Online advertising platforms like Google and Yelp are some of the most popular ways businesses promote themselves. Both platforms offer a wide range of functions and capabilities, but which one best suits your needs? This blog post will compare Google and Yelp advertising to help you make the best decision for your business.

Yelp Advertising.

Yelp Ads are a form of online advertising available to businesses who create a free business profile on the Yelp platform. Companies can display their ad at the top of relevant search results pages and on competitors’ business profiles.

Yelp Ads include a headline, up to 3 lines of text, and a call-to-action button. The ads are eye-catching and encourage users to click through to the advertiser’s business profile.

Yelp ads can help you reach new potential clients, increase your company’s visibility, and bring people into your store. However, it’s essential to consider the benefits and drawbacks of Yelp ads before deciding if this is the right ad platform to use for your business.

What do Yelp Ads Include

As we mentioned above, Yelp Ads include a headline, up to 3 lines of text, and a call-to-action button. The ads are eye-catching and encourage users to click through to the advertiser’s business profile.

It’s important to remember that Yelp Ads aren’t self-serve like Google Ads, which means that you cannot create or edit your own ads – you will need to work with a Yelp Sales Representative to get started with advertising on the platform.

Yelp Ads Pros And Cons

Using Yelp has its Pros and Cons. Let’s examine some of the critical points.

Pros:

• Reach new customers: With over 175 million unique monthly visitors, Yelp provides businesses with a large audience of potential customers.
• Increase brand awareness: Displaying ads on relevant search results pages can help increase brand awareness for your business.
• Drive traffic: Yelpers are actively looking for businesses like yours when they conduct searches on the site – so there’s a good chance they’ll click through to your profile if they see your ad, which can help increase your website traffic.

Cons:

• Not self-serve: As we mentioned, you cannot create or edit your ads on Yelp – you will need to work with a sales representative to get started with advertising on the platform.
• Cost: While advertising on Yelp will vary depending on factors like your business location and industry, it is generally more expensive than other forms of online advertising, such as Google Ads. Businesses with limited marketing budgets may not be able to afford this.

We’ve covered some pros and cons of advertising on Yelp, so let’s see how much it costs to run an ad campaign.

What’s the Cost of Yelp Advertising

The cost of Yelp Ads will vary depending on factors like your business location and industry. However, on average, businesses can expect to pay around $2 per click. To generate 100 clicks to your business profile, you would need to spend $200 on your ad campaign.

Now that we’ve covered the basics of Yelp Ads let’s look at how you can start advertising on the platform.

How to Get Started with Yelp Advertising

If you’re interested in advertising on Yelp, the first step is to create a free business profile on the platform. Once you’ve made your profile, you must contact a Yelp Sales Representative to start creating and running your ad campaign.

Remember that because Yelp Ads are not self-serve, you will not be able to create or edit your own ads – you will need to work with a sales representative to do this. In addition to being time-consuming, it’s not ideal for businesses that want more control over their ads.

Google Advertising.

An Overview Of Google Ads

With Google Ads, advertisers pay Google to display their brief advertisements, product listings, service offerings, and video content within its ad network on the web.

Google Ads has evolved into a sophisticated and complex marketing tool that offers a variety of features and capabilities for businesses of all sizes. As the world’s largest online advertising platform, Google Ads allows businesses to reach a large audience with targeted ads.

Different Google Campaign Types

There are four types of Google Ads campaigns: search, display, video, and shopping.

1. Search campaigns are the most common type of Google Ads campaign. Using them, you can show ads to people actively searching for products or services similar to yours on Google.com and other search engines.
2. Display campaigns let you show your ads on websites across the web that partner with Google to show ads. With display advertising, you can target potential customers based on interests and demographics.
3. Video campaigns allow you to run video ads on YouTube and other video sites. You can use video advertising to reach a broad audience or target specific viewers with interests that match your products or services.
4. Shopping campaigns let you showcase your products in rich detail when people search for what you sell on Google Search and other shopping sites like Shopping.com and BuySellAds.com.

Choosing the correct campaign type for your advertising goals depends on its features and options.

Google Ads Pros And Cons

Pros

• In addition to having the largest search engine, Google has a high percentage of mobile users looking to buy products and services.
• It is easy to understand and use. Google Ads is a relatively simple platform that anyone can learn quickly.
• It is a PPC(Pay per click) based Ad platform. Your ad only costs money when someone clicks on it or fills out a form.
• You can run multiple ads at once to compare their effectiveness and learn which ones are working better for you.
• You get free training and education — via YouTube videos, guides, webinars, and more.
• It works for businesses of all sizes.

Cons:

Google Ads is a great advertising platform, but it comes with some drawbacks:

• The biggest is the cost per click: It’s not cheap to advertise on Google. Unless you’re buying highly targeted keywords relevant to your business, you’ll be spending a lot of money with little return.
• Another drawback is that Google ads can be challenging to manage and track. This isn’t the right platform if you’re looking for an in-depth analysis of your campaign’s performance.
• It’s easy for competitors to copy your ads and steal traffic from you by making their ads look just like yours — thus negating any benefit of having invested in that ad in the first place.

