Can you outrank Yelp?

[0dysseus]

I'm gonna build a review website for a specific industry.

Could not find other review sites for this niche. The top Google positions all belong to Yelp.

My question: How hard would competing for Google pos. #1 with Yelp be?

Would it be possible, without being crazy difficult, to outrank Yelp, given that the website will be niche-specific? Have you had similar experiences like this?

 

[WIZDAHL]

Yes. In theory, you can outrank any site.

 

[Deleted member 813988]

Sure you can!
But, it maybe will not happen fast, easy, and for cheap

 

[SeoWrecker]

If you are targeting a specific niche, you might have a chance outranking yelp. You will have to build a lot of credibility to earn the authority though.

If you are going for a broader niche then it is likely not possible.

P.s- You are going to get legal threats everyday.

 

[FatBee]

I had a client wanting to rank a specificly narrowed porn keyword, competing with all the major porn sites i did out rank them and he end up #1

THe site was 100% niche based and everything ranked before was around that keyword. So id say yes.

 

[tziahs]

It depends on your niche. If you run an obscure sushi restaurant in Bumfuck Tennessee, you could easily.
But if you have a more general approach, it will be tough. Almost impossible. And definitely very expensive....

 

[Seen Here Online]

yes its possible depending on your niche I have seen it done - but it will take time more time then a bucket load of cash you will need to build an awesome backlink profile

 

[0dysseus]

Yes. In theory, you can outrank any site.

Ok, that's what I needed to hear.

Sure you can!
But, it maybe will not happen fast, easy, and for cheap

If I get fast and cheap, I don't need easy

If you are targeting a specific niche, you might have a chance outranking yelp. You will have to build a lot of credibility to earn the authority though.

If you are going for a broader niche then it is likely not possible.

P.s- You are going to get legal threats everyday.

I believe the niche that I am targetting is specific enough. Will think about it again, see if going more niche makes sense.
Building authority fits with the plan.
Legal threats from who? The businesses, Yelp?...

I had a client wanting to rank a specificly narrowed porn keyword, competing with all the major porn sites i did out rank them and he end up #1

THe site was 100% niche based and everything ranked before was around that keyword. So id say yes.

Cool, good to hear.

It depends on your niche. If you run an obscure sushi restaurant in Bumfuck Tennessee, you could easily.
But if you have a more general approach, it will be tough. Almost impossible. And definitely very expensive....

I'm thinking if I can go more specific, but I may be specific enough right now. Will research this further.
Just curious, what do you think the biggest expenses would be? I plan to manually outreach business owners at the beginning, will try to avoid ads as much as possible.

yes its possible depending on your niche I have seen it done - but it will take time more time then a bucket load of cash you will need to build an awesome backlink profile

Building backlinks will probably be my main strategy. Actually planning to do most of that organically. In your opinion, what would I need the cash for? Ads? Or something else?

 

[lbhbochc]

As long as you niche down, yes. I get my clients ranked above yelp all the time. Yelp ranks really well for broad searches, but poorly for specific searches.

 

[JOSourcing]

Yelp advertises on television and places ads in print magazines (I think). They also get mentioned in the news. So unless you have the funds to match that kind of publicity, you're going to struggle.

Sorry for the bad news. It's gonna be an uphill battle.

 

[fb3003]

i have outranked wikipedia for a keyword, and it was mostly due to my on-site optimization for that particular page.

 

[Tony Regies]

it's a directory site with very thin content.
you can outrank

 

[SeoWrecker]

I believe the niche that I am targetting is specific enough. Will think about it again, see if going more niche makes sense.
Building authority fits with the plan.
Legal threats from who? The businesses, Yelp?...

Yes, business owners and reputation management companies. It's going to be extremely difficult to manage reviews. These sites follow strict moderation policies.

 

[0dysseus]

Yes, business owners and reputation management companies. It's going to be extremely difficult to manage reviews. These sites follow strict moderation policies.

That will be an issue. Thanks for the heads up.

 

[crucifx]

I am currently outranking Yelp for a site in Los Angeles

 

[givemelove]

Once I had to outrank yelp for Georgia based truck owner operator business; i could do it but it took 2-3 months of patience. So you should give a try

 

[Dreams411]

Try building a silo site, you'll have a better chance. If you build a good silo site, you can outrank virtually any authority site.

 

[WIZDAHL]

Try building a silo site, you'll have a better chance. If you build a good silo site, you can outrank virtually any authority site.

Only if it were that easy. You can't outrank "virtually any" authority site using silo architecture. A silo is virtually useless if there aren't powerful external backlinks boosting it. Link juice sculpting is an on-page technique that can't make up for the huge domain-level authority of a giant site.

 

[Dreams411]

Only if it were that easy. You can't outrank "virtually any" authority site using silo architecture. A silo is virtually useless if there aren't powerful external backlinks boosting it. Link juice sculpting is an on-page technique that can't make up for the huge domain-level authority of a giant site.

Of course, you'll still need some powerful backlinks. Silo architecture just helps to enhance the relevance of the site, thereby giving you an edge over your competitors.

 

[nichexposure]

As one said, in theory, you can. But not in a fast and cheap way. Easy?? That's why you are asking suggestion over here. But you can't figure it out till you start.