Transform your business’s Yelp presence with Birdeye

With an average of 2.7 million people visiting Yelp each day, it stands as one of the most trusted platforms for online reviews, helping millions of businesses connect with their potential customers. Now, with Birdeye partnering with Yelp, you can manage your multi-location business’s Yelp presence in a simpler and more efficient way. This partnership allows you to seamlessly build, manage, and enhance your Yelp profiles—right from the Birdeye platform.

Whether you’re responding to customer reviews, monitoring insights, or keeping your business listings updated, Birdeye’s integration with Yelp streamlines it all. Let’s explore how this partnership transforms your Yelp management capabilities and discover some best practices for making the most of your Yelp presence.

In this blog post, you’ll learn about the benefits of this integration, tips for optimizing your Yelp profile, and the best practices for responding to customer reviews on the platform.

Before we dive into setting up your Yelp profile, let’s understand how Birdeye helps you streamline your Yelp strategy.

Why Birdeye is your Yelp solution

Managing your Yelp presence can be a lot of work, especially if you’re running multiple locations. That’s where the Birdeye-Yelp partnership comes in to make your life easier. By integrating Yelp into Birdeye, you can:

1. Build and manage profiles

With Birdeye, setting up or updating your Yelp profile is simple. Even if you have multiple locations, you can ensure your business details—like your address, hours, and services—are always accurate without having to manage your Yelp listings separately. This makes it easier for customers to find and trust you.

2. Monitor and respond to reviews

Birdeye makes it effortless to stay on top of Yelp reviews. You can monitor all your reviews in one place and reply directly across all your locations. Whether you’re thanking happy customers, addressing concerns, or showing your audience you care about their feedback, Birdeye makes it seamless to engage with your customers.

3. Gain actionable insights

Every customer review has something to teach you. Birdeye integrates Yelp data into easy-to-understand reports that offer a comprehensive view of customer sentiment. With Birdeye Insights AI, you can identify trends, recurring issues, and areas of strength that help you fix problems, improve customer experiences, and make better decisions.

4. Ensure consistency

Maintaining consistency is crucial when it comes to managing your online reputation across various locations. Birdeye keeps it simple by letting you handle your Yelp reviews and listings alongside other platforms, all within a single interface. This unified approach ensures that your brand’s message, tone, and details remain consistent across the web.

Yelp fact sheet: Why it matters

While Google and Facebook have gained prominence in the review ecosystem, Yelp remains a key player. Its regularly updated stats prove why it’s still a go-to platform for businesses and customers.

• Yelp serves 32 million active mobile users monthly
• As of December 31, 2023, users had contributed 287 million reviews on the platform
• 36% of businesses on Yelp are restaurants, retail, and other businesses while 64% are services—showcasing its versatility across industries

Yelp’s robust user base makes it a vital platform for businesses aiming to enhance their local presence. It’s clear that millions of customers are using Yelp to engage with businesses. So let’s talk about what you can do to start attracting Yelp users to your business.

Setting up and optimizing your Yelp listing

Getting started on Yelp is straightforward. Here’s how to set up and optimize your listing:

1. Create your profile

Search for your business on Yelp and claim your listing. Fill out accurate information, including your business name, email, address, and phone number. It’ll make your business easier to find for customers and provide one more citation for Google’s algorithm.

2. Add photos

Potential customers on your Yelp listing will stay 2.5x longer if you include a picture. So be sure to take some high-definition photos that really show off your business’s services.

3. Fill out “From this business” section

The “From this business” section helps you tell your story. It has three parts:

• Specialties: Share what you do best
• History: Tell the story of how you started
• Intro: Introduce yourself and your business

These details help customers get to know you and what makes your business unique. They also help set expectations before customers visit.

4. Define your service offerings

Listing your services on Yelp helps customers know what your business offers. By sharing your services, you’ll attract customers looking for exactly what you offer, making it easier for them to find you.

