When you think of search and review platforms, Google is likely the first (and possibly only) thing that comes to mind. With the overwhelming majority of homeowners using Google, it makes sense to focus your time on this platform. But Google isn’t the only option! There are other platforms that you should consider for your home service company to diversify your strategy – like Yelp.
In case you aren’t familiar, Yelp is, at its core, a review site. Businesses set up profile pages, and customers rate them based on their experiences. However, many users treat Yelp like a search engine, basing their decisions on the type of information they see on a company’s profile.
Even though Yelp may not be the brand name it was in the late 2000s/early 2010s, it still draws a ton of traffic – more than 160 million page visits in October 2022, for example. According to its own internal data, there have been nearly 1.6 billion home service category searches on Yelp in the past six months in Los Angeles, alone!
Speaking of LA, Yelp is particularly influential for home service businesses along the coasts. Its top markets for home service category searches include Los Angeles, San Francisco, San Diego, Seattle and New York. Sacramento, Washington D.C., Honolulu, Dallas/Fort Worth and Chicago round out the top 10.
Even better than those stats? Yelp’s users are super passionate about the platform. They trust Yelp more than any other source of information, allowing Yelp to wield enormous power to influence your audience.
So, how can your home service business better utilize Yelp? Here’s some advice.
Free vs. Premium Yelp Accounts
One of the first decisions to make is whether your home service company should have a free or premium listing on Yelp. If you opt for the free route, your profile will include:
- Business name, description, address, phone number and website
- Hours of operation
- Services offered
- Photo gallery
- Review postings
- Review responses
- Competitor listings
A premium listing offers some additional options for your profile like a logo, license number and Yelp verified badge, company highlights and portfolio items. But there are two additional premium features that home service business owners are going to find particularly interesting.
- Profile call to action (like a Request a Quote button, showing your average response time)
- No competitor listings (the true power of a premium account, meaning Yelp won’t offer up other suggestions to users on your profile)
Yelp Best Practices
If you decide to make Yelp a part of your overall marketing strategy, it’s key to incorporate the following best practices:
- Respond to requests – If a lead fills out the Request a Quote feature, you need to know about it and get to it quickly. Yelp will display your response time, and this should ideally be minutes – not hours.
- Respond to reviews – Regularly check for new reviews, and respond to all of them quickly, both good and bad. How a company responds to a negative review sends powerful signals to potential customers, as well.
- Utilize the photo gallery – This area should be full of actual photos of your business: vans, technicians, call center and completed jobs. In other words – no stock photos.
- Utilize the portfolio items – This premium feature can really help your business stand out from the competition. It might be a good spot for portfolios of big jobs you’ve completed or a showcase of current offers. Take advantage of this real estate.
Yelp Ad Campaigns
Here at Leadhub, we’ve seen some particularly strong results for our clients that run Yelp ads. There are a couple of options to choose from when it comes to campaigns on Yelp, but there are no long-term contracts. You can adjust your ad spend whenever you’d like.
- PPC listings – Yelp’s PPC listings show up in two different places: competitor listings and search results. When you think of Yelp ads, this is likely what you envision.
- Yelp Connect – This is a paid feature that allows businesses to share updates, posts and offers – much like Google My Business. It’s a great complement to Yelp PPC listings because it allows for retargeting via the Yelp website, app, emails and Connect posts.
Yelp Success Story
Yelp refers to one of our clients – a plumbing company in Anaheim – as its poster child. Not only are they a premium account on Yelp, meaning they’ve unlocked all those great profile features, but they also pay to access Yelp Connect. They respond to all reviews – good and bad. Their lead response statistics are fantastic – 100% response rate with an average response time of 10 minutes. Finally, they use the Portfolio section for offers to catch a homeowner’s eye. In October alone, Yelp helped generate 460 leads and 37 jobs.
Leadhub Is A Yelp Partner
Leadhub is one of Yelp’s fastest-growing partners, which unlocks exclusive resources for our clients that market on Yelp. Here are just a few of the advantages of choosing a Yelp Partner to be your marketing partner.
- Discounted premium features on Yelp (i.e. Page Upgrades)
- Yelp team support, monitoring and adjustments for paid campaigns
- Yelp and Leadhub have regular meetings about campaign performance, local competition and visibility adjustments
- Direct access to elevated support for quicker resolutions to issues
- Better tracking with UTM parameters for profiles and campaign links
Leverage The Power Of Yelp
Adding a new layer to your marketing strategy can be daunting — especially if you have little experience with the new platform. When your home service business is ready to add Yelp to your marketing efforts, choose a trusted marketing partner for peace of mind and maximum ROI. Contact Leadhub today for a free discovery call.
