Yelp dominated the restaurant discovery space for many years, but the platform has somewhat faded from its once-central influence in the industry — and that’s to your advantage. One study claims most businesses can see a 5-10% jump in revenue from using the platform wisely. Learning how to effectively promote your restaurant on Yelp can help you can get a piece of this revenue pie.
Below, we’ll take a look at how restaurants are using Yelp’s free and paid tools to drive new customer acquisition so you can learn a few tricks to try yourself.
Key Takeaways:
- • Businesses that use Yelp effectively have reported a 5-10% increase in revenue, suggesting a substantial potential gain from proper use of the platform.
- • Actively engaging with all reviews on Yelp — both positive and negative — helps build a positive reputation and shows potential customers their feedback and experiences are valued.
- • Yelp Ads can amplify visibility and accelerate new customer acquisition, but make sure you know what you’re getting into before you sign on any dotted line.
Optimize Your Restaurant’s Yelp Profile (Always Do This First)
With any kind of digital marketing, it’s important to remember that your business must stand out from the crowd. With so many restaurants listed on Yelp, yours needs to stand out like a tall tree in a field of grass. Here’s how to set up your Yelp profile to start attracting and engaging the right crowd.
First things first, seize your territory! Before someone else does, claim your Yelp business page. This is crucial because, without claiming it, you can’t manage what’s being said or shown about your restaurant. It’s simple:
- 1. Visit Yelp’s business claim page. Search for your restaurant and, if it’s listed, claim it. If it’s not listed, you’ll have the opportunity to add it.
- 2. Verify your relationship to the business. Yelp will need to confirm that you’re the legitimate owner or manager, typically via phone call or email verification.
- 3. Fill out your profile (in great, great detail). Think of your Yelp profile as your restaurant’s online elevator pitch — the pictures should look appetizing and the information easy to digest.
Digging Deeper into Profile Setup
Start with the essentials: Fill out your restaurant’s address, phone number, and hours of operation. Keep this info as accurate as a chef’s knife — nobody likes to show up to a closed restaurant (we’ve seen plenty of negative reviews for this!).
Fill out the profile in detail. Use this space to tell your restaurant’s story. Are you farm-to-table? Known for your grandma’s secret recipes? Highlight what makes your dining experience unique and irresistible. Use keywords that are relevant to you, like “patio seating” or “vegan options.” This way, both Yelp and Google can surface your restaurant to the right people.
Upload quality photos. People eat with their eyes first! Upload vibrant photos of your best dishes, your lively dining room, and anything else that gives a taste of the ambiance. Tip: Professional photos do wonders here.
Link directly to your menu. Now Yelpers can start daydreaming about your dishes right away. Keep it updated to reflect seasonal changes or specials.
Any extra information you can add is valuable.
- Is there parking?
- Are dogs allowed?
- Do you offer curbside or delivery?
- Are cocktails offered to-go?
Because it’s so important, we’ll say it again: add tons of details to your profile.
Yelp Free: How to Use Yelp’s Free Marketing Features to Win Customers
Maximizing your restaurant’s Yelp presence requires a blend of engaging directly with customers and using advanced tools to attract new patrons. Here’s how to turn casual browsers into loyal diners using Yelp’s features effectively.
Respond to Reviews
Engage with every review, good or bad. You want to be seen as a business that values its community, cares about its reputation, and prioritizes its guests’ experiences.
- Positive Reviews — Thank the reviewer and share any behind-the-scenes details they praised. This personal touch encourages loyalty.
- Negative Reviews — Respond promptly and politely. Apologize if necessary, and offer to rectify the situation offline if appropriate. This shows potential customers that you value feedback and improvement.
Use Check-In Offers
Encourage visits by creating check-in offers, which reward customers for checking into your restaurant on Yelp. This not only boosts your visibility, as the user’s friends will see their check-in, but also enhances customer experience with perks.
