Yelp Will Allow 12-Second Video Reviews Starting Next Month

Yelp is planning to move beyond text-based reviews (and tips) by allowing users to share brief video reviews of local businesses and places. As Business Insider reports, the video review feature will launch next month and initially only for “Elite” users. A Yelp spokesperson tells us that the program will eventually expand to all users, […]

yelp-logoYelp is planning to move beyond text-based reviews (and tips) by allowing users to share brief video reviews of local businesses and places.

As Business Insider reports, the video review feature will launch next month and initially only for “Elite” users. A Yelp spokesperson tells us that the program will eventually expand to all users, but didn’t have a timeline for that.

The video reviews will be brief — between three and 12 seconds — and the user will be able to choose a cover photo to represent the review, and write a caption to go with the video. They’ll initially show up just with photos that are already associated with a business/place, but Yelp tells us the video reviews will eventually appear inline with reviews (as photos already do).

yelp-video-reviews

It’s an interesting-but-inevitable move for Yelp. For the longest time, Yelp resisted any reviews other than long-form, text-based reviews that were written on a desktop computer. It wasn’t until late last year that Yelp allowed reviews to be written in its mobile apps. But clearly, as consumers shift to a mobile-first lifestyle, Yelp’s old approach couldn’t survive. And as digital video continues to grow, Yelp is obviously recognizing that this is another review format that makes sense for its users.


Contributing authors are invited to create content for MarTech and are chosen for their expertise and contribution to the search community. Our contributors work under the oversight of the editorial staff and contributions are checked for quality and relevance to our readers. MarTech is owned by Semrush. Contributor was not asked to make any direct or indirect mentions of Semrush. The opinions they express are their own.


About the author

Matt McGee
Contributor
Matt McGee joined Third Door Media as a writer/reporter/editor in September 2008. He served as Editor-In-Chief from January 2013 until his departure in July 2017. He can be found on Twitter at @MattMcGee.