Yelp is the third fastest-growing review site behind Google and Facebook, putting it in the top three most popular review sites in the world.
And since online reviews can increase the success of a business, you would not be the only business owner who wants to get more Yelp reviews from customers.
Collecting customer reviews requires patience and a lot of hard work, typically in the form of manual requests.
On top of that – and you may or may not know this – Yelp is unfortunately one of the hardest websites to collect customer reviews on.
But that does not mean you should ignore Yelp.
If you’re looking to improve your Yelp business page, keep reading as this guide will explain how to request a review on Yelp and how to get more Yelp reviews for your business.
Do Businesses Hate Yelp?
Yelp has a love-hate relationship with businesses (mostly small businesses) and it’s because it is generally harder to get reviews on Yelp.
One reason why it is more difficult to get reviews on Yelp is that not many customers have Yelp accounts, evident in the fact that Google and Facebook are overall more popular, and more accessible, for customers who want to leave reviews.
In fact, since Google is the most popular email platform, many customers already have Google accounts, automatically enabling them to post reviews.
The same can be said for Facebook, the world’s most popular social media platform, where customers with accounts can easily leave reviews.
In addition to how Yelp is not as widely used as Google and Facebook, Yelp has more restrictions for businesses asking for reviews on Yelp.
Can You Request Yelp Reviews?
Requesting for a review is the same as asking for a review. And, unfortunately, Yelp does not allow businesses to do this.
On the Yelp Support Center, Yelp explicitly tells businesses to not ask for Yelp reviews. Further down, the webpage reads:
“Don’t ask customers, mailing list subscribers, friends, family, or anyone else to review your business.”
Yelp also states that proactively asking your customers for reviews can hurt your Yelp rating.
And this is because Yelp removes and hides reviews that it considers a violation of their review guidelines for business owners.
Ultimately, Yelp does not want businesses to ask for reviews, offer incentives for reviews, or use any other method that can result in biased or untruthful business ratings and reviews.
This is nothing to frown at though, and it’s been one of Yelp’s oldest policies.
But, despite Yelp’s strict review guidelines, it does not mean that there isn’t a way to get more reviews on Yelp. The guidelines simply state that you should not ask for Yelp reviews.
How Do You Get Yelp Reviews Without Asking?
We know what you are thinking: How do you get more Yelp reviews without asking or requesting for them?
The answer is simple: instead of asking customers for Yelp reviews, your business should aim to encourage customers to leave a Yelp review in ways that do not involve a direct question or request.
This is not cheating or exploiting Yelp’s review policy.
In fact, by simply letting your customers know that your business is on Yelp, it can encourage them to leave a review and will not violate Yelp’s business owner review guidelines.
Thankfully, there are several ways you can do this.
How To Request A Review On Yelp Without Violating Guidelines
So, asking your customers to leave you a review on Yelp will violate Yelp’s review guidelines with the potential of harming your Yelp rating.
As a result, the approach your business should take to get more Yelp reviews is to encourage customers to leave a review without directly asking them.
Of course, this might not be as effective as requesting reviews, but it is one of the ways to ensure your business does not violate Yelp guidelines.
And the following methods explain how you can do this.
Add A Yelp Badge To Your Website
One way Yelp helps businesses out is by allowing business owners to embed a “Yelp badge” on their website.
When clicked, the badge directs customers to your Yelp page, which can result in the customer leaving a review.
You might be glad to know that there are a few Yelp badge designs to choose from, which you can put on your website by copying and pasting the HTML code into the desired page where you want it to appear.
Link Your Yelp Page In Your Emails
Another way you can encourage customers to leave your business a Yelp review is by including a Yelp page link in all your emails.
Similar to a Yelp badge, the link can be clicked to direct customers to your Yelp page.
The link can be formatted or attached to a relevant image to make it more appealing.
Either way, the link would ideally appear at the end of your emails as a simple encouragement for customers to check out your Yelp page and, if inclined, leave a review.
Display A Yelp Logo In Your Place Of Business
Displaying a Yelp logo in your place of business is a simple way to let your customers know that your business is on Yelp.
Customers with a Yelp account will see this, which can help encourage them to find your Yelp page to leave a review.
A small Yelp sign or logo with the words “Check Us Out on Yelp” displayed in an area that is easily visible to customers, such as a retail counter, will suffice.
If desired, you can also display similar signs for your Google, Facebook, and other review platforms.
The Disadvantages Of The Above Methods
The above methods can help your business to get Yelp reviews without violating Yelp’s business owner review guidelines. However, these methods are not that effective – for several reasons.
Firstly, the above methods still require you to think carefully about how you encourage your customers to leave you a review on Yelp.
In addition, none of it is necessary when you put your focus on getting more reviews in general, using a method that automates it all for you.
As mentioned, the way to get customers to leave your business a Yelp review without violating guidelines is to encourage them without directly asking them.
But another problem with this is that it is slow and, overall, involves too much work to leave getting a review up to chance.
A far more effective strategy is to get more customer reviews in general.
Get More Reviews With ReputationStacker
Yelp’s policies restrict business owners from requesting Yelp reviews from customers, so it is important to be careful with how you go about it.
One solution is ReputationStacker: a fully automated tool used by thousands of successful businesses that you can use to get more Yelp reviews.
Unfortunately, this still involves the risk of violating Yelp’s policies.
But this is why we created ReputationStacker – to give your business complete control over the review sites you direct your customers to leave reviews.
The beauty of this is that ReputationStacker will help you to get more reviews in general. And ReputationStacker encourages your business to present customers with a variety of review sites.
Why? Because getting more customer reviews with ReputationStacker will help to increase your online authority, sales, and, as a result, the likelihood of receiving more Yelp reviews – organically and efficiently.
Ultimately, none of the above methods are necessary to get more Yelp reviews. By using ReputationStacker, getting more reviews on the whole is your key to success across every major review site.
