Yelp Review Guide for Small Business: How to Get Them and Keep Them Unfiltered

If you're here reading this, you obviously already understand how important online reviews are to a business, especially a new business, and you want to know how you can get more positive online reviews quickly and without wasting time, especially on Yelp since it's the behemoth of local business review sites.

Yelp reviews frustrate many business owners due to their filtering algorithm, competition with local businesses, and negative reviews. Oftentimes positive reviews aren't shown because they're filtered out. We're going to help you solve this!

By now you already know that reviews are important, but why, aside from Yelp users?

Well, first of all, other customers will read reviews and use what they've read as a decision making factor when deciding whether to become a customer, or which business to choose.

But even more important - online reviews impact your online visibility across the web, for example in Google.

Yes, Google takes into account your reviews, how positive your reviews are, whether your review listings match your Google listing (and your website), and crawls them for more information.

So aside from impressing prospective customers, you want more reviews because it will get your business more visibility on both Google and Yelp! If you didn't already know, reviews are the #1 ranking factor on Yelp , meaning that the velocity at which you receive them, the keywords that are included in them, and the scores you get on them, all impact how highly you show up natively for relevant searches in your area on Yelp.

1. Do not ask for Yelp reviews - simply make your Yelp page visible in your marketing materials. (Tips on this below)
2. Use Yelp's resources like stickers and other collateral in your brick and mortar locations.
3. Never pay for Yelp reviews, lest you get caught and earn a warning badge on your profile.

Since soliciting any  reviews is now against Yelp's guidelines as of late 2017, you can no longer directly ask for them, but you are  allowed to share your online profiles in many ways, which can indirectly solicit reviews.

1. Pass out flyers at your business - each flyer that is passed out (whether it's a pricing pamphlet, menu, or special deal) can have your Yelp link and can say "People love us on Yelp!". You can also specify any check-in deals on these promotional materials.
2. Follow up via email after each service when possible, and add a "People Love Us On Yelp" link in your email signature.
3. Place the Yelp review badge from your business dashboard on your website.
4. Put a "Find Us On Yelp" sticker or sign on your storefront or if you've earned the "People Love Us On Yelp" sticker, display that.
   
5. Offer a Yelp check-in deal - and as mentioned above, make this deal known wherever you can in-store and on other marketing materials.
6. Share reviews on your other social profiles.

Yelp reviews often get filtered because they are deemed fake or suspicious, and this usually has to do with how active a person is on their Yelp profile.

There are a few ways you can try to impact this and make their profile look (and potentially even be ) more active.

-Ask your customers to complete their profile, including their photo, and start leaving reviews regularly
-Friend your customers, and encourage them to friend other people
-Mark their reviews as "useful"
- Get them to "check-in" with a check-in deal

Now that you know a few tips and tricks to get more Yelp reviews, get to work on optimizing your profile for Yelp SEO , and don't hesitate to ask us questions in the comments!