A customer calls to say they drove to your shop and the door was locked, because Yelp told them you were open. Or someone mentions your old phone number, and you realize you have never looked at your own page. You did not build that listing, but it is out there with your name on it, and it is easy to feel that someone else is running your front window. The fix is to claim your Yelp business page, and Yelp says that claim is free. Claiming puts you in charge of the hours, phone number, website and photos that people see before they ever reach you. It is also a different thing from buying ads, and you can finish the whole job without a single sales call. The rest of this post walks through the steps in order, then covers what to do when something goes sideways.
Key Takeaways
Yelp says claiming a page costs nothing, and a claimed page does not make you a Yelp advertiser. Ads are a separate, optional purchase.
Search for your business first, open the listing that is already there and claim it. A second page creates a duplicate to clean up later.
Hours, phone, address, website and photos come before anything else. Claiming gives you the controls, but it does not remove or edit reviews.
How do I claim my Yelp business page?
Start at Yelp's claim page. Search for your exact business name and city, and pick the listing that is already there. If your business is not listed, Yelp offers "Add to Yelp for free" so you can enter the details and create the page.
Next you create a free Yelp for Business account with an email address and password. Then Yelp verifies that you are connected to the business. According to Yelp's business guide, the verification code goes out by email, text or phone call, using the contact details listed on the page. Plan for a few business days if it does not finish right away.
Claiming your page, in order
- 1
Step 1
Search Yelp for your exact business name and city.
- 2
Step 2
Open the correct listing and start the claim at biz.yelp.com/claim.
- 3
Step 3
Create the free Yelp for Business account with an email address and password.
- 4
Step 4
Enter the verification code Yelp sends by email, text or phone call.
- 5
Step 5
Open your dashboard and correct the business details.
Before you start, make sure you can reach the phone number and email Yelp shows for your business. If the listing still carries a number you dropped years ago, the code goes to that number, and you will be stuck at step four. Save the login in your business password manager as soon as the account exists, and tell a second manager where it is kept.
Should I claim the page that is already there or create a new one?
Claim the one that is already there. Yelp pages can exist before an owner ever signs up, so a search for your name often turns one up. If you create a new page next to it, you now have two listings for one business, with different hours and a split set of reviews and photos. Duplicates are a medium-size clean-up job, because you have to work out which page is the real one and then contact Yelp about the extra.
Search with the exact name, the city and your category, then look at the address and phone to be sure you have the right match. Write down any other page that uses your name or an old address. If you see more than one, claim the correct page first. Then report the duplicate through Yelp's support center.
What can I fix on a free Yelp business account?
Yelp lists the free tools that come with a claimed page. You can update the address, phone number, website, opening hours and other business details. You can upload and manage photos. You can respond to reviews publicly or in a private message, reply to messages and quote requests where those are available for your listing, and add details such as specialties and a short biography of the owner. Yelp's own support article on claimed businesses describes the page activity you can track too, such as User Views and Customer Leads.
Not every tool shows up for every business. Messaging and some category-specific tools vary by listing type and location, so your dashboard is the final word on what you have.
| Task | Free with a claimed page | Paid, optional |
|---|---|---|
| Claim and verify the page | Yes | No |
| Update hours, phone, address, website | Yes | No |
| Add and manage photos | Yes | No |
| Reply to reviews, publicly or privately | Yes | No |
| Reply to messages and quote requests | Yes, where available | No |
| Sponsored placement on Yelp | No | Yelp Ads |
| Reservations, waitlist, table management | No | Yelp Guest Manager, for restaurants |
What should I fix in the first ten minutes?
Hours and phone number first, because those cause the wrong-door and wrong-call problems. Then the website link, the address and the photos. Make a short list before you change anything, so you can work down it without hunting around the dashboard.
Open the listing and compare it to your real business. Check the regular hours, then any holiday hours if the page shows them. Check the phone number, the website, the address and the category. Look at the main photos and ask whether a customer would still recognize your place from them. Check whether customers can message you, and whether any recent reviews have an owner reply. Do all of this without starting any advertising campaign.
When the facts are right, add current photos of your storefront, your work and your team, and fill in the business description and specialties. Keep the same name, address and phone number you use on your website and your Google listing. If your website address or contact details are out of date everywhere, fix the source first and then copy the corrections across. Our post on local citations covers that consistency.
Do I have to buy Yelp Ads after I claim my page?
No. Yelp's support center says a claimed page does not mean the business is an advertiser. A business does have to claim its page before it can advertise on Yelp, so claiming is the first step of both paths, but you choose the second one separately.
Yelp's paid products sit alongside the free page. Yelp Ads place sponsored promotions on Yelp. For restaurants, Yelp Guest Manager covers reservations, waitlists, table management, takeout and kiosk tools, and Yelp Connect is aimed at restaurant updates and promotional content. When Yelp announced Guest Manager in 2021, it advertised the product as starting at $249. That is Yelp's own figure from that date, so confirm the price and terms in your own account before agreeing to anything. If you want a closer look at whether ads make sense, our post on whether Yelp advertising is worth it goes through that decision on its own.
