Yelp Sues Google Over Alleged Anticompetitive Local Search Practices

Yelp filed a complaint against Google, an online review website accusing it of anti-competitive conduct that has adversely affected the Yelp business.

Google had used its illegal dominance in the market for general search services to become “the gatekeeper” of local search and local search advertising, Yelp co-founder and Chief Executive Jeremy Stoppelman said in a company blog post. “With our action, we seek to protect competition, preserve consumer choice, recover damages, and prevent Google from continuing anticompetitive behavior so innovation can thrive,” said Stoppelman.

The gist of it was that Yelp basically said Google manipulates the results of users’ local searches to its own local search offerings and not necessarily those of competitors, even if they may yield a better result. In this way, Google dodges the same ranking criteria the company applies to other websites.

In a complaint, Yelp contended that Google’s “self-preferencing” kills competitors of scale at their own expense, including advertisers. “Google’s conduct suppresses competition in the local search advertising market, ensuring that more local advertisers turn to Google,” said Stoppelman.

Yelp’s allegations aren’t new, a Google spokesperson said to The Verge. Similar claims were tossed out years ago by the FTC and recently by the judge in the DOJ’s case. On the other aspects of the decision to which Yelp refers, we are appealing. Google will vigorously defend against Yelp’s meritless claims.

This Yelp lawsuit also follows last year’s finding, in which a US federal judge ruled that Google had illegally maintained a monopoly in the general search market for several years. “We believe our lawsuit takes a critical step towards a level playing field in which Yelp and other local search providers can effectively compete and provide consumers with the best local search experience,” said Stoppelman.