Yelp Just Sued Google. Here’s Why.

“Google is a monopoly,” U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta wrote earlier this month in his landmark ruling against the search giant in an antitrust case brought by the U.S. Department of Justice.

While the case against Google centered on a $20 billion deal with Apple to keep Google’s search engine dominant by default on the iPhone, it seems the Justice Department’s lawsuit may have only opened the floodgates.

On Wednesday, local business review platform Yelp filed an antitrust lawsuit against Google concerning the company’s dominance in the local search and local search advertising markets.

Yelp Takes Over Google’s Dominance in Local Search

Yelp’s case against Google hinges on the fact that the search giant prioritizes its local search engine.

“Our case is about Google, the largest information gatekeeper in existence, exerting its heavy leverage of scale to stifle competition and keep consumers within its own walled garden,” Yelp CEO Jeremy Stoppelman writes in a public post addressing the lawsuit. “Google has illegally abused its monopoly on general search to dominate the local search and local search advertising markets — engaging in anticompetitive conduct that has lowered the quality of search results and degraded rivals in order to increase its market power.”

Type in any local business, whether it’s a nearby restaurant or a plumbing service, and the Google Local Search information is inevitable. Google reviews and star ratings for the establishment, left via Google Maps, as well as contact information, opening hours, and more, are readily available right on the Google search results page. On the web, this information is usually placed in the sidebar and doesn’t distract from Google’s competitors on the search page as much. However, do a local search on a mobile device, and the Google Local Search information is often the first—and only—thing you see on the page until you scroll down.

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“When a consumer conducts a Google search with local intent, Google manipulates the results to promote its own local search listings over those of its competitors, regardless of the comparatively inferior quality of its own properties, freeing itself from the qualitative ranking system it uses for other sites,” Stoppelman says.

According to Yelp’s CEO, Google’s anti-competitive practices have affected the company so much that Yelp has noticed that an increase in Google searches for a given term often resulted in zero additional clicks on the recommended links on the page. The reason, according to Yelp, is that Google’s local search product simply provides all the information on the search page, giving users no reason to click through to a competitor.

Yelp’s public explanation of its lawsuit against Google cites numerous lawsuits against Google over the years, as well as fines the company has received for anticompetitive practices. It also includes key quotes from Google executives over the years, such as a statement from former Google vice president of search products Marissa Mayer, in which she claims that Google would rank its products first in Google search results because “it seems fair.” Mayer’s statement also confirms that search results would be ranked only by popularity after a link to Google’s own product at the top of the page.

Yelp, a regular Google critic, clearly sees an opportunity after Judge Mehta’s recent ruling. Yelp’s general counsel, Aaron Schur, said as much in a statement to Mashable.

“Judge Amit Mehta’s recent ruling in the government’s antitrust case against Google, finding that Google illegally maintained a monopoly in general search, is a landmark moment in antitrust law and provides a solid foundation for Yelp’s case against Google,” Schur said. “In addition to an injunction, Yelp seeks a remedy that ensures Google can no longer favor local search.”

“The harm caused by Google’s preferences is not unique to Yelp, and we look forward to telling our story in court,” he added.

Mashable has reached out to Google for comment and will report back when it receives a response.