When it comes to local SEO ranking, there’s a LOT of information online about what’s going to make it better and what’s going to make it worse. So much so that it can be hard to know what’s true.
Today, we’re going to look at what Yelp reviews do to your local SEO ranking and definitely answer the question: do they help, hurt, or totally ignore your bottom line?
An Overview of Yelp & Local SEO Ranking and Reviews
Before we get specifically to Yelp, we need to address the role of reviews in general to local SEO ranking.
In short, yes – rankings DO actually improve your ranking. By some counts, they account for almost 10% of your overall search engine ranking. And with all the other auxiliary benefits to your SEO that reviews drive (e.g. more content on site, more inbound links from high authority sites), it’s pretty clear reviews have a positive impact.
What Review Characteristics Do Search Engine’s Look For?
Again, it’s hard to say exactly what search engines look for and what they prioritize when they’re looking at business review sites like Yelp.
But looking again at Moz’s list of ranking factors, we can surmise a few things.
First, review quality is important. Simply put, it’s better to have positive reviews than negative reviews because Google takes that into account when they return search engine page results.
Second, review relevancy. The reviews on sites like Yelp need to be relevant to your business. If you run a restaurant, a detailed review of the Ford Focus is of no use to you.
Third, primacy. Your reviews need to be recent and up to date, so that Google recognizes that they’re accurate and that people are actually going to your business.
How Yelp Can Help Your Bottom Line
Now we get to Yelp, and how it (and others like it) can help your bottom line. In a nutshell, the reason that it’s beneficial to be on sites like Yelp, TripAdvisor, and whatever industry-specific review aggregation sites your industry has (e.g. Zomato for restaurants) is that their SEO power is almost invariably going to be more powerful than yours.
They have thousands of inbound links, new content every single day, extremely dense content pages, and quite simply a mammoth amount of authority.
The result is that unless someone is looking for your business SPECIFICALLY, it’s likely that MOST Google searches will return a search where page one is just a slew of reviews sites.
For example, imagine you run a Thai restaurant called Bangkok Thai. You’ll get some customers Googling your name specifically (e.g. Bangkok Thai phone number) which is where all your other local SEO comes in handy (e.g. NAP).
But that’s not what most people are going to Google. Most people are going to Google ‘Good Thai near me’ or ‘Best Thai food’.
And THOSE search results are dominated by sites like Yelp.
Yelp Overview – Wrap Up
At the end of the day, the fact is that a site like Yelp will help your local SEO by improving the review aspect of your website. But the additional value if that you get exposure to extremely valuable page 1 real estate for free by piggybacking their SEO success.
And that’s how it helps your bottom line – when you have a Yelp listing, your SEO gets easier for free.
Want to Know How to Get More Yelp Reviews? Here Are 5 Ways:
For any new business, online reviews may seem both baffling and difficult to control. But the reality of the modern day is that customers rely heavily on online reviews when making buying decisions. Studies shop that 90% of American consumers report that they read reviews before making a purchase decision.
On the bright side, online reviews give new businesses lots of opportunities to increase exposure. Managing your online reviews is not only crucial to your business’s reputation, but also important for growing your business.
Read on for tips on how to get more Yelp reviews to increase the attention your business gets.
1. Friends and Family
One of the hardest things to do on Yelp is to get the ball rolling. You will find that once you can get a steady stream of generally positive reviews, the momentum will keep going.
If you need positive content on your business’ page, ask friends and family for some help. In most cases, your friends and family members are already your most loyal customers anyway. Ask them to leave some positive feedback and highlight specific aspects of your business that they love.
2. Loyal Customers
If your business has been running for a while, you will have likely built a relationship with some loyal customers. If these customers are consistently coming back, they are definitely a big fan of you and your work.
Ask them to post about their experience on your Yelp page. They are sure to leave some glowing reviews. Back before online review sites were popular, business owners would say to their customers: “tell your friends.” Yelp reviews in a lot of ways are just a modern take on the same idea. Instead of spreading reviews by word of mouth though, it is through the power of the internet.
3. Use the Yelp Symbol and Brand
Yelp does its part of helping businesses by having many internet friendly badges and programs that let the public know that your business is featured on Yelp. Yelp offers several badges that can be put on your website, which links to your Yelp business profile.
