Google Blames Bug for Yelp and TripAdvisor’s Drop in Search Results

Google explained the faulty search results on a bug, telling tech site Recode: “The issues cited were cause by a recent code push, which we’re working quickly to fix“.

Yelp CEO, Jeremy Stoppelman noticed the problem when typing in “yelp Ozumo”, searching for Yelp info on a Japanese restaurant. In fact, many queries related to POIs fell to the bottom of the query page or onto the next page. If Google uses search results to promote its own services over those of competitors, rivals argue, it destroys competition and misleads consumers.

Yelp reported a 50 percent drop in traffic because of “misdirected searches”.

Similarly, the CEO at TripAdvisor, Stephen Kaufer, tweeted out “Gimme a break, @google”. Ian Chan, director of engineering at BranchMetrics, tweeted: “I dislike the “it’s a bug” excuse for such a high profile heated topic, from a search company”.

If you’re looking for restaurant reviews, there are plenty of options out there such as Yelp or TripAdvisor.

The European Union’s antitrust commission is also pressing ahead with a full investigation into accusations Google abuses its dominant market position in search engine results and other areas of its business. Still, it’s hard to overlook results being directed straight to Google’s own products when words like “Yelp”, “TripAdvisor” or “Foursquare” are specifically mentioned in the search term. They said: “The easy and widely disseminated argument that Google’s universal search always serves users and merchants is demonstrably false”. Furthermore, not everyone complained over the weekend nor accused Google for intentionally doing this. Thus, Yelp’s history and actions have already convinced some in the industry that the company makes a lot of noise when it is not doing so well. Neither of the popular location information services was particularly pleased to see it happening, but Google claims it was due to a “bug” and that it will be fixed…just as soon as possible!

Google would not be so careless to deliberately start pushing down rival searches to favor its own, considering recent similar allegations made against it. It now already dominates the web and Internet searches, thus trying out something of this nature, especially when it is being closely investigated and scrutinized for market-manipulative practices, is a move too risky.