- What's free on Yelp and what's paid
- How to claim your Yelp Business Page
- The catch: Yelp's software decides which reviews count
- Why paying for ads won't fix your reviews
- Why Yelp tells you not to ask for reviews
- Which Yelp product fits your business
- Where to get answers from Yelp
- My verdict
- Frequently asked questions
Yelp for Business is free to use: you can claim your Yelp Business Page, update your details, add photos and respond to reviews and messages without paying. Yelp Ads are the paid part, and Yelp's business site doesn't publish a price for them.
If customers can find you on Yelp, there's a good chance you already have a page, whether you created it or not. Claiming it's how you take control of what it says. The part that surprises most owners comes later, when they find out how Yelp decides which reviews count.
What's free on Yelp and what's paid
| Product | Cost per Yelp's business site | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Business Page | Free | Update your info, add photos, reply to reviews and messages |
| Yelp Ads | No price published; Yelp says cancel anytime | Paid placement on search results and competitors' pages, targeted by location and keyword |
| Yelp Guest Manager | Not stated | Reservations and waitlist for restaurants |
| Yelp Host | Free for up to 30 days | An AI answering service |
| Yelp for Brands | Not stated | For businesses with 10 or more locations, or no bricks and mortar |
Yelp's business site also makes some big claims for its audience, as of Oct 2026: 74 million plus people visit Yelp each month, an average of 2.4 million visit each day, and 82% of users hire or buy from a business they found on Yelp. It also claims businesses get 4x more leads with Yelp Ads. These are Yelp's own figures, not independent research, so read them as a sales pitch rather than a forecast for your business.
How to claim your Yelp Business Page
- Go to business.yelp.com and search for your business.
- If it isn't listed, add your business name and Yelp helps you claim your page.
- Choose Verify my free listing and follow Yelp's prompts.
- Add accurate hours, photos and business details.
- Reply to reviews and messages politely.
The catch: Yelp's software decides which reviews count
This is what most owners don't know until they go looking for a missing review. Yelp's trust site says its recommendation software automatically evaluates every review against hundreds of signals of quality, reliability and user activity, then recommends the ones it thinks are most helpful. Reviews it doesn't recommend aren't deleted. They stay reachable through a link at the bottom of your page, but they don't count towards your overall star rating or your review count.
Yelp says the software looks for four things:
| What Yelp checks | What that means |
|---|---|
| Conflicts of interest | Undisclosed ties, such as competitors, disgruntled employees, friends or family |
| Solicited reviews | Reviews the owner or an employee asked for |
| Reliability | Reviews from less active users Yelp knows little about |
| Usefulness | Unhelpful rants or raves get filtered out |
Yelp also says a review can show as not recommended simply because the software doesn't know enough about the reviewer, even when nothing's wrong with it. That's why a glowing review from a loyal customer who joined Yelp yesterday can vanish from your rating. It's worth clicking that not recommended link on your own page now and then, so you know what's missing from your score.
Why paying for ads won't fix your reviews
Yelp is blunt about this. Its trust site says no Yelp employee can override the recommendation software's decisions, and advertising on Yelp doesn't change how reviews are treated: advertisers and non-advertisers are treated exactly the same. So if someone tells you Yelp Ads will clean up your page, they're wrong by Yelp's own rules.
Why Yelp tells you not to ask for reviews
This one goes against everything you'll hear about Google. Yelp says businesses shouldn't ask customers to write reviews, because a customer who's asked may feel pressure to inflate the rating, and businesses tend to ask only the customers likely to be positive. Solicited reviews are one of the things the software screens out, so asking can backfire. If a review looks like it breaks Yelp's rules, its Support Center has sections on Recommended Reviews and Content Guidelines, and that's the place to start.
Which Yelp product fits your business
Yelp's business site lists more than the free page and ads, and most of the extras only suit certain businesses.
- Restaurants: Yelp Guest Manager handles reservations and the waitlist. Yelp says it's used by more than 11,000 restaurants.
- If you miss calls: Yelp Host is an AI answering service, and it's free for up to 30 days, so you can see whether it helps before you decide to keep it.
- Ten or more locations, or no bricks and mortar: Yelp for Brands is the product aimed at you.
- Everyone else: the free Business Page is the place to start, and for plenty of local businesses it's all you'll need.
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Where to get answers from Yelp
Yelp's Support Center is organised by topic. Beyond reviews and content rules, it covers Advertising on Yelp, Claiming your Business Page, Yelp Guest Manager and Legal Questions. Its common questions include how billing works, how to respond to reviews and why not all reviews are recommended. If you're thinking about ads, read the billing answer before you ask for a quote, so you know what you're agreeing to.
Your Google listing deserves attention as well, see Google Business Profile updates.
My verdict
If you're a local business, claim your Yelp page. It's free, it takes a few minutes, and it means the hours, photos and replies people see are yours. Treat Yelp Ads as a separate decision: there's no published price on Yelp's business site, so get a quote and weigh it against what your other channels cost you. Whatever you do, don't buy ads to fix your reviews, because Yelp says they make no difference. Reply calmly to every review instead, the same way I'd suggest replying to Google reviews. And while you're tidying your listings, check your Google business listing and Apple Business Connect too.
Frequently asked questions
Is Yelp for Business free?
Yes. Yelp says it's free to be on Yelp: you can claim your Business Page, update your information, add photos and respond to reviews and messages at no cost. Yelp Ads are a paid extra.
How much do Yelp Ads cost?
Yelp's business site doesn't publish a price for Yelp Ads. It says ads are targeted by location and keyword and that you can cancel anytime.
Why isn't my Yelp review showing in my rating?
Yelp's recommendation software may have marked it as not recommended. Those reviews stay visible through a link at the bottom of your page but don't count towards your star rating or review count.
Will advertising on Yelp improve my reviews?
No. Yelp says advertising doesn't change how reviews are treated and that no employee can override the recommendation software.
Should I ask customers to leave me a Yelp review?
Yelp says no. It advises businesses not to ask for reviews, and solicited reviews are one of the things its software looks for.
