How to Get a Yelp Review Removed (Spoiler Alert: You Can't)

Even the best business will get the occasional bad review. Some will be from customers with legitimate complaints, while others will be completely or partially untrue. No matter the type of negative review you receive, it’s natural to want it removed. But can you remove a negative Yelp review? If not, what alternatives do you have if you can’t delete a bad Yelp review?

Can a Business Delete a Yelp Review?

You can’t delete a Yelp review that paints your business in a bad light. This makes logical sense, as letting businesses delete reviews would lead to a biased collection of reviews. After all, most businesses would easily delete negative reviews and leave only the good ones, resulting in one-sided customer reviews.

That would hurt Yelp’s ability to provide customers with useful, reliable information.

But just because you can’t delete a bad Yelp review, doesn’t mean you are out of luck. You can report a fraudulent Yelp review so that Yelp will remove it. Or you can respond to a negative review and change the narrative.

How to Report a Yelp Review

If you notice a review on your Yelp business profile that is inaccurate, misleading, or violates the platform’s Content Guidelines in other ways, you can have it removed. This process requires you to flag the review in question. Yelp then checks it and determines if it should be removed.

For reference, there are a few specific reasons to report a Yelp review. These are the following:

• The reviewer has a conflict of interest, such as a competitor, former employee, or someone receiving payment in exchange for posting the negative review.
• It doesn’t highlight the reviewer’s experience. Rather, it’s about the wrong business page, another customer’s experience, or it is plagiarized. This includes fake reviews.
• It has inappropriate content, such as lewd commentary, threatening language, or hate speech.
• It includes private information about customers or employees

So, how do you report a Yelp review that meets at least one of those requirements?

1. Log into your business Yelp account. Claim it if you haven’t already.
2. Navigate to “Reviews.”
3. Find the review and click on the three dots, “More Options.”
4. Select “Report Review.”

Keep in mind that it can take a few days for Yelp moderators to examine the review after you click “Report review.” You can check the status of your review report by hovering over the flag icon next to the review. It will let you know whether Yelp is still reviewing your report or has decided not to remove it. Yelp will also send you an email about its decision.

How to Remove a Yelp Review You Wrote

As mentioned, a business can’t remove a review someone wrote about them. But the person writing a review can remove it. The following steps show you how to remove the Yelp reviews you wrote. 

1. Navigate to the “Reviews” section on your account.
2. Find the review to remove.
3. Select “Remove Review,” which is the trash icon.
4. Select “Confirm.”

Alternative: Edit the Review

Instead of deleting a review, you can also edit it. This is a good way to include additional information you may have forgotten or to correct a mistake. Keep in mind that you can edit a review only within 30 days after originally posting it.

1. Navigate to the “Reviews” part of your account.
2. Find the review to edit.
3. Select “Edit review,” which is the pencil icon.
4. Edit the text.
5. Select “Post” to save the edit.

Alternative: Post a Review Update

You can also post a review update instead of editing or deleting it. Like editing reviews, you have 30 days after the initial post to make an update.

1. Visit the “Reviews” part of your account.
2. Find the review to update and click on it.
3. Under the existing review, click “Write an Update.”
4. Compose your new review, including a new star rating.
5. Click “Post.”

Contact the Reviewer and Make Things Right

Remember that a negative review isn’t the end of the world. It gives you a chance to improve your services and earn back the trust of the affected customer. It also enables you to improve the experience for other customers in the future. The following tips will help you respond to negative reviews, with some tips also applying to positive ones.

While you shouldn’t directly ask the people who leave bad Yelp reviews to edit, update, or delete their reviews, you can encourage them to do so. With the proper response on your end, you turn bad Yelp reviews into positive, or at least better, reviews that can put you in a better light.

Responding to reviews on Yelp also helps you control the narrative and maintain the online reputation of your business. After all, having the occasional negative review on review platforms is not necessarily bad for your business’s reputation if you always resolve the problem. In fact, it will show that you value legitimate reviews and customer satisfaction.

Respond Promptly

Do your best to respond to the review quickly. This will improve the customer experience, help you control the narrative before anyone else sees it, and look good in search engines.

Personalize It

When possible, personalize the review. Write a unique response to each review, addressing the reviewer by name.

Thank the Reviewer

Even if dealing with a negative review, thank the reviewer for their feedback. Tell them that you appreciate the time they put into the review and that you take their experiences seriously.

Apologize

When responding to a negative review, you should always apologize for the experience. Apologize for any issues or inconvenience.

Don’t Be Defensive

Some negative reviews may pertain to factors that may seem ridiculous to you or out of your control. Even in those cases, don’t be defensive. Your goal is to resolve issues and learn. Instead of being defensive, apologize and assure the reviewer about what you are doing so that the issue doesn’t occur again.

Invite an Offline Conversation

Ask the reviewer to take the conversation offline, via text, phone, or email. This will take the conversation out of the public eye. It will also let you provide a more personalized response without sharing any of the reviewer’s personal details.

Drown Out the Noise With Good Reviews

Some businesses don’t like the fact that they can’t remove negative Yelp reviews. But you can overcome negative reviews with positive reviews on the platform.

A bad review won’t hold much power if the majority of your reviews on Yelp are glowing. Here are some tips to help you gather more reviews.

• Ask for reviews via text
• Have employees ask for reviews in person
• Automate reviews
• Ask for reviews on social media
• Ask for reviews via email
• Use a review management tool

Podium is an intuitive tool that helps you get more reviews for your business. With our automation, you will find your business receiving a growing volume of reviews. As you gather positive reviews, you will reduce the impact of the negative ones, even as you respond appropriately using the tips mentioned above.