Examples might be:
- Free chips and salsa (something high-appeal, but low-cost for you)
- $5 off your bill with a $15 minimum purchase
- A free soda or lemonade
Offer Deals and Gift Certificates
Make use of Yelp’s option to offer deals and gift certificates directly on your page. This can be a powerful tool to attract new customers, especially if you offer a compelling discount or a well-priced gift certificate that encourages immediate purchases.
Utilize Yelp Badges and Recognition
Earning “People Love Us on Yelp” stickers and other accolades boosts credibility:
- Maintain high-quality, consistent service
- Engage actively with your reviewers
- Keep your profile up-to-date and rich with content
These badges can be displayed both on your Yelp page and physically at your store, signaling trust and quality to customers.
Optimize Keywords
Enhance your Yelp SEO by incorporating relevant keywords into your business description, responses to reviews, and posts:
- Identify keywords that potential customers might use to find services like yours (such as “best Italian restaurant in [City]” or “family-friendly cafes”).
- Use these keywords naturally in your content to improve your visibility in search results, both on Yelp and in search engines.
Use Yelp Analytics
Keep tabs on your performance with Yelp Analytics’s tools:
Track profile views, customer leads, and other engagement metrics. Adjust your marketing strategy based on what the data tells you about your customers’ behavior and preferences.
By combining engagement strategies with advanced marketing tactics, you can enhance your restaurant’s reputation on Yelp, attract more customers, and ultimately increase your business’s success. Remember: the goal is not just to be seen, but also to engage and convert Yelp users into regular diners at your establishment.
Yelp Paid: How to Use It Effectively to Promote Your Restaurant
Yelp Ads offer a more controllable way to capture attention. Yelp’s promise of delivering up to 2.5x more leads for businesses that utilize their advertising platform makes it an enticing option for restaurant owners looking to get ahead — though, of course, it’ll cost you.
Reader, please keep in mind: Yelp’s advertising practices are widely misunderstood, and there are countless stories online of business owners who feel cheated by Yelp’s policies and payment structures. Ad networks like Yelp are complex, and it can be easy to misunderstand the legalese that comes with offers or credits. We suggest reading through contracts and policies closely to understand what you are getting into. Yelp Ads can be a high-performing customer generator — just be sure to have a thorough understanding before getting started.
Why Choose Yelp Ads?
With millions of active claimed business pages on Yelp, standing out can be a challenge. Yelp Ads address this by:
- Positioning your restaurant as a “Sponsored Result” at both the top and bottom of search result pages
- Featuring your ads prominently on competitor pages and other key areas on Yelp, ensuring maximum visibility where it matters most
Target the Right Customers
Yelp Ads excels in delivering targeted advertising by allowing you to define your audience based on location and keyword. This ensures that your ad spend goes towards reaching the most relevant customers: those who are actively searching for what your restaurant offers.
Full Control over Your Ads
The Yelp Ads platform is generally easy to use. As with any ad platform, though, there can be tens or even hundreds of settings that power users can tweak to maximize performance.
To start, stick with the core settings. You can:
- Customize your ad, or opt for Yelp to set it up based on best practices
- Edit or cancel your ad at any time, ensuring flexibility in your marketing campaigns
- Choose to only pay when someone clicks on your ads, with the ability to set a daily budget that works for your financial plans
Tracking and Optimization
Don’t be the person who forgets about running ads and ends up with an unexpected $3,000 bill (oh yes, it happens).
Use the provided Ads Dashboard to track the performance of your ads in real time. This tool is invaluable for understanding what works and what doesn’t, allowing for quick adjustments to maximize effectiveness. Monitor this regularly to track performance over time.
Turning Yelp Customers into Long-Term Fans
Getting customers from Yelp is great. Amazing, even. But it’s not about the single transaction — it’s about winning a customer for life.
HungerRush’s advanced marketing and loyalty tools, designed specifically for restaurants, leverage smart data, AI, and personalization to keep your Yelp customers coming back, transforming one-time successes into repeat victories.
Want to see how these tools can work for you? Let’s schedule a chat.
