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In 2004, a little online review website called Yelp was launched in San Francisco. Since then, Yelp has grown to become the 44th most-visited website in the U.S!

The name Yelp is meant to sound like a cry for help. And help is exactly what Yelp does. Now competing with Tripadvisor, Google My Business and Facebook reviews, Yelp is a leader in the online testimonial space. Many businesses have taken note and claimed their Yelp pages to monitor and moderate their reviews.

If you’re running a business, an easy way to scale is targeting customers in your specific geographic area. Marketing to local customers can serve as a launchpad to grow your business exponentially. And given the power of search engines to make or break a business, much of that marketing is focused on Search Engine Optimization (SEO). Great SEO means appearing as the first result on a Google search page.

If you’ve used the internet to find reviews for a business, you know what Yelp reviews are. Founded in 2004, this online review site lets you see reviews for all types of companies—from restaurants and gas stations to spas, bars, saloons and everything in between.

Yelp can be a great benefit for business owners. As of December 2020, there were 224 million reviews overall, and more than 145 million people read Yelp business reviews every month. That means around 45% of online consumers looking for reviews check Yelp before they buy!