Beginners Guide to Yelp Ads [2024]

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Updated: September 12th, 2024

What Are Yelp Ads?

Yelp Ads refers to the placement of promotional content on Yelp with the intention to reach more customers who visit Yelp.

The Yelp advertisements will appear in the search results and on business listings.

Through Yelp ads, you can bring more people back to your Yelp business page so that they learn more about your business and ultimately decide to contact you.

Yelp Ads Key Takeaways

Yelp Ads promote your business in key areas across the Yelp website and mobile App
Customized Yelp Ads help you attract relevant customers
Yelp Ads will be displayed to people who show interest in your business or services

Understanding How Yelp Ads Work

Yelp prides itself in being the leading social network for consumer ratings and reviews.

According to research, 97% of yelp visitors end up making a purchase.

Therefore, Yelp Ads make a great resource for businesses hoping to reach more customers.

Yelp Ads work in the same way Facebook Ads and LinkedIn Ads work. Therefore, business owners can choose paid Yelp ads for preferential rankings and placements on Yelp.

When you sign-up for Yelp advertising, your yelp ads get more impressions, increasing the chances of receiving that important call from prospects.

Real-World Examples

1. Nikola Tesla Electric

Nikola Tesla Electric is our first example of a business using Yelp Ads to reach customers.

The electrical services provider also has a Yelp Business page

The company Yelp business page provides detailed information about the business.

The detailed business information together with impressive past reviews contribute to the potential of being hired by customers looking for electricians in the Bay Area.

2. Law Offices of Lee & Wong

The Law Offices of Lee & Wong uses Yelp Ads to reach target customers searching for litigation services.

The law firm targets new customers through the sponsored Yelp Ads.

They have listed the services offered and included the contact details as well as operating hours on their Yelp Business page.

This information is important information to the customers wanting to hire an advocate.

How To Get Started with Yelp Ads

Claim your business listing
Improve the Yelp profile
Moderate ratings and reviews
Reach out to Yelp sales rep to help with customized Yelp ads
Optimize Yelp Ads for local E-Commerce business
Measure results and tweak the Yelp Ads as needed

Run ads on Yelp

If you run a restaurant, real estate business, gig business, or other "local" business, it may be worth advertising your on Yelp.

Case Study

Yelp ads

Pros:

Yelp has high consumer trust. Many people take Yelp’s recommendations as if it were a friend telling them.
If you can rank #1 in a city for a service you yield massive results. There doesn’t seem to be much of a long tail in that the top three or so results get all the business.

Cons:

Predatory sales tactics: They are a bit harassing with their phone calls and claim it helps the page
Real reviews getting taken down. They have a recommendation system in which certain reviews become unviewable this tends to happen to at least 50% of reviews.
Contracts for ads. They don’t allow month to month deals.

Max Maher, on starting Skinny Wimp Moving ($60,000/month) full story ➜

meet the author

Pat Walls

I'm Pat Walls and I created Starter Story - a website dedicated to helping people start businesses. We interview entrepreneurs from around the world about how they started and grew their businesses.

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