!), but honestly, I’m this close to just deleting it. The potential for a scammy experience just doesn’t outweigh the risk of them messing with my reputation. Maybe I will just stick with Google to attract new customers.

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I don’t use Yelp for reviews. They employ a strong-arm tactic, calling you to pressure you into paying to have any negative reviews pushed down.

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Yelp is frustrating. They call me weekly, even though I’ve never given them any money. I always send their calls straight to voicemail. They’re working hard to make money off their platform, which gets a lot of traffic. If you’re interested in trying them out, feel free. Just let me know how it goes if you do.