There is also a “People Love Us on Yelp” status that you can use on various marketing materials. “People Love Us on Yelp” is a program that acknowledges upstanding companies that can qualify based on their rating. If your business qualifies, you should definitely take advantage of using this status on your brochures, flyers, and website.
4. Link your Business to your Email Signature
Don’t forget to add a link to your business in your email signature. Businesses overlook the marketing value of an email signature, but it is a great way to get more Yelp reviews.
It is also a good idea to mention phrases such as: “Check us out on Yelp” to subtly encourage customers to click the link to your business listing.
5. Social Media
In today’s age where the power of social media is unrivaled, it’s crucial that you are sharing reviews on social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter.
Utilizing social media to your advantage is one of the best ways to get more Yelp reviews. Social media is also an important aspect of social monitoring, which is the tracking of a business’s internet reputation.
Ready to Get More Yelp Reviews?
Online reviews have become an important part of building and maintaining a business’s reputation. Yelp is a forerunner when it comes to an online review company.
Utilizing online reviews to your advantage is a great way of ensuring the success of your business.
How Do You Get Yelp to Stop Filtering Good Reviews?
Let’s cover how to get Yelp to stop filtering good reviews. A happy customer gives you a good review, and then Yelp filters that review. It’s infuriating as a business owner, and it’s not right.
Let’s talk about it…
How to Get Yelp to Stop Filtering Good Reviews
First, you have to know how to know if your customer is even a Yelp user.
How to Identify a Yelper?
To be an official ‘Yelper’ means the following:
- They have a profile photo.
- Their Yelp profile is filled out.
- Has the Yelp app on their phone; this is a ‘tell-tale’ sign.
- Consistently writes reviews; this can be weekly or monthly.
Those are qualifying questions you could ask; “Hey, do you have the Yelp app on your phone?” If they say no, don’t ask them for a Yelp review. They are not a Yelp user. This is true even if they have been on the app in the past. An official ‘Yelper’ will use the platform regularly and will have quick access using their phone.
Ask ONLY ‘Yelpers’ to leave a review! If they’re not a ‘Yelper,’ send them to Google or another review site, and send them a link to that site.
If You’ve Identified an Official ‘Yelper’
Once you’ve determined that you’re in the presence of an official Yelp user, here are the best things you can do to ensure the review will stay up instead of being ‘filtered out.’
- Ask them to ‘check in’ using their app.
- Ask them to take and upload a photo with their review.
Look at the Yelp Terms and Service page for the most updated information, and always ensure you’re in line with the guidelines.
Good Times to Ask for a Yelp Review
People are busy and won’t necessarily leave a review just for the sake of making your day. It can be tricky, but here are some of our thoughts…
- If they are already complimenting your product or service.
- If they’re inside your business and you know they’re a Yelper.
If they are not a Yelp user, then feel free to send them to a different platform. Have the links ready to send or give to them. This will make things easier for them. You have to ask for a review, whether by verbally asking, texting, emailing, all the above, reminding them on social media to leave you a review, sending the mail, or having it written on your receipt. All of these are good ways to ask and remind.
Read this if you’re struggling with ideas for testimonial questions. We’ve got you covered!
What About Incentivizing Customers for Yelp Reviews?
Well, here’s a hot topic… It’s YOUR business and reputation on the line, right? So, what’s the right thing here? We believe there’s a difference between incentivizing and being a creative business person with an entrepreneurial mind. Also, we’re rebels at heart (We’re RebelFish), not blindly following rules, and are always open to new and creative ideas.
So, while you can’t directly offer your customers an incentive in exchange for a positive review, there are ways to work around this.
Good reviews will be entered into a drawing to win ___________.
We have a client near the beach in San Diego that had a drawing to win a surfboard. Not bad!
Download our app, and get __________.
Sidecar Donuts recently had a promotion to download the app using the QR code on the box for a free donut. Their donuts are around $7. Not bad!
Business owners have incentivized customers in a couple of ways in exchange for actions.
