The Best Way to Make Sure Your Yelp Reviews are Actually Useful

Amid news that nearly 20% of Yelp reviews are "suspicious" (and Yelp's response that they automatically filter those ones out), it's easy to wonder how to tell a good review from a bad one, or how to make sure yours stands out as actual good advice. The Consumerist shares a few tips to better craft your review. Of course, the rule with sites like Yelp is to take the general sentiment of the reviews with the understanding that the strangely glowing ones are probably staff or management, while the particularly nasty and vitriolic ones are probably self-entitled people who like to hear themselves complain. Look for trends, not specific episodes, as it were. When you're crafting a Yelp review, your best bet is to try to avoid both extremes. The Consumerist suggests you make sure you're being completely honest in your review—without resorting to hyperbole like "Best/Worst EVER," since those can trigger Yelp's automatic filters (not to mention most people's BS filters). If you do want to praise or decry a specific experience, make sure to include details like what exactly you ate that was the best ever, or why you had a bad experience. Craft your review in a tone that's genuinely helpful and informative to a potential reader, not like someone penning a complaint or a compliment to an unseen manager: In the case of a positive write-up, don’t just trot out some exclamation points and vague terms like “amazing” and “yummy.” And when you’re angry, don’t just use the availability of Yelp to vent your frustration. Provide information that would be of use to a potential customer. What items did you eat? What in particular did you enjoy about them? At what point did the evening turn sour? How was the service, cleanliness, atmosphere? Simply saying a place has “f-ing rad pizza!” is of no real use to anyone but the pizzeria. Finally, they suggest something that goes without saying: If you're really angry and had a bad experience, sleep on it. Your rage should have dulled by the morning, and you'll be able to more clearly articulate why you're upset in a way that will help future customers avoid the same experience (or make the business understand you had a real issue and you're not just blowing off steam). Hit the link below for more review writing tips, and check out our guide to writing genuinely helpful online reviews for more suggestions. How To Make Sure Your Yelp Restaurant Reviews Aren’t Completely Worthless | The Consumerist