How Birdeye makes this all seamless

With Birdeye Listings AI, managing and optimizing your Yelp profile becomes effortless. There’s no need to handle your Yelp listings separately or worry about inconsistencies. You can easily update and manage details—like address, business hours, and services—across all locations from one place. This saves time, ensures accuracy, and boosts your visibility, helping you make a stronger impact on Yelp.

Managing Yelp reviews

Handling Yelp reviews with care can make or break your online reputation. Here’s what you need to know:

1. Do not solicit reviews

Unlike other platforms, Yelp strictly prohibits review solicitation. To ensure genuine and unbiased feedback, Yelp does not allow you to request reviews from customers in person or through text and email.

Soliciting reviews can lead to Yelp’s algorithm excluding them and may harm your rating. Therefore, to succeed on Yelp, focus on providing outstanding service that inspires customers to share their genuine feedback.

When Yelp’s algorithms spot a violation of their policies, they send your business a penalty letter. The letter mentions that they have “…activated a search ranking penalty, demoting your business’s rank in Yelp search results”. They also ask you to submit a “Compliance Verification Form” once you’ve fixed the issue on your end. After you submit the form, it may take over 45 days for Yelp to respond with its verdict.

2. Respond to reviews thoughtfully

Every review, whether positive or negative, is an opportunity to connect with your customers and show your business’s personality and commitment to them.

Yelp gives you two options to respond to customer reviews: with a public comment or a direct message. Always start off with a public comment.

Remember, potential customers are looking at reading your reviews. Leaving a public response doesn’t just help your business’s reputation with reviewers, it also helps with your future customers. 

When responding to positive reviews, thank customers for their feedback and support, and encourage them to come back for more.

However, responding to negative reviews is trickier. Stay calm, and thank the customer for their feedback, even if it wasn’t ideal. Acknowledge their concerns and address the issue publicly before moving the conversation offline.

Responding thoughtfully to customer reviews helps build trust with the reviewers and shows potential customers that you genuinely care about their experiences.

Want to see some templates that work for positive, negative, and neutral reviews? Check out our free guide, “Review Response Templates”.

Some Yelp best practices

While you can’t ask your customers to write reviews on Yelp, there are a few more things that you can do to look good on Yelp.

1. Enable Yelp features: Yelp offers a few different features that allow customers to better interact with your business. Features like “request a quote” allow customers to send you a direct message asking for pricing. “Yelp deals” allows you to offer your customers special discounts that they can redeem through the Yelp apps. Taking advantage of these features is a great way to interact with customers who discover your business through the Yelp app. 

2. Display Yelp signage: When your customers visit your physical location, you can encourage them to find you on Yelp with free signage. All businesses are eligible to receive free stickers that say “Find Us on Yelp!” Qualifying businesses are eligible to receive a “People Love Us on Yelp” stickers.

3. Flag fake reviews: If you suspect that a review is fake or might violate one of Yelp’s policies, make sure to report it. However, there’s no guarantee that Yelp will actually take one of these reviews down.4. Take the conversation private: When a customer complains, respond publicly to show you care. But to really fix the issue, take the conversation private. This way, you can listen to their problem and work together to find a solution.

FAQs on managing business listings and reviews on Yelp

Taking control of your Yelp presence the Birdeye way

The Birdeye-Yelp partnership revolutionizes the way you manage your business listings on Yelp. From simplifying profile updates to providing actionable GenAI insights, Birdeye empowers you to take control of their Yelp presence while saving time and resources.

Here’s how the Birdeye-Yelp integration can make all the difference for your business:

• Unified review and listing management: Manage Yelp reviews and listings alongside other platforms within Birdeye to save time, avoid errors, and maintain a consistent brand presence.
• AI-driven insights: Birdeye’s AI analyzes Yelp reviews to reveal trends and actionable insights, helping you improve customer experiences, adjust offerings, and address issues effectively.
• Enhanced credibility and trust: Streamlined review management lets you respond quickly and thoughtfully, boosting customer satisfaction and strengthening your reputation.

Want to learn more about how Birdeye can enhance your online reputation? Watch our free demo today.