Should You Trust Dispensary Reviews on Google and Yelp?

Westword

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Dear Stoner: I was looking for a dispensary in Phoenix on Google, and almost all of them had five stars no matter how shady the photos were. Since coming back to Denver, I've seen more of the same. How are they all so highly rated?
Roe

Dear Roe: Google and Yelp ratings always need to be considered with a grain of salt. Cannabis dispensaries
were built on the back of a tourist-heavy economy, and what do out-of-towners use when looking up bars, restaurants and pot shops? Ever since the medical marijuana days of the early 2000s, dispensaries have been bribing customers for good reviews on the internet, usually in the form of a penny joint (or something similar) in exchange for proof of a five-star rating on websites like Google, Leafly, Weedmaps and Yelp.

click to enlarge

Most dispensaries have high ratings on the internet, but that doesn't necessarily mean they're good.

Google screenshot

Some of these websites, like Yelp, incorporate your location, past searches and personal profile preferences to their rankings, but user ratings still play a huge part. To get a truer sense of a store, read visitor comments on these websites, or check out local outlets (like Westword's cannabis page, perhaps) and user-created social media threads for more specific information. It's going to take more than a quick Google search if you want to find new and exciting cannabis products, dispensary deals and strain or hash reviews.


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