How to ask customers for Yelp reviews
What you'll learn
- →Why Yelp filters 25% of new reviews
- →What you can and cannot say (per Yelp's policy)
- →Three soft-touch ask techniques
- →How to surface filtered reviews
Before you start
- □A claimed Yelp business page
- □An email list or post-visit follow-up system
Yelp openly discourages businesses from soliciting reviews and aggressively filters anything that looks fishy. But you absolutely can grow reviews — you just have to do it indirectly. Here's the legal, durable playbook.
The steps
- Step 01
Claim and complete your Yelp page
Add hours, photos, menu, services, and an owner bio. Yelp's filter trusts complete profiles more.
- Step 02
Use 'Find us on Yelp' — not 'Review us on Yelp'
Yelp's policy bans direct review asks. Instead, point people to your page. Once they're there, the call-to-review is Yelp's job, not yours.
Common mistakePutting 'Leave us a Yelp review' on receipts. Reviews that come from this often get filtered. - Step 03
Add a Yelp badge to your website and email signature
Yelp provides embeddable badges that link to your page. Organic clickthroughs convert better and get filtered less.
- Step 04
Mention Yelp in conversation, not in writing
Train staff to casually say 'we love hearing from people on Yelp'. Spoken asks don't leave a paper trail and don't trigger filters.
- Step 05
Reward Yelp Elite users (legally)
Elite reviewers' reviews almost never get filtered. Host Elite events, offer them a tasting menu, treat them like critics — without asking for specific star ratings.
TipYelp hosts free Elite events that you can sponsor — a great low-cost local visibility play. - Step 06
Respond to every review publicly
A 2-sentence thank-you on positives, a calm LEAP response on negatives. Yelp boosts engaged businesses.
- Step 07
Monitor your filter rate quarterly
Click 'Not currently recommended reviews' below your review count. If filter rate exceeds 30%, you're being too aggressive — pull back.
Common questions
+Why does Yelp filter so many reviews?
Their algorithm penalizes reviewers with thin profiles, new accounts, and patterns that look solicited (clusters of reviews after a visit, similar phrasing).
+Can I incentivize Yelp reviews?
Absolutely not — it's against Yelp's Terms of Service and they actively investigate.
+Do filtered reviews count toward my star rating?
No. Only recommended reviews affect your visible average.
+Should I focus on Yelp or Google?
Google for most categories. Yelp matters in restaurants, services, and some metros (SF, NYC, Boston).
+How do I get a filtered review unfiltered?
You can't directly. The reviewer needs to build profile trust by reviewing more places.
What to do next
Social Perks turns happy customers into a marketing team. Free 14-day trial. No card required.
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