Yelp publishes business information so that consumers can share their experiences about local businesses, and because the information is typically a matter of public record and public concern. Therefore we don’t remove such information from the site.

While we understand that some business owners might prefer to keep a low profile, it’s important (and a legal right) for consumers to be able to find and share helpful information about great local businesses.

If you need to update or change the information on your business page, please submit any changes by editing your business information on Yelp for Business or on the Yelp for Business app and submitting a detailed note with any supplementary information.

If your business is permanently or temporarily closed, please let us know by reporting it. Please note that closed businesses sometimes still appear in Yelp search results, for example, to inform users that the business is closed.

It’s certainly worth discussing your concerns with a lawyer who specializes in internet law, but any good lawyer will likely tell you that:

• Consumer speech is protected under the law, even when it’s negative
• Yelp isn’t responsible for the opinions of your customers
• Suing Yelp will only draw more attention to the negative review than if you simply ignored it
• Lawsuits are extraordinarily expensive, and you may be responsible for Yelp’s legal bills at the end of the case

While it’s rare for a business to do this, it does occasionally happen. Yelp stands firmly against businesses pressuring customers or paying them to change or remove reviews. Even if the exchange is friendly in nature, consumers shouldn’t accept payment or a refund in exchange for removing or changing a review. Activity like this—whether initiated by businesses or consumers—violates our Terms of Service and deceptively alters a business’s reputation on Yelp. Undisclosed incentives for reviews are also discouraged by the Federal Trade Commission. 

We encourage consumers to stand behind their reviews as written or to update them (without expecting payment or other incentives) to reflect any new information that may be useful to other consumers. 

We understand businesses can have an off day and may want a consumer to give them another chance after reviewing their feedback. Instead of asking for an updated review, we recommend businesses respond to critical reviews by thanking the customer for the feedback, acknowledging what went wrong and how they are addressing the issue. Many customers will appreciate being heard and will often update their review on their own.

If you’re in a situation in which a business owner is harassing you, pressuring you, or offering you something in exchange for changing or removing a review, please contact our Support team to give us more information so we can help you and other consumers.

Businesses can sometimes share the same trademarked names (which is why, for example, you might legitimately find two different businesses with the same name, like “Bob’s Pizza”). Nevertheless, you should consult your lawyer if you think another business is violating your trademark. 

In the meantime, please see our infringement policy.

If you can provide us with the information required under the infringement policy, please contact our Support team.

Please note that trademarking your business name doesn’t prevent consumers from commenting about your business. As a result, we maintain business pages even for trademarked businesses

If you see a review that you believe violates Yelp’s Content Guidelines, please report it and include any information that can help us verify the information. Yelp is a community-driven site, and removing photos, reviews, or other user content is not something we take lightly—we generally allow users to stand behind what they write. It’s also important to keep in mind that Yelp doesn’t take sides in factual disputes.

After a review has been investigated by our moderators, Yelp sends an email notification to the business owner or user who reported the content, notifying them of the results, which may take several days. We’ll typically also notify the reviewer if their content has been removed. 

If you received a notification that the reported review was not removed by Yelp moderators—but you have obtained a final order from a court of competent jurisdiction explaining why a  review is defamatory—please contact our Support team.

Yelp uses an automated software to determine which reviews to recommend to users. Even if our moderators don’t remove a review, the software may separately determine that it’s not reliable enough to recommend to Yelp’s users.

Business owners can also log into their Yelp for Business account to publicly respond to any inaccuracies in the review, or contact the reviewer through a direct message.

Yelp is committed to providing consumers with trustworthy, reliable and relevant information when deciding where to spend their money, as well as leveling the playing field for hardworking businesses that rightfully earn their great reputations. In 2012, we introduced our Consumer Alerts program to warn consumers when we find evidence of extreme attempts to manipulate a business’s ratings and reviews. Since then, we’ve expanded the program to include other egregious tactics that may harm consumers or unfairly put other businesses at a disadvantage. 

When we issue a Consumer Alert, a warning message pops up over the review section of that business’s Yelp Page informing consumers about the violation of our policies with a link to view the evidence we collected when available.

Here are examples of Consumer Alerts we may place on Yelp business pages:

• We place a Compensated Activity Alert on business pages when we receive evidence that someone is purchasing reviews. This alert will generally be removed from the business page after 90 days if the offending behavior stops.
• We place a Suspicious Review Activity Alert on business pages when our recommendation software catches a disproportionate number of reviews coming from the same IP address (a helpful indicator that they may all be coming from a single source and therefore lack authenticity), or if our team discovers a possible connection to a deceptive review ring. This alert will generally be removed from the business page after 90 days if the offending behavior stops.
• We may place a Questionable Legal Threats Alert on a business page when we receive evidence that the business may be making a dubious legal threat against a reviewer or using a contractual gag clause to prevent critical reviews. This alert is removed on a case-by-case basis.
• We place an Unusual Activity Alert when a business receives an influx of Yelp reviews that were motivated by a recent news event rather than actual consumer experiences with the business. This will temporarily disable the ability to post reviews on the page. This alert is removed on a case-by-case basis when activity on the page has dramatically decreased or stopped.
• We place a Public Attention Alert to inform consumers if someone associated with the business was accused of, or the target of, racist behavior. We take a firm stance against racism and will temporarily disable the ability to post as we confirm that all content reflects first-hand consumer experiences. When a business gains public attention for reports of overtly racist conduct, we’ll place a Business Accused of Racist Behavior Alert which will include a news article where people can learn more. These alerts are removed on a case-by-case basis when activity on the page has dramatically decreased or stopped.