Yelp is a social recommendation and sharing software that aids in the discovery of the greatest events, restaurants, pubs, clubhouses, and pop-ups. If your business depends on local search traffic for the bulk of its revenue, Yelp is a critical component of your web strategy. Moreover, since its inception in 2004, Yelp has been the go-to destination for millions of people seeking information about local businesses.
It lets users check-in at company locales, rate and write reviews, post remarks on other reviews, share images, and participate in discussions about the business or services. Businesses can also create a presence on Yelp to engage with the app’s user community, which is good news for you as an entrepreneur. This puts you in control of your business and enables you to take advantage of this great platform to expand your consumer base.
In this article, we’ll learn about local SEO, how to harness the power of Yelp, how to optimize your Yelp listing, and the five ways to boost local SEO.
Is Yelp good for SEO
When search engines evaluate a website, they try to figure out how trustworthy it is. Users can accomplish this naturally, but search engines must depend on other variables. Search engines like Bing, Google, and Yahoo establish a website’s credibility not only by crawling the site itself but also by searching for relevant mentions and hyperlinks all over the Internet.
Off-site mentions of a business, such as online yellow pages, social media platforms, and online directories, will be scanned by search engines. A law company that practices strong SEO should claim and expand its online directory listings on websites, but a Yelp listing is also essential.
While legal firm directories can help with backlinks, a Yelp listing can help with SEO in another way. From the perspective of search engines, Yelp is extremely trustworthy. Because users can give reviews and ask questions about each listing, the information is frequently more up-to-date than in other directories.
What is Yelp and how does it work?
Yelp combines traditional business listings in a directory like Yellow Pages with social elements. Customers can leave feedback on their experiences with that business which does two things. It informs future customers of what they might expect and it keeps standards high, or forces an improvement of those standards to prevent negative feedback.
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How do I optimize my Yelp listing
In one way, Yelp is similar to Google in that it’s always preferable to be at or near the top when people search for keywords related to your business. To give your Yelp business listing a fighting chance of appearing at the top of the search results, you’ll need to make a purposeful effort, just as with traditional SEO. You can expect to be unsuccessful if you skip this step and instead choose to put your Yelp marketing on autopilot. Here are a few things you can do to optimize your Yelp listing:
- Select the correct service category
This should go without saying, but many entrepreneurs make the mistake of misclassifying their business category, not only on Yelp but also on other platforms. Double-check that your submission is included in the relevant category for your industry. If it isn’t, it won’t matter if you use all of the appropriate keywords throughout your listing. Moreover, when it comes to acquiring new customers, you’re going to have to fight an uphill struggle. You can check the complete Yelp business category list here.
💡💡💡 Remember that…
Having your company listed in the appropriate categories allows customers to understand what your company is all about. A company can fall into one of three types. There are millions of possible category combinations as a result of this. Make sure the categories you choose accurately describe your company.
- Make a list of keywords for which you want to get ranked
It’s time to go away from the computer and brainstorm with a few of your coworkers once you’re sure you’ve got your company classified under the correct category. Specifically, you should create a list of keywords for which you wish to rank on Yelp.
Take a look at your list of keywords from your brainstorming session and prioritize the ones that you believe will help you attract new consumers the most. Keep the remaining ones in hand in case you need them in the future.
- Add keywords to your listing
Now that you’ve compiled your keyword list, it’s time to incorporate them into your listing. Pay special attention to the keywords in your Specialties section. That portion appears to be particularly important to the Yelp search engine. It’s to your best advantage to get as many of your keywords in there as possible.
However, just like with regular SEO, it’s critical to make everything appear totally natural. You’re probably doing yourself more harm than good if you appear to be keyword stuffing or simply listing specialties without typing whole phrases. It’s preferable to put your keywords in text that has a marketing tone but is also conversational. That way, you won’t come across as a spammer.
- Complete your profile
Make sure that your profile is properly completed. Yelp, like many other platforms (such as LinkedIn), values a complete profile. That’s why you should go through it thoroughly and make sure that it’s as complete as possible. Add images, movies, instructions, full text, and addresses, among other things.
What are five ways to improve local SEO
Having a local search engine presence will help you promote your store. Phone books are almost non-existent these days, and attracting foot traffic isn’t as simple as it once was, especially in large cities with too many stores to count. As a small company owner, you’re undoubtedly wondering about local SEO can harness the power of Yelp.
Here are five things you can do to increase your local SEO:
- Create consistent listings using NAP
- Use Google My Business
- Encourage reviews of your business
- Add keywords to your website correctly
- Work to receive local press
Is Yelp still relevant?
Around 45% of customers check Yelp before visiting a business. Additionally, about 63% of consumers say they check reviews on Google before visiting a business. Yelp ranks second, with roughly 45%. According to Yelp facts, the platform is still very relevant despite its fierce competitors.
Yelp Statistics 2022
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