Paying for a Yelp enhanced profile is SUPPOSED to include the removal of competitor ads from your Yelp Business Pages, but that’s not really true…
I’ve used the Yelp Business manager for a lot of clients and different business types over the years, and sometimes used their self advertising platform. In some cases it’s done pretty well, and in other cases not so well, but one paid Yelp feature that I have always recommended is to disable the competitor ads.
To disable competitor ads on your Yelp profile, log into the Yelp business manager, and go to the menu item “page upgrades”, and when you get there, you should see this option to enable this for $50 a month… but is it really working?
It says “all ads” but does that remove all competitor ads?
No, it does not.
Yelp says on this page –
Enhanced Profiles also include the removal of ads purchased by nearby businesses from your Yelp Business Pages.
but that’s not really true…
I happened to notice today that the “request a consultation” link and button on a clients Yelp profile was still showing competitor ads after clicking either of these two links:
Clicking either of those links brings up this box, clearly labeled with “sponsored” and three of the of the boxes were checked by default –
I decided to phone the self service ad department at Yelp, who confirmed that yes, the ads do still show there, and paying the $50 monthly fee does not remove those ads.
Wait – Whaaaaaat?
Remove “Request a Consultation”
According to their support, the only way to remove those ads is to not use the “request a consultation” feature at all. To do that, you go to the In-Box Settings and change your selection. Wow. That’s legal?
So is it worth $50 to remove SOME of the competitors ads?
I still think so, yes, but it still seems VERY fishy to me that Yelp can get away with this.
They SAY that if we pay $50 we can remove competitor ads from our profile, but just one click on the profile, in two different places, and up pop “sponsored” competitor ads.
How is this okay with the FTC? Where are the class action lawyers waiting to pounce?
What do you think… am I over reacting?
Class Action Lawsuit?
Yelp is raking in millions of dollars monthly from unsuspecting business owners, and I think it’s only a matter of time before they get sued. When they do, would you like to be a part of the class?
***UPDATE 9/29/2017***
Yelp has apparently stopped stealing from advertisers. The number of advertisers is now shown as zero, and there is no way to get to the ads… You’re welcome.
