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Do Local Businesses Need Yelp

Do Local Businesses Need Yelp?

 
Of course not, Yelp needs local businesses.

DISCLAIMER: I am not a fan of Yelp, Yelp Ads, Yelp reviews, Yelpers, or anything even loosely associated with Yelp. This is 100% my opinion based on past experience with clients’ experience on the platform.

Having said all that, I believe a Yelp Business listing is an essential local citation to claim, verify & optimize for any local business – and it’s 100% free to do that.

What’s not free are Yelp Ads, and in my opinion, they are a complete waste of money for damn near any business.

But, you’re not here to read some Yelp rant, those abound out there on the interweb. What we’ll tackle with this post is why & how to claim, verify & optimize your Yelp Business page.
 

How to Claim Your Yelp Business Page

 
Yelp Business pages are nothing new, but many local businesses still have unclaimed listings out there that could be hurting their overall online visibility.

The immediate benefit of claiming your Yelp Business page is to confirm and verify that all of the info is correct – and consistent with your Google My Business info, website info, other local directory info that’s circulating throughout the local search ecosystem.

Believe it or not people do search Yelp for food, drinks, even dentists – and for what other Yelpers have to say about them. In case you didn’t know it, Yelp does have a community of fervent supporters.

To claim your business listing, go here – https://biz.yelp.com – then follow the directions to either search for and claim your listing, or add your practice to Yelp’s index of local businesses.

The process looks something like this:
 
Yelp Business Pages Claim

How to claim your Yelp Business page
 
Then complete all of the fields asking for information about your business…location details, contact info, categories, bio, history, payment options, business hours, specialties…etc.

In order to publish the revised listing, the final step is to verify – simple, just follow the steps and prompts and have Yelp call your office.

The verification call is real-time as well and will take all of 10 seconds to complete. Just make sure you do it!

You can even add your YouTube video and an offer!

You’ll also see prompts to advertise and add some of Yelp’s paid search products, but again this is NOT necessary to claim your Yelp Business page.

We won’t get into the why of paid advertising avoidance on Yelp, as that – which is just this scribe’s opinion – is another topic for another blog post, but if you’ve been following any of our social media communications you certainly know why…
 

What If My Business Is Not Listed on Yelp?

 
If your business is NOT yet listed in Yelp (if when you search for it by name and location you see this):
 
How to Verify Your Yelp Business page
 
Just click the link that says, “Add your business to Yelp” – and complete the same process of building out your profile to 100% by adding all of the necessary attributes.

Again, the main thing to be aware of is consistency with your business name, address, telephone & website info.

Use your real-world business name and make sure everything matches your Google My Business listing, website, and every other (claimed) local directory listing (citation) you have floating around out there.

If you need help just toss out a lifeline or broadcast a local search MAYDAY and I’ll be happy to help.

Give a call or drop an email and I’ll get in touch with you personally. And if you’d rather not go the DIY route with local seo for your local business, check out our Local 360™ service and have us do it all for you!
 

Local SEO Reviews & Citation Building Service

 
Carlsbad Local SEO Citation Listings Scan
 

Yelp Offers Up Mobile App for Business Owners

 
In today’s fast-paced, everything at our fingertips age of convenience, local business owners concerned with their digital word of mouth rely heavily on being able to access what their customers have to say about them in real-time.

As we’ve illustrated with the Google My Business App, the ability to receive notifications of these online interactions is something that should be of keen interest to every business owner.
 
Yelp App for Business Owners
 
According to Yelp,

Business owners can download the Yelp for Business Owners app for iOS or Android. It’s designed to make it easier for business owners to engage with their customers and manage their Yelp reputation on the go. We’re excited to deliver a way for businesses to get real-time mobile notifications of new Yelp messages and reviews, and facilitate faster response times to consumers.

Local businesses interested in monitoring their digital word of mouth on Yelp can download the app from the App Store or Google Play. Watch the video to get the lowdown on all the features available on the Yelp for Business Owners mobile app:
 

 

How Does the Yelp for Business Owners App Benefit Local Businesses?

 
Along with the added convenience of receiving real-time review & message notifications, you can also use the Yelp for Business Owners App to:

  • View your Yelp Business Page activity – see the number of views & leads your page received in the past 30 days.
  • Respond to user reviews by sending a private message or posting a public reply.
  • Respond to inquiries from the Message the Business feature.
  • View reports on ad clicks from Yelp users (IF you run ads on Yelp…which I don’t recommend because you can receive better ROI elsewhere – at least in my small opinion).

 

Local SEO Reviews & Citation Building Service

Carlsbad Local SEO Citation Listings Scan