Understanding your business metrics on Yelp

Your Yelp for Business account gives you a direct view into who’s looking at your Yelp Page and what they’re doing once they get there. Uncover the Yelp metrics that can help you learn about your business’s visibility and track how users are engaging with your page.

Looking at your ‘Performance Summary’

When you log in to your Yelp for Business account, you’ll land on the Home tab where you’ll see a section titled “Performance Summary.” This is your home base for all of your business analytics.

There are three specific sections to take note of when measuring your metrics: Page Visits, About Your Audience, and Customer Leads. You can see these metrics over three different time ranges—the past 30 days, 12 months, or 24 months.

1. Page visits

When someone runs a search on Yelp and then specifically clicks on your business listing, this reports as a Page Visit. Page Visits are the total number of times people clicked through to your page on Yelp during a specific time period on any device, including mobile and desktop. For businesses that have generated some traffic to their page already, Yelp will automate a forecast that shows the projected number of additional Page Visits you may receive. 

2. About your audience

Just below the graph, this section is where you’re able to see what percentage of user views—which is the same as Page Visits—were from mobile devices as well as how many times your business appeared in Yelp search results. This can be a good barometer for how well you’re capturing the local audience. For example, if you had 10 Page Visits but appeared in 1,000 searches, you’re only being found 1% of the time. There are a number of things that can help your organic reach such as filling out your business information with keywords, adding photos with captions, and capitalizing on Yelp’s free tools.

3. Customer leads

After a customer clicks on your business page (i.e., a Page Visit) and takes any other trackable action on your page, they are considered a Customer Lead. Click on the Customer Leads tab found at the top right of the Activity section to see a full breakdown of what actions were taken over the specified period of time. Here is a breakdown of the different types of Customer Leads:

• Mobile check-ins: This is the number of people who clicked the “Check-in” button on your Yelp page from a mobile device. People “check in” for a variety of reasons—to collect a deal you’re offering, to show they like your business, etc.—and it helps you determine that customers from Yelp were physically at your business or received your services. Check-in offers are available for select business categories—log in to biz.yelp.com to see if your business is eligible.

• Directions and map views: This shows how many people looked at your location on a map and/or got directions to your business. Getting directions is a great indicator that someone from Yelp visited your business or plans to soon.

• Yelp deals: This indicates how many Yelp users purchased a Yelp deal you created for your page. This is a great way to concretely monetize your Yelp Page, and deals are free to set up. 

• Mobile calls: This is how many people called your business through your Yelp Page, which signals the user’s interest in becoming a customer.

• Clicks to your website: This displays the number of website clicks from your Yelp Page directly over to your website. 

• User uploaded photos: This details the number of photos that Yelp users have uploaded to your Yelp Page. Photos can range from the inside decor of your business to a favorite dish and helps give other potential customers insight into what your business looks like from the eye of a consumer. It’s also great to upload pictures from your business account to show off the best shots of your business.

• Yelp bookmarks: Users can bookmark/save your business so they can check back on your page in the future, whether they just visited your business or plan to be a future customer. These saved businesses are then grouped together by the Yelp user into Collections, like local takeout spots in Los Angeles or Latinx-owned businesses in Brooklyn. Collections can also be shared or followed.

• Messages: This shows you how many people on Yelp sent you a direct message. This may be a one-off note from a potential customer, or it could be a request via Yelp’s Request-a-Quote feature. “Request a Quote” is the most common call to action, but depending on your business category, other calls to action can include Book Appointment, Request Consultation, or Book Agent.

One bonus place to view page activity details is in the Notifications section—look for the bell icon at the top right of your Yelp for Business account page. This activity feed gives you more specific information about those that have landed on your page and what they did once they got there—for example, if someone viewed the map for your business or clicked on your Call to Action button.

Overall, having a good understanding of these business page components and features is important to properly track your success on Yelp. And remember that these metrics and your overall performance on Yelp start with your consumer-facing page, so be sure you’re sharing high-quality photos, providing accurate business information, and responding to reviews. 

If you’re ready to elevate your presence and exposure even more, try advertising on Yelp, which allows you to get in front of users in a way that’s flexible, on your own terms, and within your budget. Plus you’ll be able to track and compare activity metrics from when you’re actively running Yelp Ads to when you’re not running them or have paused.