How to Claim Your Yelp Business Page (and Set Up Your Account)

To claim your business on Yelp, go to Yelp for Business, search for your business by name and location, and select it if a page already exists, or add it as a new business if it doesn’t. Yelp then asks you to create a free Yelp business account and verify that you’re connected to the business, usually through the business phone number or an email address. Once verified, you can update your details, add photos, reply to reviews and see basic activity on your page.

Claiming is free, and it’s worth doing even if you never plan to spend anything on Yelp. Customers can find and review your business whether or not you’ve claimed the page. Claiming just means you get a say in what the page shows and a way to respond.

Why claim your Yelp page at all

Many business owners find out they have a Yelp page when a customer mentions a review. Yelp builds pages from public information and user submissions, so a page can exist for years without the owner touching it. An unclaimed page may show old hours, a disconnected phone number or photos taken by customers on a bad day.

A claimed page gives you:

• Control of the basics. Hours, phone number, website, address or service area, and a description of what you do.
• A voice in the reviews. You can reply publicly, so future readers see your side, or send the reviewer a private message.
• A way to report problems. Reports about reviews that break Yelp’s Content Guidelines carry more context from the verified owner. Our guide on removing Yelp reviews covers which reviews qualify.
• Visibility into activity. Basic stats on how people interact with your page, such as views and actions taken.

How to claim an existing Yelp business page

Yelp updates its screens from time to time, so labels may differ slightly from what you see. The overall process has stayed consistent.

1. Go to Yelp for Business. This is Yelp’s business owner site, separate from the consumer app. You can also find a “claim this business” link on many unclaimed pages.
2. Search for your business. Enter the business name and city, or the phone number. Try variations if nothing appears, such as an old name, the name without “LLC”, or a previous address.
3. Select your page. If Yelp shows the page as already claimed, stop here and read the section on problems below.
4. Create your Yelp business account. Use an email address the business controls, ideally a shared address rather than one tied to a single employee. A personal Yelp account you use to review restaurants is not the same thing, and it’s cleaner to keep them separate.
5. Verify your connection to the business. Yelp typically offers phone verification, such as an automated call or text to the phone number listed on the page, and in some cases email verification. The options you see depend on your business and the details already on the page.
6. Complete the page. Once verified, work through the details in the next section before you do anything else.

If the phone number on the page is wrong, phone verification won’t reach you. Look for an option to verify another way or contact Yelp’s support team through the business site, and be ready to show you’re connected to the business.

How to add a new business to Yelp

If your business doesn’t appear in search, you can add it through Yelp for Business. You’ll enter the name, address or service area, phone number, website and category, then create your account and verify in the same way.

New pages aren’t always live right away. Yelp may check the submission before it appears publicly. Before you add a new page, search a few more ways to be sure one doesn’t already exist, because a second page for the same business splits your reviews and is harder to fix later.

If you don’t serve customers at your address, such as a mobile dog groomer or a plumber who works from home, you can usually list a service area instead of showing your street address.

What to set up first once you’re verified

• Name, address and phone. Match what’s on your website and Google profile exactly. Consistent details across platforms help customers and search engines trust which information is right.
• Categories. Choose the categories that describe what you actually do. A bakery that also serves lunch can reasonably list both; a bakery that once catered one wedding shouldn’t list “caterers”.
• Hours and special hours. Wrong hours are one of the most common causes of frustrated reviews. Add holiday hours ahead of time.
• Photos. Add clear, recent photos of your storefront, interior, team at work and typical products. Customer photos will still appear, so your own give readers a fair comparison.
• Specialties and history. A short, factual description of what you do and who you serve. Skip superlatives. “Family-run tire and brake shop serving the east side since we opened” says more than “the best mechanic in town”.
• Amenities and attributes. Accessibility, parking, payment options and similar details, where Yelp offers them for your category.

What a free Yelp business account lets you do

A free account covers what most small businesses need day to day:

Free	Paid (optional)
Edit business information, hours and categories	Yelp Ads, which place your business in more prominent spots in search results and on other pages
Add and manage your own photos	Page upgrades that add features, such as a call-to-action button
Reply to reviews publicly, or message reviewers privately	Other paid packages Yelp offers for particular business types
Report reviews you believe break Yelp’s Content Guidelines
See basic page activity, such as views and customer actions
Respond to messages and quote requests, where your category supports them

Yelp sets its own prices for ads and upgrades, and they vary by market and plan, so check with Yelp directly if you’re considering them. Our guide on whether Yelp ads are worth it explains how to test them. The key point is that paying doesn’t change your reviews. Yelp states that advertising doesn’t affect which reviews are recommended or removed.

Yelp’s rules every business owner should know

Most of the trouble owners get into on Yelp comes from treating it like other review sites. The rules are stricter in a few specific ways.

