What does this change for a local business?
I think most clients still give one instruction: give me a Google review. That's been reasonable advice. It's just not the whole picture anymore. Reviews concentrated on Google with next to nothing on Yelp is now a real gap.
Google is typically still the first place people look for a local business, and that's not changing overnight. What's changing is Yelp. It's becoming more important, so it has to be managed the same way businesses already manage a Google Business Profile: name, address, and phone number matching across both, a profile that stays current, and a review count that holds up next to a competitor's. Whether Yelp overtakes Google as a source is yet to be seen. What's not in question anymore is that Yelp has to be treated as part of a business's local search profile.
Should you ask customers for a Yelp review?
No. Asking violates Yelp's official rules.
Yelp doesn't want the same approach that works on Google. What they want instead is for you to show that you're listed on Yelp. Interact with the platform. Update your photos, keep your profile current, and answer the reviews you already have.
It's a different process than Google, but it works. Building up your Yelp visibility and your branding on the platform, without specifically asking for a review, doesn't put you in violation.
It'll be interesting to see if Yelp changes these rules now that they have a relationship with ChatGPT. My guess is they won't. When Yelp struck a similar deal with Perplexity, they didn't update their guidelines. You'll want to watch this closely either way.
Is this different from what happened with Google's AI Overviews?
I don't know yet, and I'd rather tell you that than guess. Yelp has been down this road with Google before: featured snippets and AI Overviews were supposed to send traffic back to the publisher, and in practice, Google kept most of the clicks.
Yelp is now suing Google over it. Whether ChatGPT plays out the same way is unproven.
What I can say is what I've already seen. Real revenue has come from clients getting referred through ChatGPT. That's why I'm not waiting to see how the Yelp relationship shakes out before acting on it.
What this means for a local business right now
For clients already doing local SEO, this becomes one more thing checked in a profile review: is the listing complete, is the NAP consistent, are the reviews current. It's an extension of work already happening.
For businesses with no real Yelp presence now, now is probably the time to start. It's no longer something we can ignore. Competitors are already building theirs. For more tips on how to improve your Yelp presence
read this article.
What to do this week
Pull up the Yelp listing and look at it the way a stranger would: is it current, is the category right, are there photos? Then check two or three competitors and see whether theirs looks more complete. Whatever gap shows up between the business and its competitors is the plan of action.
