Most Triad service business owners still think of Yelp as a place where college kids review burritos. That has changed. By the end of 2009, Yelp passed 30 million monthly users and started to dominate local search results for plumbers, dentists, attorneys, and contractors in mid-sized markets like Greensboro, Winston-Salem, and High Point.
Why Yelp Matters for Service Businesses Now
Two things changed in the last 18 months. First, Google began surfacing Yelp pages in the top three organic results for local service searches. Second, smartphone adoption in the Triad pushed Yelp's mobile app into daily use for "find me a dentist near me" decisions. Your Yelp page is now a search result whether you have claimed it or not.
Claim Your Page Before Someone Else Edits It
- →Search Yelp for your business name and city. If you find a page, click "Is this your business?" to start the claim. Yelp will call your business phone with a verification PIN within minutes.
- →Add a complete business description, hours, and at least eight photos. Yelp ranks complete profiles higher and shows them with richer detail in search results.
- →Set up email alerts for new reviews. A 24-hour response window dramatically improves how prospects perceive a negative review.
How to Think About Reviews on Yelp
- →Do not pay for reviews. Yelp aggressively filters fake-looking reviews. Suspicious accounts and copy-paste language get hidden behind the "filtered reviews" link.
- →Do not solicit reviews from every customer at once. A spike of five-star reviews from new accounts in one week looks like manipulation to Yelp's algorithm.
- →Respond to every negative review publicly and calmly. The response is read by far more prospects than the original reviewer.
Should You Pay for Yelp Advertising?
Yelp's sales team will start calling within days of claiming a page. Their advertising packages run $300 to $1,000 a month in the Triad. For a Greensboro restaurant or a High Point med spa, the math sometimes works. For a personal injury attorney whose case value is $20,000, even one client a year covers the cost. For a low-ticket service, run the numbers carefully before signing the 12-month contract.
Read the companion pieces on the Google Local Business Center and NAP consistency across the web, or have our digital marketing agency manage your local listings end to end.