Don’t ask for reviews

Yelp’s guidance to businesses is not to ask customers, friends, family or anyone else for reviews. Its recommendation software also tries not to recommend reviews that look like they were requested. You can let people know you’re on Yelp with an ordinary “Find us on Yelp” sign or a link on your website, as long as you’re not asking them to write a review.

Don’t offer incentives

No discounts, freebies, prize draws or refunds in exchange for reviews, and no offers to customers to change or delete a review. That applies whether the review is positive or negative.

Don’t review yourself or competitors

Owners, employees and their families shouldn’t review the business, and nobody should review a competitor. These are conflict-of-interest violations, and they’re among the most common reasons reviews are removed.

Reply like a professional

Public replies are visible to every future reader. Keep them short, calm and specific. Our guide to responding to negative reviews has wording you can adapt.

A worked example

This is an illustrative scenario, not a real business.

A small bike repair shop opens under new ownership. The new owner searches Yelp and finds the shop listed under its old name, with the old owner’s cell number and hours from before the sale. The page shows as unclaimed.

She starts the claim from Yelp for Business, but phone verification would call the old owner’s number. She uses Yelp’s support options instead, explains the change of ownership, and provides the business documents Yelp asks for. Once the page is hers, she updates the name, phone and hours, adds photos of the new workshop, and replies to a recent review complaining about a missed pickup:

Thanks for letting us know. The shop changed hands last month and the old phone number stopped working, which is on us. The new number is on this page, and I’d be glad to help if you still need the repair.

She doesn’t ask anyone to review the shop. She puts a “Find us on Yelp” sticker by the counter and keeps the page current. The existing reviews stay, which is expected: reviews belong to the page, not the owner. Our guide to reviews from a previous owner covers that situation in more depth.

Common problems and how to fix them

You can’t find your page

Search by phone number, old business names and previous addresses. If the business recently moved or rebranded, the page may still sit under the old details. If you truly can’t find it, add the business as new.

Someone else already claimed it

This often happens after a sale, a partnership split, or when a former employee or marketing contractor set up the account. Ask the current account holder to add you or transfer access if you can. If that isn’t possible, contact Yelp’s business support, explain the situation and be ready to provide proof that you own or run the business.

There are duplicate pages

Duplicates usually come from a past move, a name change, or someone adding the business twice. Don’t create a third page to replace them. Contact Yelp support or use the page’s option to report an issue, and point to the page you want to keep. Yelp decides whether and how to merge or close them.

The page shows as closed or has the wrong details

Edit the details from your business account. If Yelp has marked the business as closed and you can’t change it yourself, contact support.

You want to delete the page

Yelp generally doesn’t remove pages for businesses that are still operating just because the owner wants it gone. Our guide on deleting a Yelp business page explains what’s possible.

Reviews seem to have disappeared

They have probably been moved by Yelp’s recommendation software rather than deleted. See our guide to Yelp not recommended reviews.

Mistakes to avoid when setting up

• Using a staff member’s personal email. When that person leaves, access can leave with them.
• Creating a new page instead of claiming the old one. It splits your history and creates a duplicate to clean up.
• Keyword-stuffing the name or description. Use your real business name. Yelp may edit or reject listings that don’t reflect it.
• Sending a review link to every customer. That’s fine on Google, but it’s soliciting on Yelp.
• Buying ads expecting better reviews. Ads can bring more visitors to your page. They don’t change the reviews on it.

If you’d like Yelp handled alongside your other profiles, our page on Yelp reputation management explains how we help with replies, reporting and page upkeep within Yelp’s rules. Our review management service covers Yelp alongside Google and your other review sites.

Frequently asked questions

Is a Yelp business account free?

Yes. Claiming your page and using the core tools, such as editing your details, adding photos, replying to reviews and seeing basic stats, is free. Advertising and page upgrades are optional paid extras.

How do I verify my business on Yelp?

Yelp usually verifies through the business phone number listed on the page, by call or text, and sometimes by email. If the listed number is wrong or you can’t access it, contact Yelp’s business support and be ready to show you’re connected to the business.

Can I claim a Yelp page for a business that just changed owners?

Yes. The new owner can claim the page, but if the previous owner still controls it, you may need them to transfer access or contact Yelp support with proof of the sale. The existing reviews stay on the page.

Will claiming my page or advertising improve my Yelp reviews?

No. Claiming gives you tools to manage the page, and ads can increase visibility, but Yelp says neither affects which reviews are shown or recommended. Good service and thoughtful replies are what shape your page over time.

Can I ask customers to leave a Yelp review?

Yelp asks businesses not to solicit reviews at all. You can let customers know you’re on Yelp, for example with a sign or website badge, but don’t ask them to review you and never offer anything in return.