Simply put, there is no way to remove your business from Yelp. Users who want to post a review generate the business listing, and while you can claim the listing and manage it in some ways, business owners have limited power over their profile.
Don’t fret! There are some things still in your control:
- You can fill out information about your business like menu, hours, special offers, etc. This can help with SEO. The more information that’s available about you business, the more easily people will be able to find it.
- You can add pictures to the listing. Research shows that Yelp users spend 2.5 times more time on Yelp listings with photos than those without. Try adding some fun shots of your employees and plenty of pictures of your business.
- Yelp will send alerts to your email when reviews are posted, and you can respond to the reviews. A helpful response to a negative review can often cause a reviewer to amend their rating. People want to know that their concerns have been heard. Learn more about dealing with negative reviews here.
- You can also edit the “About This Business” section, which is a place for you to share information about your company history, specialties and recommendations, or a short bio about the business owner. This is a chance for people to get a feel for the story of the business, so feel free to get a little conversational.
The things you cannot manage include:
- You cannot remove bad reviews. Once it’s out there, a negative review is permanently on your listing.*
- You cannot control whether your business is listed at all. If someone has reviewed you, they created a listing for your business that is on Yelp permanently.
- Hidden reviews are a controversial topic on Yelp. You cannot control the filtration system that Yelp uses to determine potential spam reviews versus reviews from actual customers, and many businesses complain that there are legitimate reviews that get stuck in the filter. Those reviews are still available to view, if someone looking at your business chooses to read them, but they will not factor into your overall rating.
(*Users may change their ratings and amend their reviews, which is why it is so important to respond to any negative reviews that you may receive.)
Although it isn’t possible to remove bad reviews from your Yelp listing, you can try to up the overall quality of reviews you are receiving through the new reputation services offered here at Vision. We help you to gather more reviews, while also addressing and resolving any negative reviews before they ever end up on your page. Contact us if you are interested in reputation services or any other Internet marketing services.