If a caller says the page cannot be fixed unless you pay, you do not need to take that at face value. The free tools above are what you need for wrong hours, an old phone number and dated photos, and the steps in Yelp's claim guide end with verification, not a purchase.
What does claiming change about my reviews?
Claiming does not remove, rewrite or hide reviews. It gives you management access, which includes the ability to reply. It also does not give you control over which reviews Yelp's own software chooses to recommend. If your worry is a review that has gone missing or been filtered, our post on Yelp removing your reviews is the better starting point.
Yelp's business guidance recommends replying to both good and critical reviews with professionalism and respect. When there is a problem you can fix, acknowledge it and say what will change. When you agree but cannot fix it right away, thank the customer and say the feedback is being considered. When you disagree, acknowledge the customer's experience instead of trying to prove them wrong, and never reply in anger. Yelp also suggests moving details to a private message while keeping the public reply useful to future customers, as in its review response guidance.
A calm, factual reply serves the next customer reading it more than a long defense serves you. If you decide to ask customers for reviews, the Federal Trade Commission's consumer reviews rule says incentives cannot depend on a review being positive. That rule is about review practices, and it has nothing to do with claiming a page.
What if I cannot verify, or the page has the wrong phone number?
This is the case that slows people down. The verification code goes to the contact listed on the page, so a dead phone line or an email you no longer use blocks you at the code step. Do not create a new page to get around it. Use Yelp's support process to explain that you are the owner and cannot reach the listed contact, and expect to show the connection between you and the business.
A few other snags have simple fixes:
- Several similar listings: Match the name, address and phone before you claim, and claim the correct one first.
- A closed or moved location still showing: Claim the page, then report the old listing through support.
- No messaging option: Some listings do not offer it, so look at your dashboard rather than assuming something is broken.
- Sales calls after you claim: You can say no to any paid product. Claiming was free, and it stays free.
Troubleshooting login problems is covered in Yelp's help article on common login problems.
When does it make sense to get help with Yelp?
If you run one location and can reach the listed phone or email, you can claim and manage the page yourself at no cost. Plan on a short setup session and then a few minutes a week to read messages and reviews.
Help starts to earn its fee when the problem is bigger than one page: several locations, duplicate listings, verification contacts you cannot reach, a website that is out of date, hours that disagree across directories, or review and message monitoring that nobody has time for. In that case you are paying for hours saved and fewer unresolved errors, not for a secret way to claim a page. Whoever helps should show you what will be corrected, what stays under Yelp's control, what is free and what any optional service costs before they begin.
Check your Yelp page plan
Pick an answer to begin.
1. What does it cost to claim a Yelp business page?
2. Your business is already listed on Yelp with the wrong hours. What should you do?
3. Does claiming your page remove a review you dislike?
Frequently Asked Questions About claim yelp business page
Is it free to claim a Yelp business page?
Yes. Yelp says claiming is free, and you do not need to buy ads to claim or manage the page.
How do I verify my business on Yelp?
Yelp sends a verification code by email, text or phone call, using the contact details listed on the page. Make sure you can reach that number and email before you start.
What can I change after I claim my page?
You can update your address, phone number, website and hours, add photos, and add details such as specialties and a business biography. Some tools vary by category and location, so check your dashboard.
Can I reply to Yelp reviews for free?
Yes. Yelp says claimed businesses can reply to reviews publicly or by private message. Keep replies calm and factual.
Will claiming my page remove a bad review?
No. Claiming gives you management access, not editorial control over reviews or over Yelp's decisions about which reviews it recommends.
What if I cannot reach the phone number or email on my listing?
Use Yelp's support process to explain the situation and show your connection to the business. Do not create a second page, because that leaves two listings to untangle.
Moving Forward
Claiming your Yelp page is a free, short job: find the existing listing, claim it, verify with the code Yelp sends, and correct the hours, phone, website and photos. Advertising is optional and separate. Claiming gives you management access and the ability to reply, and it leaves the reviews as they are.
Once the facts are right, the page works for you every day, with fewer wrong-hours visits and wrong-number calls. A few minutes a week reading messages and reviews keeps it that way.
If you would rather hand this off, Web Leveling can claim and clean up your Yelp page, sort out duplicates, and keep your hours and contact details matching across your website and other listings as part of our online reputation work. If your page only needs a one-time fix, we will tell you to do it yourself, since the free tools cover it. We work with small and medium businesses across the country and overseas. Contact us about your Yelp page and we will tell you what is worth fixing first.
Terms
Yelp words in this post
Tap a term to see what it means.
Claimed page. A Yelp business page that an owner or representative has verified and can now manage.
Yelp for Business. Yelp's free account area where owners manage their page.
Verification code. A code Yelp sends by email, text or phone call to confirm you are connected to the business.
Yelp Ads. Yelp's paid sponsored promotions, which are separate from claiming.
Yelp Guest Manager. A paid Yelp product for restaurants covering reservations, waitlists and table management.
Duplicate listing. A second Yelp page for the same business, which splits hours, photos and reviews.
