The Local Search War: Yelp vs. Google, FTC Review Fines, and the Death of the Local Pack?

Google just expanded LSAs to restaurants and started scraping landing pages for ad data—but Yelp is striking back. In this episode, Greg Sterling and Mike Blumenthal dive into Yelp’s new legal gambit to leverage the DOJ’s antitrust victory. Plus, we reveal the 10 businesses the FTC recently caught for review fraud and discuss why your QR code strategy might be "undue pressure." 00:00 - Introduction & Near Memo Kickoff 01:07 - The Truth About Google’s "Review Pressure" Rules 06:51 - Yelp's New Solicitation Survey 10:11 - FTC Warning Letters: Who’s Getting Caught? 14:47 - LSAs for Restaurants: Will They Actually Work? 19:05 - Yelp vs. Google: The "Mehta" Ruling & Antitrust Update 30:27 - The Future: Ask Maps & AI Conversational UI