Yaroslav Korets.
I started Local Review Club because I kept watching honest small-business owners lose to competitors gaming the review system. The solution shouldn't be to play dirtier. It should be a private society that holds everyone to the same line: real service, real experience, real review.
Background
I run KPI Creatives, a Creative Growth Partner firm that builds content systems for real estate, construction, and wellness businesses in the United States. The work is systems-oriented — we don't do campaigns, we build repeatable content infrastructure that earns trust before the sale and delivers results after it.
Over the past several years, I've watched the review ecosystem deteriorate in three ways simultaneously. Fake review brokers got cheaper and more convincing. Legitimate review platforms like Birdeye and Podium priced out the small operators who most needed reviews. And Yelp's anti-solicitation stance made it harder for honest businesses to collect reviews from their actual customers without tripping compliance flags.
Local Review Club is my answer. It's a private society — not software, not an agency, not a growth hack. Members join by referral, get verified as real businesses with real owners, and interact with each other's services as genuine customers. Reviews are voluntary and always based on real experience.
What I Write About
My focus areas are the intersection of local SEO, review compliance, and content systems. I write practical, legally-grounded guidance for business owners navigating a review landscape that is both commercially vital and legally fraught.
Topics I cover regularly:
- Google review policy — what's allowed, what gets you suspended, and how SpamBrain is evolving.
- Yelp's anti-solicitation stance — why legitimate review software still violates Yelp terms and how to stay compliant.
- The FTC's Final Rule (16 CFR Part 465) — what $53,088 per-violation fines mean for small businesses.
- Local SEO and Map Pack ranking — the role of review velocity, author diversity, and sentiment.
- E-E-A-T and AI search (GEO) — how ChatGPT, Claude, and Perplexity evaluate business legitimacy.
- Content systems — why consistent infrastructure beats heroic campaigns.
Editorial Principles
Everything published on this site follows four rules:
- Cite the source. If I reference the FTC's Final Rule, I link to 16 CFR Part 465. If I cite a Yelp policy, I link to the relevant Yelp Support article. Assertions without citations are opinions and are labeled as such.
- No shortcuts. I don't recommend tactics that work in the short term and collapse in the long term. Review gating, incentivized reviews, and fake accounts all fall into that category.
- Write for the business owner who is tired. Most of my readers are solo operators or small teams who don't have time for hype. I write plainly and show the math.
- Update when the facts change. SpamBrain, FTC rules, Yelp policies — these shift. Articles on this site carry a "revised" date and I update material changes.
Contact
The best ways to reach me:
- Email — hello@localreviewclub.com (Local Review Club inquiries)
- LinkedIn — linkedin.com/in/yaroslav-korets
- KPI Creatives — kpicreatives.com (content systems for trust-driven industries)
If you're a journalist working on a story about reviews, local SEO, or FTC enforcement, I respond to HARO and Qwoted queries. If you're a podcast host in the small-business or SMB-marketing space, I'm available for interviews on the topics listed above.