Google vs. Yelp Advertising: Audience

Yelp Ads

Businesses can target a particular audience when advertising on Yelp. For example, they can target people who have searched for similar companies in the past or people who have left reviews for similar businesses. Businesses can also target people based on location, age, gender, and interests.

Google Ads

Google Ads allows businesses to target a wide range of audiences. For example, they can target people who have visited their website before or people who are searching for keywords related to their business. Businesses can also target people based on location, age, gender, and interests.

Google vs. Yelp Advertising: User Intent

Yelp Ads

When users search for companies on Yelp, they usually have a specific intent. Intent could be anything from finding a business’s address and phone number to reading reviews.

Because of this, Yelp Ads can be very effective in driving conversions, as long as they’re well-targeted and relevant to what the user is looking for. For example, if you’re a restaurant specializing in Italian food, your ad should make this clear so that users searching for Italian restaurants will click on your ad.

Yelp also offers advanced targeting options that allow you to target users based on their search history and demographics. This means you can show your ad to users who are more likely to be interested in what you offer.

Google Ads

Google Ads are less focused on conversion than Yelp Ads. This is because when people use Google, they’re usually not looking for a specific business but just for information.

As a result, your ad needs to be informative and relevant to the user’s search. For example, if someone is searching for “Italian restaurants near me,” your ad should include information about your location and menu.

Using Google Ads, you can also target users based on their demographics and interests. This allows you to show your ad to people more likely to be interested in what you offer.

Google vs. Yelp Advertising: Targeting Options

Yelp Ads

Yelp offers a few targeting options for advertisers. Businesses can target by location, demographics, and user interests.

• Location: You can target people looking for businesses like yours in specific cities, states, or countries.
• Demographics: You can target people by age, gender, and language.
• User Interests: You can target people based on what they’ve searched for on Yelp in the past or what kinds of businesses they’ve reviewed.

Google Ads

Google Ads offers more targeting options than Yelp Ads. In addition to location, demographics, and user interests, you can also target by:

• Device: You can show your ads to people searching on computers, tablets, or phones.
• Keywords: You can target people based on their typed words in the search engine.
• Topics: You can target people based on the topics they’re interested in.
• Placements: You can choose where your ad appears, such as on specific websites or apps.

Google vs. Yelp Advertising: Demographics

Yelp Ads

When targeting ads on Yelp, businesses can select from various demographics, including location, age, gender, and interests. For example, a company might want to target its ads to people who live in a specific city, are between the ages of 18 and 34, and have expressed interest in travel or food.

Google Ads

Google Ads also allows businesses to target ads based on demographics such as location, age, gender, and interests. However, Google Ads offers more granular targeting options than Yelp Ads. For example, ads can be targeted to people living in a specific zip code or searching for keywords related to their products.  

Google vs. Yelp Advertising: Analytics

Yelp Ads

Yelp offers a few different ways to track the performance of your ads. You can view how many people saw your ad, how many people have clicked your ad, and how many people have called you from your ad. You can also see how much money you’ve spent on your ad campaign and how much money you’ve made from your ad campaign.

You can use this information to improve the performance of your Yelp ads. For example, if you notice that you’re not getting as many clicks as you’d like, you can try changing the text of your ad or the image of your ad. If you notice that you’re spending a lot but not making much money back, you may want to reconsider your target audience or targeting options.

Google Ads

Google offers a lot more detailed analytics than Yelp does. With Google Analytics, you can view where your traffic is coming from, what keywords people are using to find your site, what pages they’re looking at on your site, and how long they’re staying on each page.

You can use this information to improve the performance of your Google ads. For example, if you notice that most of your traffic comes from a specific keyword, you may want to bid more for that keyword so that your ad shows up more often. 

Google vs. Yelp Advertising: Which is Better for Your Business?

Consider the following factors when choosing between Google or Yelp: 

• The first factor is your audience. If you’re trying to reach consumers actively searching for businesses like yours, then Google Ads is likely the better option. This is because people use Google when actively looking for something, whereas Yelp is often used to find local businesses when people are already out and about.
• Another critical factor to consider is user intent. When you advertise on Google Ads, you can target people based on what they’re searching for, so you know they’ll be interested in your product or service. With Yelp Ads, you can target people based on their location, which means they may be interested in your product or service but could also just be looking for something nearby.

Conclusion

Google and Yelp offer two different advertising platforms for businesses. While both ad platforms have pros and cons, it ultimately depends on the business’s needs. Google Ads tend to be more effective for companies targeting a wider audience, while Yelp Ads may be more beneficial for businesses targeting a local audience.

FAQ’s

1. What are the benefits of advertising on Google?

The benefits of advertising on Google are that you can reach a large audience with your ads, and you can target your ads to specific demographics and interests. You can also track your ad campaigns with Google Analytics to see how effective they are.

2. How can Yelp Advertising benefit your business?

The benefits of advertising on Yelp are that you can reach a large audience of potential customers who are already interested in your business type. You can also target your ads specifically to certain locations and track your ad campaigns with Yelp Insights to see how effective they are.

3. Which is better for my business, Google or Yelp advertising?

Google is a better choice if you want your ads to reach a broad audience. If you want to target potential customers who are already interested in your business type, then Yelp is a good option.