Yelp is widely known and accepted as one of the most used and trusted online search and review services among consumers/clients, therefore it is vital that businesses do not ignore it and keep the information fresh. To assist you with getting and keeping your Maryland business racking on Yelp, we have compiled a list of factors that play a role in the growth of your profiles ranking on Yelp’s internal searches.

Make use of your entire business profile. Yelp values profiles that have been filled out to the greatest extent possible. By taking advantage of something so simple, you will easily help to boost the ranking of your site on Yelp. Provide as much information as you can, from your business categories (the correct category is extremely important), company hours, website address, pictures/videos, business description and more.

Branding signals and location are also ranking factors. Branding is one of the crucial factors in contemporary SEO. Having the business name in the page URL, the page title, and the content title, makes the business-listing page relevant to branded searches. List your city, state (and other locational search terms, DCâ€“VAâ€“MDâ€“WV metropolitan) in the page title and your physical address. In addition, make sure that your local phone number is listed before any other numbers. Mis-match or detected false business location and phone number can be seen as a negative ranking factor for Yelp and SEO.

Do not hesitate to ask for reviews from your customers/clients. While it is against Yelp’s terms of service for business owners to take part in review trading scams, it’s important to know that there is nothing wrong about asking your customers to consider leaving a review of your businesses performance so long as you aren’t pushy about. Granted it is only best to request reviews if you are confident that the feedback will be positive in nature. Consider including a Yelp link/badge/widget on your website for direct access to your profile on Yelp or include information on your profile in your marketing materials.

Prevent good reviews from being filtered from your profile. One of the biggest complaints that Yelp receives are regarding the number of positive reviews left by actual customers, are often being hidden behind the company’s review filter. This happens due to Yelp’s unique algorithm filter that tries to prevent fake reviews simply by sorting out the users that have not completely filled out their personal profiles, lack friends and have only left a single review for one business. In order to try to prevent / remedy this, business owners can reach out to their customers to let them know that their reviews aren’t being seen and that by filling out their profiles more completely and reviewing other businesses the issue can be easily resolved. As the users’ engagement on Yelp increases, the reviews that were once filtered will become public.

Respond to your reviews. In addition to thoroughly completing your business profile, Yelp also rewards business owners that are frequently active on their profile. One of the best ways to be active is by taking the time to engage with your customers by responding to their reviews with genuine feedback.

For more exciting information on online marketing and how SEO can help your business grow, please get in touch with us today at 1-301-519-9622