Local businesses are the lifeblood of Yelp and, now more than ever, in the midst of the pandemic, we’re working to give them every opportunity to succeed and help them reach and engage with potential customers among Yelp’s high-intent audience. The newly redesigned Yelp for Business, released earlier this year, was created to give business owners more control of ads and enhanced insights into the performance of their business page. For years, business owners have been asking for additional control over their ads on Yelp and, in turn, we’re constantly looking for new ways to meet those requests with new and innovative products. Today, we’re announcing new features and improvements to the Yelp for Business experience that help business owners develop more effective campaigns. 

These new features enable advertisers to make more educated decisions about who they are reaching and where and when their ads are being shown, based on the new additional control features and insights we are providing. 

For the past two years, Yelp has doubled down on product innovation that improves the business owner experience. We want to help businesses grow and succeed, and a key part of this journey is helping our advertisers reach the right potential customers and to understand how Yelp is helping them achieve that. These new features and updates are the next step in our journey to make Yelp for Business an even more effective and helpful resource for business owners.

Clearer dashboard with more control

Fresh new look for the Ads Dashboard

We are releasing a brand new Ads Dashboard for local advertisers. The new dashboard truly puts advertisers in the driver’s seat of their campaign, with numerous control features that help business owners better manage their ads. The new design allows business owners to easily review important reporting and tracking information, bringing even more transparency into their existing campaigns. We’ve heard from business owners how important the Ads Dashboard is, which is why we’ve brought it into the Yelp for Business experience giving them a simpler way to ingest this valuable information about their ongoing campaigns.

Get more control of your ad campaign

We’re also rolling out a number of new features to giving business owners even more control of their Yelp Ads including:

• Ad Goals: This new feature allows advertisers to choose what type of engagement they want to drive, such as phone calls, website visits or messages. Businesses can also choose to let Yelp optimize for the best ROI.

• Keywords: With keywords, advertisers can block their ad from appearing on searches they aren’t interested in. For instance, a painter that only does interior paint can ensure their ads don’t appear in ‘exterior painter’ searches. This new product gives business owners far more control over how they’re surfaced in search results.

• Audience Size Estimator: Advertisers can now see how their ad settings will impact their potential audience size with the new audience size estimator. A widget will appear on the Ads Dashboard to tell advertisers how large their estimated monthly audience will be based on the custom ads settings they have selected. If an advertiser blocks too many keywords, for example, their expected audience will be “Limited,” and they’ll see a warning message.

These new features expand on the numerous controls available for businesses to help them further customize their campaigns. By empowering businesses to make more informed and strategic decisions,it gives them the opportunity to reach a more relevant segment of potential customers —  ensuring that their ads are only shown to consumers looking for a business like theirs.

One click restart

The new one click restart feature makes it easier than ever for advertisers to resume campaigns after pausing their ad spend. With One Click Restart, an advertiser’s previous settings are automatically saved and they are able to start back up again with just one step, saving business owners valuable minutes in the process. A pilot test showed that by making this a simple, one click process for businesses, they were 14% more likely to restart their campaign.

What’s next

As we said when we first launched the new Yelp for Business: this is just the beginning. We will continue to innovate and improve the platform to make this the best possible experience for business owners. Here is a sneak peek at what’s still to come this year.

• Ad Impression Heat Map: With Heat Map, advertisers will have a clear visual of exactly where consumers who have seen their ads are concentrated. This new feature will make ad impressions more tangible and relevant, while providing businesses with data that helps them better utilize and adjust geotargeting to reach the areas they most care about. 
• Leads Visualization: Leads Visualization will help advertisers better understand the leads they are getting on Yelp. Business owners will have access to data on the leads that come from their ad spend and the actions consumers are taking from those leads, including calls, messages, CTA clicks and website visits, and directions and map views. With this new feature, advertisers have a transparent and easily accessible breakdown of all their leads and can strategize accordingly.

With its sleek modernized design, innovative products and advanced features, Yelp for Business is a place where business owners can go to uplevel their presence on Yelp and better understand and control who they are reaching with ads. And, similar to our announcement in May, the work does not stop here. We’ll continue to listen to our business owner community to find new ways to help local businesses succeed, especially in the midst of the pandemic when businesses need our support the most.