Yelp! What Every Restaurant Needs to Know
- 178 million unique visitors monthly
- 84% of users trust posted reviews
- Completely free, and ranks high on search engines such as Google
- 55% of Yelp users have ordered food takeout or delivery
Did you know that Yelp influences millions of consumers daily? With an impressive 178 million unique visitors every month, Yelp is a valuable asset for thousands of restaurants nationwide. Whether your goal is attracting new customers or maintaining relationships with regulars, Yelp gives you the tools to do just that. It also provides great customer confidence, which has tremendous value. Consider: a recent “Local Consumer survey” says that 84% of consumers trust reviews written by other consumers as much as they trust recommendations from personal contacts.2 Yelp also happens to be particularly famous for its following of “Foodies,” people who are genuinely passionate about their dining experiences.
Yelp Reviews
At its core, Yelp is a ratings/reviews website that uses a 1 to 5-star rating system. Yelp is completely free, and it ranks highly on search engines like Google. Yelp provides customers with general information about your business and even offers some customer interaction. This makes Yelp a particularly attractive addition to the toolbelt of local restaurants. The review process is simple for consumers to understand, and easy for business owners to track and respond to. Owners also have the ability to select and highlight the most glowing reviews.
What impact do these reviews have on you? Well, 55% of Yelp users searching for restaurants have ordered takeout or delivery from a restaurant they found on Yelp. In fact, restaurants are one of the most reviewed categories on Yelp.
Yelp Ads
Perhaps you would like to write a message of your own. Yelp allows you to showcase your products and services with a message and photo slideshow. You can experiment to see which message and photos work best for your business, or even add a “Call to Action” button. This allows you to promote a desired action from your customers directly on your Yelp page, such as “Order Now.” This is an excellent feature that turns browsers into paying customers!
One of the most innovative features within the Yelp platform is the capability to Geo-target Yelp users. Yelp Ads allow business owners to reach people searching for specific items that your business offers. Distance Targeting lets you determine how far away to display your Yelp Ads. Whether your business targets customers searching near or far, this feature makes sure your ads are shown for the specific regions you select!
What is the difference between Yelp and Google?
Yelp is a powerful and effective community of food bloggers, who operate within an online platform. Google is a search engine that pulls and organizes information from multiple sources—including blog posts, news articles, social media posts, and websites. Google and Yelp are similar in that they each have their own review system. However, on Yelp one can only write or read reviews directly from the website or application itself, because Yelp is not a search engine. Yelp reviews are organized according to the reviewer’s stats, as well as the reactions it receives. Through Yelp, viewers can also see the establishment’s health “report card,” which comes from local health inspection reports.
Yelp provides a platform where food lovers can engage with local eateries, suggest edits, leave reviews, react to reviews, post photos/videos, and engage in other ways with your business. It is important to make sure that all of your information is accurate and up-to-date. And it is vital for you to address negative reviews as they appear, to protect your brand and your reputation.
At Tría, we can guide you in setting up and maintaining your Yelp listing. We do this by providing you with best and latest practices regarding Yelp listings. So be sure to sign up to speak with a Tria coach today about your current status on Yelp.
