The short answer
To respond to a Yelp review, claim your page on Yelp for Business, make sure your business account name and profile photo are approved, open Reviews, and choose Respond for a public comment under the review or Direct Message for a private note to the reviewer. For 4 and 5-star reviews there's also a private Thank button. Public comments can be edited or deleted from the three-dot menu.
- Yelp is the one major site with a real choice between a public comment and a private direct message.
- Start with a short public comment on critical reviews so other readers see you engaged, then take details to a DM.
- Yelp's policy is clear: don't ask customers for Yelp reviews, not even happy ones.
- Reports only succeed when a review clearly breaks Yelp's Content Guidelines; Yelp won't referee factual disputes.
Who can respond on Yelp
Only the business can answer reviews, and only after it has claimed its Yelp page through Yelp for Business. Claiming is free. Once you're in, Yelp adds a requirement that surprises a lot of new owners: your business account needs an approved profile photo and an approved business account name before the Respond button works. If your replies seem blocked, check those two things before anything else.
If you run several locations, each one is a separate page. On desktop you switch between them with the drop-down at the top left of Yelp for Business; in the app, the locations icon sits in the upper right. Replying to the right branch matters more than people think, because a reply that mentions the wrong neighborhood is a giveaway that nobody read the review.
Public comment, direct message or Thank: which to use
| Option | Who sees it | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| Respond (public comment) | Anyone viewing your Yelp page, shown below the review | Critical reviews where future customers need to see your side; correcting facts politely |
| Direct Message | The reviewer, privately | Following up on details: refunds, booking references, inviting them back |
| Thank | The reviewer only (4 and 5-star reviews) | A quick private thank-you when a public reply would add little |
Our working rule: for a negative review, post a short public comment first, then send a direct message if you need personal details. Yelp itself recommends starting public, so other people can see you took the complaint seriously. A DM alone fixes the relationship with one customer but leaves a silent 1-star for everybody else.
For glowing reviews, the Thank button is fine for regulars who leave a review every month. For a detailed review that names a dish, a stylist or a fix, a public comment is better because it shows readers that people who write thoughtful reviews get a thoughtful answer.
How to respond to a Yelp review, step by step
Sign in to Yelp for Business
On desktop go to biz.yelp.com; on a phone open the Yelp for Business app (not the consumer Yelp app). Pick the right location if you have more than one.
Open Reviews
On desktop it's in the left-hand menu. In the app, tap More in the bottom bar, then Reviews.
Choose how to respond
Select Respond for a public comment, Direct Message for a private note, or Thank on a 4 or 5-star review.
Write and send
Type your reply and select the arrow to send it. Read it once as if you were a stranger deciding where to eat tonight.
Edit or delete later if needed
On desktop, open the three-dot menu to the right of your public comment and choose Edit response or Delete response.
Example Yelp review responses
Yelp reviewers tend to write longer, more opinionated reviews than on Google, and Yelp readers are often comparing three or four places. Match the detail, stay human, and never argue in public.
Public comment on a harsh restaurant review
Waited 50 minutes for a table we had reserved. Host shrugged. Pasta was cold by the time it arrived. Overpriced and rude.
We're sorry. A reservation should mean a table, and a shrug isn't an answer. Friday's booking system double-seated several parties and we handled it badly at the door. I've sent you a direct message so I can make this right properly. Marco, owner
Factual correction, kept polite
Charged me for a diagnostic I never agreed to. Shady.
Thanks for raising this. Our policy is to quote the diagnostic fee before any work starts, and it sounds like that didn't happen clearly for you. I've messaged you to go through the invoice together and refund it if we got it wrong.
Detailed praise worth a public reply
Priya fixed a color disaster from another salon and spent an extra hour making sure I was happy. Calm, honest about what was possible.
This made Priya's week. Color corrections take patience and honesty about what's realistic in one sitting, and she's brilliant at both. Thank you for trusting us with it, and enjoy the new shade.
Middle-of-the-road review
Decent coffee, nice space, but the wifi kept dropping and it's hard to get a seat after 10.
Appreciate the honest take. The wifi has been patchy since we added a second room; a new router goes in next week. Weekday mornings before 9:30 are your best bet for a seat while we work on that.
- Public comment on a harsh restaurant review: Short, owns the specific failures, signs with a first name, and points to the DM rather than discussing compensation in public.
- Factual correction, kept polite: It states the policy without calling the reviewer a liar, and leaves room for the shop to have made the mistake.
- Detailed praise worth a public reply: It credits the stylist and echoes what the reviewer valued, which is exactly what someone with the same problem is hoping to read.
- Middle-of-the-road review: Practical, specific, and gives a useful tip, which suits Yelp's audience of people planning a visit.
For more negative-review wording, see how to respond to negative reviews and our 1-star reply examples.
Yelp's "Don't ask for reviews" policy
This is the Yelp rule most owners trip over. Yelp's support pages say asking for reviews goes against its policies, and that covers customers, mailing lists, friends and family alike. It is stricter than Google, which allows you to ask as long as you ask everyone and don't offer incentives.
- Don't put "Review us on Yelp" in post-visit emails, receipts or texts.
- Don't send a survey and then nudge satisfied respondents toward Yelp.
- Never offer discounts, freebies or payment for reviews; Yelp warns incentives may also be illegal.
- Do let people know you're on Yelp with the standard signage or a link on your site, without a request attached.
Yelp's recommendation software is built to catch solicited reviews, which then land in the "not recommended" section and don't count toward your star rating. So asking doesn't just break the rules, it usually doesn't work. Put the effort into great service and into answering the reviews you do get.
How to report a Yelp review
In Yelp for Business on the web, find the review, click the three-dot menu and choose Report Review. A flag appears next to the review; hover over it to see the report status. Yelp's moderators check the report against the Content Guidelines, which can take several days, and email you the outcome.
Reports that tend to succeed involve a clear conflict of interest (a competitor or former employee), a review that isn't about the writer's own experience as a customer, or inappropriate content such as hate speech or private information about staff. Yelp says it won't remove a critical review unless it clearly breaks the rules, and it does not take sides in factual disputes. That is why the public comment matters so much: it's where you put the facts.
If a reviewer looks fake, our fake review response examples show how to word a reply that raises doubt without accusing anyone. And if Google is your main review site rather than Yelp, Responsly can draft those Google replies for you; it doesn't manage Yelp.
Sources
- Yelp for Business: How do I respond to reviews of my business? — Respond, Direct Message, Thank, edit/delete, approved photo and name requirement
- Yelp Support: Don't Ask for Reviews — Policy against soliciting reviews
- Yelp for Business: How do I report a review? — Report Review steps and moderation
- Yelp for Business: How do I report a business owner comment? — Owner comments can be reported; desktop only
- Yelp Developers: Respond to Reviews API — Public comments, one owner response per review