Deciphering Yelp Sort

[consultant]

Anyone tried to decipher the factor in the default sorting order on Yelp? I've not done any formal testing but from experience my gut feel is as follows (chime in with your own opinion based on your own observations).

On searches - #1 factor is of course keyword(s) appear in category business is in or business name
After that, or for just browsing categories

30% proximity of business location to location entered in address field
20% number of reviews and average rating
20% if they are paying Yelp for any services - the is unfair but I'm pretty sure it's a factor (call to action button, advertising, etc)
15% Business Profile is filled out
15% keyword (if using search) appears in specialties section (which interestingly Yelp started charging to display!)

This is a TOTAL GUESS. I'm wondering if these factors may effect it:

- Quantity photos and/or keyword matches photo captions
- How long business has been listed on Yelp
- How long ago business was started
- Whether a street address is entered or not (a factor of Google Local Results I think)

 

[JoshuaMackens]

It seems like it's pretty much reviews. Not just quantity but trust score in the people leaving reviews as well.

Every time I've looked at Yelp rankings, that's been the factor that stands out to me the most. The rankings I've seen fall in line with what I mentioned above pretty much 100% of the time. So much so that I've never questioned it.

I could, of course, be wrong.

 

[Colan Nielsen]

I agree with Joshua it's definitely in reviews that are the driving Factor. And of course proximity Is huge as well.

But I imagine all the different factors that you listed do play into it to some degree absolutely.

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