3 Reasons Why Yelp is More Important Than Ever for Local Businesses

Let’s face it, your business is on Yelp whether you want it to be or not. Your customers can leave reviews, good and bad, that are visible to anyone who has Internet access. So, if you aren’t actively managing your company’s profile, the time is now. Having a professional appearance on Yelp is becoming increasingly important for three major reasons.1. According to Search Engine Land, people are performing more local searches (e.g. “Pizza in Denver”) than ever before. Roughly 20 percent of Google searches and 40 percent of smartphone searches are local. Moreover, Google estimates that 97 percent of consumers search for local businesses online. What does this have to do with Yelp? It’s a trusted domain that ranks very highly for this type of search. So, regardless of where the search originates, there is a strong likelihood a customer will end up on Yelp.2. Yelp’s popularity is growing – fast. The statistics from this year’s second quarter are telling; Yelp says its number of unique users grew at an average rate of 52% during those three months. This means that existing Yelpers kept using the service, while an impressive number of new Yelpers were born.3. Yelp recently developed important partnerships with Apple, Bing and BMW, which will further establish Yelp’s brand and provide new channels of traffic. Apple will integrate Yelp’s mobile app into their new mobile operating system, iOS 6, making it the most likely service that iPhone owners will use when searching for local businesses. Meanwhile, Bing will feature content from Yelp on Bing Local search pages; reviews and ratings from Yelp will appear directly in Bing results. In addition, Yelp was the first application made available for use in BMW’s on-board navigation systems.Yelp is and will continue to be one of the most important online communities for local businesses. The data supports it. If you aren’t already managing your Yelp profile, there’s no time like the present.David Kreitzer* Get Yelp Review Notifications from ReviewBell.com *https://yashta.com/boosternews.php?b=63139