While performing your own due diligence on a business you’re unsure of does require a little extra metaphorical legwork, fake reviews often indicate less than favorable quality (or worse). At the very least, a level of dishonesty that you probably don’t want from a restaurant, home repair company, etc.
- Navigate to Yelp’s index page and select either Compensated Activity Alerts or Suspicious Review Activity Alerts. If you’re uncertain about which is more likely, you’ll probably want to check both one after the other.
- Scroll through the provided list (organized by date) and look for the business you’re unsure about.
- If you don’t see the place you’re looking for, select the Load Mode button at the bottom and keep searching. Repeat as necessary.
- You can speed things up slightly by continuously using the Load More button until the full list is loaded, then using the Find function of your web browser (usually Command + F on Mac or Ctrl + F in Windows) and typing in the name of the business.
- Otherwise, you can search for the location name and use the Find function’s arrow buttons to jump from entry to entry until you find the place you’re looking for.
Keep in mind that Yelp’s index is always updating, so if you can’t find a particular business that doesn’t necessarily mean it won’t be added in the future. If you’re still wary, trust your gut.