Yelp asks Googlers to make search fairer: Here's why
What's the story
Yelp and TripAdvisor are leading a coalition called "Focus on the User" which has started a new campaign: it is urging Google employees to help make the company's search rankings fairer. The campaign explains how Google favors its own services by putting out Knowledge Cards atop other search results for subjective queries, instead of giving a fair opportunity to all websites. Here are the details.
Details
You see only what Google wants you to see
This means that for a search regarding restaurants, Google might show a business with fewer user reviews first, when it should be showing a service like TripAdvisor that has more reviews and therefore, is more likely to be accurate about restaurants. Google's Knowledge Cards make sense only for facts like math equations, but subjective content should have a chance to compete in the algorithm.
Information
Share this message and discuss it with your colleagues: Campaign
The campaign is running targeted ads on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, "calling for Google employees to introspect and examine how Google's Knowledge Cards are harming the open internet." The strategy is interesting because instead of being aimed at regulators it is targeting the company's employees.
Context
The initiative is self-serving but still fair
Google prioritizing its own Local Search services hurts companies like Yelp and TripAdvisor as they get placed lower on the search page and get fewer clicks. In terms of offering business recommendations and reviews, they directly compete with Google. The campaign ultimately wants Google to stop side-stepping its own algorithm and fairly compete with every other search result.
Information
Google positions its services at the top of the page
Yelp also recently filed a complaint with the EU's antitrust watchdog regarding how Google abuses its dominance to favor local business results over competitors, which is reportedly the biggest category of search (40%) at present.