{"id":11948,"date":"2019-12-19T10:47:44","date_gmt":"2019-12-19T16:47:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.advicelocal.com\/?p=11948"},"modified":"2019-12-19T10:47:44","modified_gmt":"2019-12-19T16:47:44","slug":"help-yelp-local-businesses","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.advicelocal.com\/blog\/help-yelp-local-businesses\/","title":{"rendered":"Ways to Give a Little Help on Yelp for Local Businesses"},"content":{"rendered":"

If your clients\u2019 businesses aren\u2019t actively using Yelp, they should be. And it all starts with creating a Yelp business listing<\/a>. Once the listing is created, there is so much more you can do to improve the Yelp listing for the businesses you manage.<\/p>\n

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Yelp Profile Optimization Tips & Tricks<\/h2>\n

You can really make your clients shine on Yelp. Let\u2019s explore how.<\/p>\n

Give as Much Business Information as Possible on the Yelp Listing<\/h3>\n

After you\u2019ve created a Yelp profile for your client, the first thing you want to do is fill out the business information section. Be sure to completely fill out your client\u2019s profile \u2014 businesses with complete information tend to rank higher, and customers tend to trust businesses more when they provide more information about themselves. It also means the business won\u2019t have to field as many questions from customers calling about basic information like their business\u2019 hours.<\/p>\n

Remember to include the same NAP (Name, Address, Phone number) across all your client\u2019s business platforms, including their website, Google Business Profile (formerly Google My Business) listing, and yes, their Yelp business profile. Having the same NAP across all platforms will increase your client\u2019s legitimacy to Google and increase the likelihood that they place higher in search results.<\/p>\n

Every business can choose up to three categories on Yelp that describes the business. While you want to include as many categories as your client\u2019s business can fit into, don\u2019t choose categories that clearly don\u2019t apply. Choosing an irrelevant category can hurt the client\u2019s overall rankings and\/or incur a negative review. A good strategy is to look at other similar businesses that have a higher placement\u00a0 and see what categories they\u2019ve included.<\/p>\n

Once you\u2019re finished with the basics, you should begin working on the \u201cFrom the Business\u201d section. This a place where you can write more details about your client, optimize for keywords and make them stand out from their competitors. There are three sections you can add details to: Specialties, (Company) History, and \u201cMeet the Business Owner\u201d. But remember to never spam keywords! Keywords should always sound natural and not stuffed.<\/p>\n

How long should these sections be? There is no single optimum length for these sections so long as they describe your client\u2019s company, products and\/or services. Make sure it flows naturally and is easy to read. Consider using a list format where applicable to break up the paragraphs. A good rule of thumb is to check the profiles of your client\u2019s competitors who are already ranking and emulate those.<\/p>\n

Put Your Best Photos Forward<\/h2>\n

According to internal Yelp data, businesses with more than 10 photos on their profile receive 12 times more customer connections per month. What\u2019s more, businesses that have 1\u20135 reviews and 10 photos receive 200% more user views than businesses with the same number of reviews and no photos. Needless to say, photos are extremely important on Yelp.<\/p>\n

Your client\u2019s profile photo will be extremely visible on Yelp. On the Yelp search results page, your client\u2019s profile image will be prominently displayed alongside their name. Be sure to only upload photos you and your client would be proud to represent their business.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately with the free business account, Yelp doesn\u2019t allow you to choose which of your client\u2019s photos will be featured as their profile image. You should be uploading new photos for your client\u2019s business profile regularly to ensure they accurately reflect their business. There is no limit to the amount of photos you can upload to their Yelp profile.<\/p>\n

Managing Yelp Reviews Effectively<\/h2>\n

On Yelp, reviews are king. While customers do use Yelp to find information about local businesses, the main reason they visit Yelp is for reviews. According to one study, over 45% of consumers are likely to check reviews on Yelp before visiting<\/a> a business.<\/p>\n

But how should you respond to Yelp reviews?<\/p>\n

How to Respond to Yelp Reviews<\/h3>\n

Your response to customer reviews will show people viewing your client\u2019s Yelp profile what they can expect from their business. This means your review responses should be done carefully and strategically! Responding to positive reviews is easy \u2014 it\u2019s the responses to negative reviews that will really reflect on your client\u2019s business.<\/p>\n

As we\u2019ve written before about r<\/a>esponding to reviews<\/a>, the number one rule when responding to negative reviews is to keep things nice and polite. You will want to use a calm tone without being argumentative about the customer\u2019s experience.<\/p>\n

Managing the Infamous Yelp Review Filter<\/h3>\n

Yelp will not necessarily display every review a business receives on their Yelp profile. Yelp uses a review filter where they filter out reviews that they consider low-quality, spam or just from users Yelp deems untrustworthy. And it\u2019s a major portion of the total reviews left on Yelp \u2014 they claim that they filter out 25% of all reviews site-wide<\/a>. These reviews can then only be found under a small \u201cnot recommended\u201d link on the bottom of the business profile.<\/p>\n

This can be both a blessing and a curse for local businesses. It\u2019s great to have spam filtered out so that it doesn\u2019t affect a business\u2019 star rating \u2014 but what do you do if Yelp is filtering out five-star reviews?<\/p>\n

Typically reviews are being filtered because Yelp doesn\u2019t fully trust the user who left the review \u2014 which can mean that user is new to Yelp, hasn\u2019t left many reviews, has little information on their user profile and\/or doesn\u2019t have many friends on Yelp. So what can you do to help get these reviews off the \u201cnot recommended\u201d list?<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s a few things you can do to try to push those reviews through the filter:<\/h4>\n