How Yelp Works for Business Owners

What Yelp is for business owners

For business owners, Yelp is a public page per location that customers fill with ratings and reviews. The owner can claim and manage that page for free.

Yelp was founded in October 2004 by Jeremy Stoppelman and Russel Simmons. It now holds more than 280 million ratings and reviews.

A business page usually exists before the owner ever touches it. Customers can review a business that has never signed up. The owner’s choice is whether to take part in managing that page.

Taking part starts with a free business account. A business account is the owner’s login, separate from a customer’s personal Yelp profile. From it, the owner claims one page for each location.

The steps for claiming a Yelp page are the subject of the first part of this series. This guide explains what the page is and how the system around it behaves.

Yelp earns money mainly from advertising. Ads are optional and sit apart from the free page. A separate guide on this hub covers how those ads work.

How a Yelp page and its reviews work

A Yelp page collects customer reviews and runs each one through Yelp’s recommendation software. The star rating is built only from the reviews that software recommends.

The owner manages the page details but not the rating. Those two tracks stay separate.

Reviews and the recommendation software

Recommendation software is Yelp’s automated system that decides which reviews appear on the main page. As of December 31, 2024, about 76% of reviews were recommended. About 15% were not recommended, and about 9% were removed.

A not-recommended review is not deleted. It stays visible on secondary pages. It does not count toward the star rating.

Yelp has not publicly explained how its filter works. Outside research gives some clues. A 2014 study found reviewer traits, not review text, predicted filtering, and occasional reviewers were filtered more.

Equal treatment for advertisers

Yelp states that its recommendation software applies the same standards whether or not a business advertises. Paying for ads does not change which reviews are recommended. The two systems run on different tracks.

What the owner controls

The owner controls facts about the business, not opinions about it. Claiming lets an owner update contact information and hours, respond to reviews and add deals. Traffic reports show how customers interact with the page.

The part of this series on page settings goes through each field in turn. The part on responding to reviews covers replies in depth.

Rules that apply to everyone

Yelp also polices behavior around reviews. It treats reviews requested by someone tied to the business as “solicited.” Yelp says solicited reviews create an unfair positive bias.

Federal rules apply in addition to Yelp’s own. The FTC rule on consumer reviews took effect October 21, 2024. It bans fake reviews and incentives that depend on whether a review is positive or negative.

The parts of a Yelp business presence

A Yelp business presence has four main parts: the page itself, the reviews on it, the owner’s tools, and Yelp’s warning and reporting systems. Each part answers to different rules. The table separates them.

Part	Who shapes it	What the owner can do
Business page	Yelp and the owner	Claim it, update hours and contact info, add deals
Recommended reviews	Customers and Yelp’s software	Respond publicly; cannot choose which are recommended
Not-recommended reviews	Customers and Yelp’s software	Read them on secondary pages; they do not affect the rating
Traffic reports	Yelp	Read them to see how customers use the page
Consumer Alerts	Yelp	Avoid the behavior that triggers them

Consumer Alerts

A Consumer Alert is a notice Yelp places on a page to warn readers about unusual activity. Yelp lists several types: unusual activity, public attention, suspicious review activity, compensated activity and questionable legal threats. A compensated activity alert appears when a business tries to buy, incentivize or pay to remove reviews.

Yelp has used these alerts for years. In October 2012 it placed 90-day alerts on 150 listings it believed had paid for reviews. A consumer alerts history section was introduced in 2024.

Flagging and reporting

Owners have one formal route for a review they think breaks the rules. They can flag a review they believe violates Yelp’s content guidelines. On the business page, that option sits under “More Options,” then “Report review.”

The FTC cautions against misuse of that route. Its guidance says not to use reporting tools to remove honest negative reviews. Flagging is for rule-breaking content, not for unwelcome opinions.

What Yelp means for a local business

For a local business, Yelp means a public reputation that exists whether or not the owner engages. It also offers free tools to keep facts right and answer customers.

The rating reflects recommended reviews only. The owner’s influence runs through service quality, accurate details and fair replies.

Accurate details protect the business

Wrong hours or an old phone number on a page cost real visits. Claiming gives the owner a direct way to fix those facts. That work is free and quick.

Replies show how the business behaves

Public responses to reviews are allowed under FTC rules if they avoid false accusations and intimidation. A calm, factual reply shows future customers how complaints are handled. A hostile reply can do more harm than the review itself.

The FTC rule also bans suppressing reviews through intimidation, unfounded legal threats or knowingly false accusations. Owners who threaten reviewers risk breaking federal rules. They also risk a Consumer Alert on their page.

Filtering explains a common frustration

Owners often notice that a glowing review from a loyal customer does not show on the main page. The reason is usually the recommendation software. Research has linked filtering to reviewer traits, so a first-time reviewer is more likely to be filtered.

The deeper story of not recommended reviews has its own guide on this hub. It explains what an owner can and cannot change.

Asking for reviews needs care

Many owners want more reviews and think about asking customers. Yelp describes requested reviews as solicited and biased. The FTC also tells marketers to check each platform’s own rules, since some restrict soliciting reviews.

Asking only happy customers raises a further issue. The FTC warns that selective asking may violate the FTC Act. A business that asks should not filter who it asks by expected sentiment.

Ads are a choice, not a requirement

The free page works without any paid product. Yelp Ads are cost-per-click and priced by an automated auction for each placement. Advertisers can generally cancel campaigns at any time without penalty.

Common misconceptions about Yelp

Many beliefs about Yelp mix old stories with real but misread facts. Several are directly answered by Yelp’s own filings, by federal regulators, or by the courts. The common ones are below.

“Advertisers get better reviews”

Yelp states that its recommendation software applies equal standards to advertisers and non-advertisers. In Levitt v. Yelp, filed September 2, 2014, the 9th Circuit affirmed dismissal of extortion claims tied to ads and reviews.

The court found the plaintiffs did not plausibly allege that Yelp wrote the negative reviews.

“Hidden reviews have been deleted”

They have not. Not-recommended reviews remain on secondary pages. They simply do not count toward the star rating.

“Yelp filters reviews based on what they say”

Research points elsewhere. The 2014 study found reviewer traits, not review text, predicted filtering. A 2015 Harvard Business School paper found roughly 16% of Yelp restaurant reviews were filtered as suspicious.

“A business can pay to feature a good review”

That option is gone. Yelp’s paid “featured review” option ended in 2010. Today no paid product chooses which reviews appear.

“Asking only happy customers for reviews is fine”

It is risky. The FTC warns that selective asking may violate the FTC Act. Yelp also treats reviews requested by the business as solicited.

“An owner can get any review removed on request”

No such promise exists. Owners can flag a review they believe breaks Yelp’s content guidelines. Yelp then decides, and honest negative reviews are not grounds for removal.

Frequently asked questions

How do you put your business on Yelp?

Create a free Yelp business account, then claim the page for each location. Claiming opens up review replies, hours and contact edits, deals and traffic reports.

What is Yelp?

Yelp is a review platform founded in October 2004 by Jeremy Stoppelman and Russel Simmons. Customers rate and review local businesses, and it holds more than 280 million ratings and reviews. Owners can claim and manage their pages for free.

How much does Yelp cost per month?

A business account and claimed page are free. Yelp Ads are optional and priced per click through an automated auction, so there is no single monthly figure. Advertisers can generally cancel campaigns at any time without penalty.

Where can I post my business for free?

On Yelp, a free business account lets an owner claim a page for each location at no charge. The free page includes review replies, hours, contact details and deals. Paid ads are optional.