Are there Yelp Police out there searching for businesses they can punish? No. So, it’s really up to you, and it’s all at your own risk. It’s your business. It’s your future.
Are your communication skills up to par? Follow the link for some business communication tips.
What to Do With a Positive Yelp Review
Some things will help Yelp’s algorithm decide whether or not to filter a good review.
- Use the icons available to let them know the review was useful.
- Respond to the good reviews.
Regular engagement with your reviewers will send signals to Yelp and hopefully result in less frequent filtering.
Like many other platforms, ‘domain authority’ (in this case is your Yelp business profile), regular engagement with legitimate user profiles is key. We’ll often find that a good review was filtered because there was no picture attached to the profile. This signals to Yelp that this profile is illegitimate and likely fake or ‘not real people.’ That inevitably takes away from your authority.
And does all this work 100% of the time? No. It’s really annoying when Yelp filters good, amazing reviews, but these are some of our insights from helping thousands of business owners over the years.
So, we’ve covered what to do when you’ve identified an official Yelper and when you get a good review, in addition to what to do if they’re not a Yelper… But what if you have a customer threatening a bad review? First of all, that’s really annoying, we hate to hear this kind of thing, but people are people, am I right? Follow that link to find out what we say about the sticky situation.
3 Ways To Protect Your Business From Yelp Negative Reviews
Getting Yelp negative reviews is frustrating! Now Yelp is labeling businesses as racist. Doing these 3 things with your employees will help you get more positive reviews that you deserve. Here are 3 ways to protect your business from negative yelp reviews:
- Hire The Right People
- Have A Clear Vision For Your Intended Guest Experience
- Set Expectations For Both Customers And Employees
We all love good stories. I’m sure you can relate to each one either laughing or learning how to handle the situation better in the future. If you want to avoid Yelp negative reviews then keep reading!
I have a rule for the negative reviews I write on Yelp. It’s a rule I stick to, no matter what. This is a rule I think is important after having spent years working in different capacities within the hospitality industry. My rule is: I will never post a negative review after only one negative experience. This is difficult to remain committed to at times depending on the circumstances. Unfortunately, most people don’t have a rule. They lash out immediately. Sometimes they are right to be angry. Sometimes it has nothing to do with anyone but themselves.
We all have bad days. I don’t think any of us can deny this with a straight face. If you’re currently trying, you’re likely denying your own humanity. Since we all have bad days as humans, in general, adding to that the title of employee or business owner can certainly make things more complicated.
Recently Yelp announced that they would be taking a “firm stance against racism,” by warning customers when a business has been reported for racist behavior. Their blog mentions “there is a clear need to warn consumers about businesses associated with egregious, racially-charged actions to help people make more informed spending decisions.”
So, how can we protect ourselves and our business from Yelp and negative reviews?
We can argue this policy and it’s various contributing factors until we’re blue in the face and it will likely not change the reality that these are the times in which we live. Anyone can say anything about my business and immediately affect my reputation and livelihood. So, what are we, as business owners, to do? I think it’s important to at least address the things we can control.
Hire The Right People
Hire people who display a strong aptitude for EI (emotional intelligence).
While we can train someone to smile and ‘shout a friendly hello’ to customers as they enter our establishment, it’s much more difficult to teach someone how to read a person and interact with them in an appropriate way for the moment. This is something that people with emotional intelligence are able to accomplish naturally.
Hiring people like this will improve the guest experience which will likely result in increased positive reviews over time. If you’re suddenly nervous about having hired your pain in the neck nephew, read on. More can be done.
Have A Clear Vision For Your Intended Guest Experience
Your vision must be clear and must be clearly communicated to your staff.
“Where there is no vision, the people perish.” I like this biblical quote. It happens to apply to business. You must have a vision. Like everything else in life, responsibility starts with me. So I must be clear about the direction in which I want to go and then be able to share it with my employees in a way that creates engagement. Not only will this help me stay active and interested in my own purposes but will likely result in helping the people that work for me be intentional in their own lives. A happy and fulfilled person interacting positively with customers is the best possible advertisement!
Take some time to think about the experiences that you’ve had as a consumer. What are the things that you liked about your interaction? A great way to think through these things in an organized way is to use your five senses. Many times we trudge through our day like overloaded donkeys on a jagged path. Our senses are picking up these details but we don’t necessarily have the bandwidth to process them.
