If you want to increase the likelihood that a customer finds your local business, you need to start optimizing your Yelp listing. The main reason why Yelp works so well is that it doesn’t appear to be a search engine on the surface, but reviews entirely control it.
Yelp Homepage
For example, if you see ads on a web page and a search function is available, you can easily understand that that website has an algorithm to help it rank different web pages.
Here is the basis of Yelp Optimization and some tips to get started:
1.Fill out all your information.
This is a step you should go without saying here, but you need to know that the more details you contain on your Yelp listing, the better optimized that listing is for your readers. That way, you will make your listing superior to those not fully completed.
As you can see, Yelp is just like Google – the reader experience matters.
2.Add photos.
Photos are important elements because they make for a better web page. That’s why you need to prioritize web pages that include many photos. And we are talking here about pages that contain both photos you have uploaded and photos that reviewers have uploaded on these pages. Now that is all set and down, all you have to do is encourage those posts.
3.Respond to reviews.
You need to make sure your web page remains fresh and active. And the best to do that is by responding to reviews on your page. Through those reviews (good or bad), you can better understand your customers’ thoughts, and responding to them means that you care about them. Plus, it shows Yelp and its readers that your web page is active.
4.Optimize for keywords.
Like any other search engine, the most important is writing for your readers, not for web crawlers. And that means that you need to avoid unnatural writing or keyword stuffing. Another thing you need to pay attention to is the content you put on your web page, especially that on your business description. A business description is not much content to work with, so make sure you include the most relevant information about your business that you want to appear on Yelp.
Read More: Medium SEO strategy.
It would help to find some key phrases that you would like to pop up when people search for something. Then, make sure your content is relevant to those key phrases (keywords), and it best matches the user’s intent.
5.Consider Yelp categories carefully.
The most common mistake clients make is wanting to include themselves in many categories at the same time because they think this would be beneficial to them sometime in the future. But that is not really how it works, and the bad news is that some irrelevant categories can hurt your rankings. So, even though you might be allowed to select three types, it doesn’t mean you have to select all the 3; you can choose only the relevant ones.
6.Earn backlinks and engagement for your Yelp web page.
Backlinks are crucial to your page on Yelp (as in any other search engine) as they help guide the algorithm that you are a good page that provides quality content. Even though this is not as important as it is with Google or Bing, backlinks can always drive traffic, and they show authority – so Yelp likes. So, you need to keep going and encourage backlinks as much as possible.
And here are a few ways to dot that:
- Encourage check-ins
Yelp provides check-ins so that users can remember where they have been, earn rewards, and encourage their friends to use Yelp. For instance, if you own a company, you need to encourage as many people as possible to come and visit your business. Then, you can encourage them to check-in in by offering special promotions; only for them. In this way, they check in and get the promotion, and everyone is happy.
- Put a linkable Yelp badge on your site.
You need to let anyone know that you are on Yelp if you want to get some reviews. This is a fantastic way to show legality, so this badge is a must-have if you care about Yelp SEO.
- Set your Yelp link in an email signature.
Putting your Yelp link in an email signature is another excellent way to remind people to check you out on Yelp.
- Ask for reviews in a drip campaign.
This is a really good way to ask people to check you out on Yelp by asking them to review your company after they’ve purchased it. In this way, you can get your web page in front of people, leading to a link or higher traffic. And this looks good in the eyes of the Yep algorithm.
7.Keep updating your listing.
Although you might be happy with the way your listings are, you need to keep them up to date constantly. This includes responding to reviews, improving your content, offering check-ins promotions, and adding photos. In this way, you indicate that you are being active and trying to rank on Yelp.
Another thing to consider when staying up to date is rolling with the changes that the platform (Yelp) makes.
