Five updates you should make to your Yelp Page

In every neighborhood there’s that one house. I’m sure you know it. The house where the Halloween decorations are up until December, the holiday lights are up until May, and you can still find last year’s Easter eggs all year round. As time goes on, things change (or at least they should).

The same goes for your business. As your business changes, so should the way you represent and market it. Did you make some staffing changes? Win an award? Bring in a new product? Start offering a new service? How are you letting people know? When someone is looking online for businesses like yours, you should tempt them with your latest selection. Help them learn what your business is—not what your business was. These five steps will walk you through a Yelp page update.

1. See what searches are leading to your business

Imagine if you could know what searches led people to your business. On Yelp, you can. You’re able to see the top search terms lead consumers to your business. It’s one of the best kept secrets that is hiding in plain sight. This new-found knowledge will help you make changes to your page. Finding this information is simple.

Knowing what people are finding you for can help you be more strategic with how you update your page. If you find you’re not being found for a service you offer, that’s a chance to do a better job highlight it on your page.

1. Go to your Yelp page
2. Look on the right hand side
3. Scroll down past hours, and business information
4. Look for the red text: ‘People found [your biz name] by searching for…”

Knowing what people are finding you for can help you be more strategic with how you update your page. If you find you’re not being found for a service you offer, that’s a chance to do a better job highlight it on your page.

2. Wow people with your latest and greatest

Have you won some new awards recently? Maybe you are offering a hard-to-get product or treatment. Your specialities section is the place to let people know what you do. Brush the cobwebs off what you originally put in there and spice it up. Try to incorporate those keywords from the first step. You have 1500 characters available to sell your business. Try to use every last one of them.

Some businesses do it all. You could be a salon that does hair, makeup, waxing and nails. While you’re a one-stop-shop, you can only choose three categories on Yelp. Yup, we have a long list to choose from. You want to be in the categories that make the most sense for your business. That may not be three, but if it is, include them all! Going back to the salon for example, if you’re waxing business is maxed out, it might be time to remove that category and swap in one of your other business areas.

Some categories have another layer called ‘services’. If you are in a services-eligible category, make sure to add them. You can do that right in your business account. This will help you streamline the requests you get and pre-qualify your leads. Additionally, your service list could help more accurately recommend your business in search results.

3. Swap out your photos

Have you ever found an old box of pictures in the attic? Just like in the movies, you gently blew the dust off the lid to reveal the hidden treasures inside. A trove of moments captured in time—old-timey dresses, big hair, and acid washed jeans. That is the last feeling you want potential customers to have looking at your business. Make sure your photos are recent, fresh, and represent your business. Remember: there’s no limit to the number of photos you can upload.

You don’t need to be a professional to take great photos. Check out these tips for taking high quality images on an iPhone. And be sure to caption all of your photos. You don’t want to make people guess what they’re looking at. Make sure you’re telling the full story.

4. Update your offers

If you’re really looking to bring in new business, you probably have a Check-in Offer or a Yelp Deal set up. Like photos, old offers can go stale. Mix things up. Try testing out a fresh offer or incorporating it into the touch points you have with customers. We even have creative assets you can use inside your business.

The best way to measure if an offer is working for you is by track its performance. Log into your business account once a month to see how many check-ins you received or deals you’ve sold in the last 30 days. Divide that by your monthly page views. As you change the offer, look and see how that percentage changes. Keep the offer with the highest redemption rates.

5. Get a facelift and turn up the volume

If you’re looking to get more business from Yelp, it might be time to start advertising. The Yelp ads program is flexible and can change to fit your business needs. Are you going through your slow season and need some more business? You can start an ad campaign to do just that. If you’ve invested in advertising on Yelp in the past, a lot has changed. Take a moment and learn what’s new with Yelp Ads.

Another good option would be sprucing up your page with an Enhanced Profile. That’s a fancy way of saying you can add some upgrades to your page that help you stand out. You’ll be able to sort your photos in a slideshow, remove competitor ads, and add a Call-To-Action banner to really make your business shine. Plus, it will help you get more out of the traffic you’re already getting. Businesses with an Enhanced Profile see a 38% increase in leads on average.*

Yelp isn’t a set it and forget it type of tool. The businesses that take full advantage of their tools on Yelp are the ones typically getting the most out of it. Make sure you’re taking the time to go back through your page and making updates as your business changes. If you can’t make changes as they’re happening, set a calendar reminder to do a Yelp page update every three to six months.

*Yelp Internal Data, 2017