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Step by step

Claiming
your Yelp
page.

Claiming is free and quick. The rule most owners break afterwards is one they have never heard of: on Yelp, you are not supposed to ask for reviews at all.

01

Before you start

You need:

  • An email address you check regularly. It becomes the login for your Yelp for Business account.
  • Access to the phone number listed on your Yelp page, because Yelp may verify you by calling it.
  • Your hours, website and a few real photos.
  • A clear profile photo and the name you want on your replies. Yelp requires both before you can respond to reviews.
01

Search for your business

Go to biz.yelp.com/claim, or use the Yelp for Business app, and search for your business name. Many businesses already have a page, added by a customer or by Yelp, whether or not the owner knew.

02

Claim it, or add it if it isn’t there

If your business is listed, select it and follow the steps. If it isn’t, add it. New pages are checked by Yelp’s moderators, which Yelp says “typically takes 24–48 hours”, and it needs “at minimum” a website or phone number to confirm the business is real and active. Once the page is approved you get an email explaining how to claim it.

03

Create your business account

Enter your business details and the email address you chose. This account is separate from any personal Yelp account you use to write reviews.

04

Verify

Yelp’s help centre describes verifying by phone at the number listed on your page. If that doesn’t work, for example because the listed number is old, Yelp prompts you to send a report to its support team, which uses your business details and the time of your attempt to help.

05

If someone else already claimed it

Yelp won’t tell you who holds a claim. Ask inside the business first, such as a former manager or an old agency. Yelp can add users to an account with the consent of whoever claimed it. A claimed page can also revert to unclaimed after a period of inactivity, at which point you can claim it yourself. If you are stuck, contact Yelp support with the business name and city.

06

Complete the page

Check the address, phone number, hours and website, and upload your own photos. Yelp lets claimed businesses update this information for free. Keep logging in now and then, because pages can be shown as unclaimed again if the owner is inactive.

07

Answer reviews properly

You can reply publicly, which appears below the review for everyone to read, or send the reviewer a direct message, which is private. Yelp suggests starting with the public reply. For 4- and 5-star reviews there is also a Thank button, which sends a note that is not shown on the page.

For a critical review, wait until you are calm, reply publicly and stay professional. Future customers read the reply more carefully than the complaint.

“Don’t ask anyone to review your business, be it customers, mailing list subscribers, friends, family, etc.”
Yelp, Don’t Ask for Reviews

02

Yelp’s rules are stricter than Google’s

Google gives you a review link and encourages you to share it. Yelp asks you not to request reviews at all, and that includes asking after a survey or a contact form. It forbids “freebies, discounts, or payment in exchange for reviews”, and offering anything to have a review removed.

Yelp’s software “tries to identify any reviews that appear to have been requested, and not recommend them.” A review it does not recommend can still be read on a separate page, but it doesn’t count toward your star rating. So a request that is fine on Google can be wasted, or worse, on Yelp.

The practical version: ask customers for Google reviews, and let Yelp reviews come from good work. Keep your Yelp page accurate so those reviewers can find you.

03

What a Consumer Alert is

Yelp can place a warning on a business page. A Compensated Activity Alert appears “when we have evidence that someone has offered cash or other incentives in exchange for a review.” A Suspicious Review Activity Alert appears “when our system detects questionable activity on a business page”, such as many positive reviews from one source.

Either alert sits in front of every future customer who opens your page. It is the most visible cost of buying or trading for reviews, and it is avoided entirely by not doing so.

04

What is free and what is paid

Claiming is free. Yelp says a claimed page “does not mean that the business is an advertiser with Yelp.” Advertising is a separate, optional paid product, and you have to claim your page before you can buy it.

Expect sales calls once you claim. You can decline; the free page still lets you edit your information, add photos, answer messages and respond to reviews.

05

How long it takes, and what it costs

Claiming an existing page usually takes a few minutes once you can answer the listed phone. A new page waits for moderation, typically one to two days by Yelp’s estimate. The page itself costs nothing.

Shorter answers

Can I put a “Find us on Yelp” sign up?
Yelp’s Don’t Ask for Reviews policy is about asking people to review you. Showing customers you are on Yelp is a different thing from asking for a review, but keep the wording to “find us”, never “review us”.
A bad review is unfair. Can I remove it?
Owners can’t delete reviews. You can report one that breaks Yelp’s content guidelines, but reporting doesn’t guarantee removal. A calm public reply is usually the better use of your time.
Do I have to pay to stop reviews being hidden?
No. Whether a review is recommended is decided by Yelp’s software, not by advertising. Claiming doesn’t make you an advertiser.
Can my staff or family post reviews?
Yelp asks you not to ask anyone, family included, and US federal guidance requires any such connection to be disclosed. It is not worth it.

Sources

Read on 2 November 2026. These are Yelp’s own policies, not law, and its help pages change; check them before relying on a specific detail.

  1. How do I claim a business page? Yelp Business Help Center
  2. How to Create a New Business Page Yelp Business Help Center, moderation and the 24–48 hours
  3. What is a claimed business? Yelp Business Help Center, free features and inactivity
  4. Why can’t some business pages be claimed? Yelp Business Help Center
  5. Don’t Ask for Reviews Yelp Business Help Center
  6. How do I respond to reviews of my business? Yelp Business Help Center
  7. Consumer Alerts Yelp Trust & Safety

Reviews, and the rules.

What the FTC says about asking for reviews, on every platform.

Reviews, and the rules