Taking the time to make a list of these easy-to-miss details that you’ll find are plentiful when you’re paying attention, will help you to craft a consumer experience that will rival the best of the best.
If you are like most of our customers when they first came to our site, you have lots of happy customers but your online reviews don’t reflect it. Getting consistent reviews is part of how you get visible and show up on Google.
With our LOCAL 5-step process, most are focused on how to get more reviews. Learn more about our Local SEO Packages.
Set Expectations For Both Customers And Employees
Make sure your customers know what to expect from your business and make sure your employees know what to expect from various encounters.
We all know what a disappointment it is when something hasn’t gone the way we expected. Similarly, we all know what it’s like to ‘know’ what we can expect from the beginning of something. Even if our experience is less than perfect, we already knew it would be and are therefore less disappointed than we would have been otherwise. If we are intentional about what we want our customers to experience and have done the work to make our vision clear, it’s easier to create a plan for a standard customer experience. This plan will include the bullet points we expect our staff to hit with each customer interaction.
My husband and I are in the market for a pre-owned vehicle. We had been ready to purchase a car prior to things getting so dicey with the pandemic and were ready to pull the trigger on two different cars that ended up being sold just before we arrived at the dealerships. We had generally positive experiences with this particular dealership and would return if they currently had cars that met our desire and needs.
Two weeks ago we found a car that had mostly everything we wanted. My husband mostly handled the transaction and had told the dealership that the final sale was contingent upon two issues being resolved. The air conditioner didn’t seem to be functioning properly and there was a malfunction with the rear hatch door that needed to be addressed.
When we went to pick up our new-to-us car, neither of these issues had been fixed. We were told by the young salesperson who was presumably sent to ‘handle us’, that we shouldn’t worry because they will fix both of these issues, but that we should take the car ‘for now’ and bring it back to have it repaired. We knew that if we drove it off of the lot we would be taking the car ‘as is’ and we would have no reasonable expectation that they would remain true to their words. I mean, come on, used car salesman have a certain reputation for a reason, right?
This young, inexperienced, and seemingly put-off-by-a-strong-woman sales boy kept repeating
“It was working for me last night, just take it and bring it back later to have it fixed.”
Over and over we heard these words and each time my husband replied with,
“No, the sale of this car was contingent upon these issues being fixed, so we won’t be taking it until they have been.”
This seems both logical and reasonable to me. But that’s me. We came to discover that they had, in fact, tried to repair the issue with the air conditioner but were not able so they transferred the car to a dealer for that particular manufacturer. It turns out the repair was more expensive than they would have hoped for considering the price for which it was sold. This made it a relatively simple decision for them to cancel the sale and return our money.
What I find unacceptable about this experience is that once the car had been sold, it became the ‘problem’ of the young man they charged with completing the transaction. He didn’t listen to us or care about what we felt was the right thing. His only purpose was to push us off the lot with that car so that they could wipe their hands of us. Well, they sure accomplished the latter. That dealership will forever be crossed off our list – no matter what!
Finally, it’s important to lead our employees by helping to set their expectations for customer interactions. Pre-shift meetings are great for this kind of thing. Let them know that they will inevitably encounter customers who are having a bad day. Let them know there is no reason to take anything personally. Let them know how you expect them to handle themselves in these types of situations.
Navigating the world of online reviews is fraught with challenges and can be a cause for extreme anxiety. Implementing the above steps will at least provide you with an additional layer of protection from the ever-expanding world of online trolls eagerly awaiting their next opportunity to pounce.
Now, it’s your turn to respond. Have you experienced a local business doing something racist? What’s your plan to NEVER get that racist label from Yelp? Leave us a comment below.
Want Help With Getting More Yelp Reviews?
Like I mentioned earlier, we can help you navigate the world of online reviews whether you get good reviews or some Yelp negative reviews. Watch this video about the review system we set up for you.
Our review system can be used for a single location, multilocation, or franchises. If you are trying to be visible on Google Maps or Google in your local area you need to have an online review strategy and someone to help you manage the process.