Best Approach to Claiming Yelp for Enterprise Organizations

[lindsey.steinkamp]

Hi All,

I'm wondering if anyone has experience claiming Yelp listings for an enterprise-size organization (between 500 - 1,000+ listings)? The two struggles I'd like advice on are:

• Is there an approach to claiming listings at scale? Or is it only possible to claim one-by-one?
• Is there a recommended approach to claiming locations that use a phone tree (other than turning off the phone tree)?

Or - is manual claiming and management of Yelp listings unrealistic for organizations of this size? Is it recommended to use an API like Yext to update listings at scale? I always think manually claiming listings is the best approach for the long-term, but realize perhaps that isn't realistic for all organizations. I'd love to get your thoughts.

Thanks,
Lindsey

 

[charkins]

Hi All,

I'm wondering if anyone has experience claiming Yelp listings for an enterprise-size organization (between 500 - 1,000+ listings)? The two struggles I'd like advice on are:

• Is there an approach to claiming listings at scale? Or is it only possible to claim one-by-one?
• Is there a recommended approach to claiming locations that use a phone tree (other than turning off the phone tree)?

Or - is manual claiming and management of Yelp listings unrealistic for organizations of this size? Is it recommended to use an API like Yext to update listings at scale? I always think manually claiming listings is the best approach for the long-term, but realize perhaps that isn't realistic for all organizations. I'd love to get your thoughts.

Thanks,
Lindsey

Anything over 10 listings and you need to pay Yelp fees, or be spending the equivalent in their listing fees in advertising on Yelp. (The last time I was quoted their fee it exceeded what MozLocal or Yext would cost for a distribution license to their networks.)

Alternative is to contract with an agency like Whitespark to make community edits to the Yelp listings to correct them.

 

[JoshuaMackens]

Hi All,

I'm wondering if anyone has experience claiming Yelp listings for an enterprise-size organization (between 500 - 1,000+ listings)? The two struggles I'd like advice on are:

• Is there an approach to claiming listings at scale? Or is it only possible to claim one-by-one?
• Is there a recommended approach to claiming locations that use a phone tree (other than turning off the phone tree)?

Or - is manual claiming and management of Yelp listings unrealistic for organizations of this size? Is it recommended to use an API like Yext to update listings at scale? I always think manually claiming listings is the best approach for the long-term, but realize perhaps that isn't realistic for all organizations. I'd love to get your thoughts.

Thanks,
Lindsey

For 500-1000 locations that's tough.

I have heard and experienced the same thing charkins mentioned which is after a certain amount (10 according to charkins' post) you have to pay.

You can claim 1 by 1 with a different email for each one. You can also use the period trick to use one email multiple times:

1. myemail@gmail.com
2. m.yemail@gmail.com
3. my.email@gmail.com
4. etc.

But man, for 500-1000 listings that is super time consuming. You might be better off with Yext but it would depend on how much they would charge.

You could also call Yelp after you have the Yext quote and see if they'll back way off their pricing. Even if they do though, maybe you should still go with Yext because with that price you're getting their entire network. But maybe Yelp will let you just pay a one time fee? Lots of possibilities.

 

[lindsey.steinkamp]

Thank you, everyone! I spoke with Yelp and they gave me an estimated range of $30-$75/location/month, which gets pricey when we're talking hundreds of listings and only claiming on one site. It does make Yext look more appealing. I'll share any other updates as I do more research.

Lindsey

 

[JoshuaMackens]

Thank you, everyone! I spoke with Yelp and they gave me an estimated range of $30-$75/location/month, which gets pricey when we're talking hundreds of listings and only claiming on one site. It does make Yext look more appealing. I'll share any other updates as I do more research.

Lindsey

Wow, lol. That's insane. Yext would be way cheaper with your discounted rate.

Can you come back with a quote from Yext if you get one?

 

[lindsey.steinkamp]

Update:

Upon further discussions with Yelp, it sounds like they're able to provide a spreadsheet that will allow us to claim all of the listings under a single account. We would first have to sign a claiming agreement to allow them to claim the listings on our behalf (see attachment). They won't be able to create new listings, but they can claim the ones that are on Yelp already and send us a list of those that aren't. Seems too good to be true, but we're going to try it out!

I already have quotes from Yext from conversations I had with them back in December. It is reseller pricing, so would be curious to know how discounted it is from buying direct. The pricing varies depending on the number of locations and package size. For 500 locations on the Starter package, they quoted us $175/listing (supposedly "list price" is $350). 1,500 listings would be $126/listing. Professional bumps it up to $250 and $180, respectively. Those do not include any of the more robust reputation management services they also offer. If you have questions, let me know.

Lindsey

 

[JoshuaMackens]

Great info, thanks!

