Many people looking to review Businesses use Yelp as a resource tool in deciding whether or not they will choose to go with a Business. But, Yelp has this review filter that selects which reviews will be available for viewing. The FAQ's say that the filter is random and is constantly reevaluating the reviews and that when a review is filtered out, it does affect the overall Star rating for a site.

Below is an example from the Yelp FAQ's section:

What are filtered reviews?

We try to showcase the most helpful and reliable reviews among the millions that are submitted to the site. Not all reviews make the cut, and those that don't are posted to a separate "Filtered Review" page. Filtered reviews don't factor into a business's overall star rating, but users can still read them by clicking on the link at the bottom of the business's profile page.

While many users have posted positive reviews for a particular Business listing on Yelp, I have checked back in every few days and found that the Star rating remains at a low level when 8 other postings have been filtered out all with 4 or more stars associated with each post.

The internet is the first place most people look to check out a Business. Yelp is becoming more and more popular and their current filtering practices are hurting Businesses rather than helping them.

Please sign this petition to get Yelp to change it's poor review filter so that all Businesses have a higher success rate through Yelp searches.