Predicting Yelp Food Establishment Ratings Based on Business Attributes

Abstract

Social networking and business review sites play an integral role in the buying behavior of the modern consumer. An individual with access to the internet may observe millions of reviews on almost every type of product and service on the market. Websites such as Angie’s List, Facebook, Yellow Pages, and Yelp all facilitate this process, acting as crowd-sourced hubs for review data. This has major implications for the modern business, as past research shows that reviews and ratings play a direct role on the demand a business receives. With the vast dissemination of review data to the potential buyer market, it is imperative for businesses to focus on receiving high reviews from all of their customers. Hence, one important question for many businesses is whether there is a way to encourage higher ratings through targeted alterations to their offerings