 

[thibault]

Hi,

I would recommend going through Yelp and pay the monthly fee per profile. Depending on the business category, and if the locations are part of the same business, you could go as low as $10/month/location. If you want Enhanced Profiles (remove ads from competitors) it can be higher.

I know it feels like a maintenance fee, but when you need to switch photos on 800+ profiles, update CTAs, tracking URLs, lock information on profiles, update copy, etc, you can do that in bulk via spreadsheet and your Yelp account manager will take care of the rest. It's really about the convenience.

My understanding is that Yext / MomentFeed still need you to have a paid relationship with Yelp so they can use the Yelp API.

 

[JoshuaMackens]

Hi,

I would recommend going through Yelp and pay the monthly fee per profile. Depending on the business category, and if the locations are part of the same business, you could go as low as $10/month/location. If you want Enhanced Profiles (remove ads from competitors) it can be higher.

I know it feels like a maintenance fee, but when you need to switch photos on 800+ profiles, update CTAs, tracking URLs, lock information on profiles, update copy, etc, you can do that in bulk via spreadsheet and your Yelp account manager will take care of the rest. It's really about the convenience.

My understanding is that Yext / MomentFeed still need you to have a paid relationship with Yelp so they can use the Yelp API.

I believe they already have a relationship with Yelp for API. If they don't, why are they touting them as a partner?

 

[thibault]

I believe they already have a relationship with Yelp for API. If they don't, why are they touting them as a partner?

They do have a relationship but they also require you to have a relationship with Yelp. For the platforms listed on those two pages below, we were asked to have a paid relationship with Yelp otherwise Yelp would not allow them to use the API to manage our locations.

Yelp Knowledge | Use real-time data to make smarter decisions

Yelp Knowledge customers like Sprinklr, GoDaddy, & Experian make smarter critical decisions with Yelp's real-time data from 12M+ businesses.

www.yelp.com

Yelp Advertising Partners

Tap into Yelp's hyper-local, purchase driven audience with tailored advertising solutions and analytics.

www.yelp.com

 

[JoshuaMackens]

Really? So you're saying as a small business owner that if you don't have a paid relationship with Yelp then Yext can't update your Yelp listing?

Or is this just for enterprise?

 

[thibault]

Really? So you're saying as a small business owner that if you don't have a paid relationship with Yelp then Yext can't update your Yelp listing?

Or is this just for enterprise?

To my knowledge that's only for enterprise but since you can't claim 10+ locations under one account, a lot of businesses are forced to pay the monthly fee if they want to manage their profiles in an efficient way.

 

[JoshuaMackens]

To my knowledge that's only for enterprise but since you can't claim 10+ locations under one account, a lot of businesses are forced to pay the monthly fee if they want to manage their profiles in an efficient way.

Got it. So if you're using Yext Enterprise you'll probably have to have a Yelp API agreement but if it's just 1 location or a few, you should be good?

 

[FinServSEO]

Update:

Upon further discussions with Yelp, it sounds like they're able to provide a spreadsheet that will allow us to claim all of the listings under a single account. We would first have to sign a claiming agreement to allow them to claim the listings on our behalf (see attachment). They won't be able to create new listings, but they can claim the ones that are on Yelp already and send us a list of those that aren't. Seems too good to be true, but we're going to try it out!

I already have quotes from Yext from conversations I had with them back in December. It is reseller pricing, so would be curious to know how discounted it is from buying direct. The pricing varies depending on the number of locations and package size. For 500 locations on the Starter package, they quoted us $175/listing (supposedly "list price" is $350). 1,500 listings would be $126/listing. Professional bumps it up to $250 and $180, respectively. Those do not include any of the more robust reputation management services they also offer. If you have questions, let me know.

Lindsey

Hi Lindsey!

Thanks for sharing this. I'm currently in a very similar situation with Yelp and was wondering how this turned out for you and what channels you used to get to that claiming agreement. any insights would be much-appreciated!

Thanks,
Matt

 

[thibault]

Hi Lindsey!

Thanks for sharing this. I'm currently in a very similar situation with Yelp and was wondering how this turned out for you and what channels you used to get to that claiming agreement. any insights would be much-appreciated!

Thanks,
Matt

Hi,

If you have several Yelp profiles (enterprise / multi-locations) you will need to get in touch with the Yelp Enterprise Team so they can provide bulk pricing if you upgrade all your profiles.

 

[FinServSEO]

Hi,

If you have several Yelp profiles (enterprise / multi-locations) you will need to get in touch with the Yelp Enterprise Team so they can provide bulk pricing if you upgrade all your profiles.

Hi thibault,

Thanks for adding your insights - but I'm specifically looking for more information regarding the claiming agreement (not paid profile upgrades).