Yelp has recently announced they will be rolling out a slew of new features designed to give business owners more control over their presence and ads on the platform. These new features will give a breath of fresh air to business owners looking to run ads on another platform besides the crowded google ads platform.
Custom Location Targeting
Yelp is known as the place to go when searching for local businesses. Over the past year they have taken strides to make their platform more user friendly for business owners. Recently they announced ‘Custom Location Targeting’ a new tool which will be proactive in helping local business owners better target the very specific customer base they are trying to reach.
Before this announcement, business owners on yelp could only advertise in a radius around their physical location. ‘Custom Location Targeting’ will allow businesses to designate specific locations for ads to appear. This will allow businesses to reach a wider audience beyond their physical location.
For example, if your businesses is on the outskirts of a few densely populated areas, you may choose to run your ads for those specific areas and not within your immediate physical location that will not reach as many people.
Above is what the Custom Location Targeting feature will look like. This new feature will be fully rolled out in a matter of weeks (Image: Yelp)
Budgeting Recommendations
Along with Custom Location Targeting, Yelp has updated its budgeting recommendations. They have added machine learning-generated budget recommendations for advertisers. The new algorithm will analyze the business profile, any past campaign performances, and similar audience data to generate the perfect budget recommendations for you. Better targeting and more personalized budgeting recommendations will help ensure that your budget is being well spent to reach your desired audience.
Yelp Connect
Lastly ‘Yelp Connect’ has received an upgrade. This new model of Yelp Connect will match more customers with connecting posts that they have shown interest in. Businesses now have the ability to reach people who engage with similar businesses to theirs or searched for relevant categories on Yelp. Thus, improving the chances of your businesses being discovered on yelp through relevant user interactions.
Why You Should Care
With this upgrade, Yelp has made it even more appealing for local businesses to use their platform to advertise. Now that many parts of the country are fully reopening, consumer outreach is very important to get business going again. With these updated features, Yelp has become more a viable option as an advertising platform If you are looking for another option than Google or Facebook.
Custom targeting will give you better control over the specific locations you are trying to reach. Instead of wasting money on an entire radius around your location, you have the ability to pinpoint specific towns or cities to run your ads. New budgeting recommendations will help improve your cost per click and make sure your money is being used wisely. And Yelp Connect will make it possible for new customers to find discover your business organically. Each of these new features is promising and can make Yelp a great destination for local businesses to run their advertising campaigns.
