Yelp
Local discovery and review platform monetised through business advertising.
Available information varies by company and source.
Profile record updated:
Company facts
- Official name
- Yelp Inc.
- Entity type
- COMPANY
- Founded
- 2004
- Headquarters
- 140 New Montgomery Street, San Francisco, California 94105
- Company size
- >5,000
- Market role
- Publisher & Media Owner
- Ticker
- YELP
- Official website
- yelp.com
What Yelp does
Yelp runs a two-sided platform. On one side, it aggregates consumer demand through local search, reviews and business discovery content. On the other, it sells businesses paid visibility, advertising placements and page management tools that help them capture that demand. Value is created by matching high-intent users with local merchants and brands, then monetising access to that intent through ad budgets, promotional placements and business-facing software features.
Category differentiation
This is the US public company operating the Yelp local reviews and advertising platform, not a generic review widget, restaurant booking service or agency. It competes in local discovery and advertising rather than enterprise review-management software alone.
Strategic context
AI-supported assessment from the existing company research; distinguish interpretation from sourced facts.
Yelp Inc. operates a consumer local discovery platform centred on business listings, user reviews, ratings and photos, primarily accessed through its website and mobile app. It attracts consumers searching for local businesses such as restaurants, healthcare providers and home services, then monetises that audience by selling advertising and visibility products to local businesses, multi-location operators and larger brands. Alongside its consumer platform, Yelp provides a business-facing interface that lets merchants manage listings, respond to reviews, track engagement and purchase advertising. Its revenue model is primarily advertising-led, with self-serve local ads, broader brand advertising solutions, profile enhancement and lead-generation style business tools all contributing to monetisation.
Company news briefing
Briefing updated:
Yelp has formalised its licensing agreement with OpenAI, integrating its verified local listings, reviews, and "Request a Quote" functionality directly into ChatGPT to advance its AI distribution strategy. Supported by recent regulatory filings, this integration displays Yelp branding and direct links, enabling users to contact local providers from within ChatGPT. This strategic positioning solidifies Yelp's authoritative data as a primary local discovery layer, facilitating direct consumer-to-business transactions within agentic interfaces.
Business model & monetisation
Yelp primarily monetises through advertising sold to businesses. This includes self-serve local ads with flexible daily budgets, sponsored placements within search and business pages, and larger brand campaigns using display, native and video formats. Additional monetisation comes from enhanced business profile features, business management tools, lead-related services and transaction or partner-linked revenue tied to bookings or service initiation on the platform.
- Local business advertising
- Self-serve ad budgets and sponsored placements
- National and multi-location brand advertising
- Display, native and video campaign sales
- Business page enhancements and management tools
- Software subscription or premium feature fees
- Lead or transaction-related partner revenue
- Referral, transaction or partner take-rate
Products & capabilities
No products with linked sources are available in this view.
Products & market categories
Competitors & alternatives
- G2
B2B software marketplace monetising reviews, intent data and vendor promotion.
- Nextdoor
Hyperlocal social platform monetised through neighbourhood-targeted advertising.
- solocal
French local marketing platform for SMB visibility and advertising.
Side-by-side comparisons
Recent recorded signals
Dates refer to the source publication. Older entries are historical context, not evidence of a new event.
Yelp and Hatch advance voice AI for restaurants and service pros with OpenAI’s GPT-Live-1
Recorded impact score: 4/5
We’ve integrated OpenAI’s GPT-Live-1 into Yelp Host, our voice AI solution for restaurants and Hatch, an AI communication platform for service businesses. Yelp Host and Hatch are among the first solutions to deploy GPT-Live-1, OpenAI’s latest voice model that can listen and respond simultaneously, allowing overlapping speech for more natural conversations.
Affiliate News Roundup: YouTube Shopping, OpenAI–Yelp Deal
Affiliate & Performance Marketing · Recorded impact score: 4/5
This August 17, 2026 roundup summarizes key affiliate and creator-economy developments: Awin published the 'Influencing Retail 2026' report highlighting trust over raw reach; YouTube launched its Shopping Affiliate program in the UK (allowing channels from 500 subscribers to tag products, partnering with Awin and retailers like Boots, M&S, Next, Etsy); OpenAI signed a licensing deal with Yelp to feed verified local reviews and business data into ChatGPT answers; and WSJ reports a rise of AI-generated product videos on TikTok Shop, prompting some brands (e.g., SharkNinja) to restrict AI content. The post also links to resources on affiliate fraud prevention, EU AI Act transparency rules, and Generative Engine Optimization (GEO).
- Awin published a trend report titled 'Influencing Retail 2026' about trust and purchase decisions.
- YouTube expanded its Shopping Affiliate program to the UK, enabling channels with 500+ subscribers to tag partner products in videos, Shorts and livestreams and integrating tracking in YouTube Studio.
Yelp, OpenAI Deal Enables ChatGPT Local Discovery
Conversational AI & Local Discovery · Recorded impact score: 4/5
Yelp confirmed in investor communications (Feb 12, 2026) that it has an agreement with OpenAI to surface Yelp business listings, reviews, ratings, photos and other local business information inside ChatGPT and other AI-driven local discovery experiences. Reporting (Axios, July 2026) indicates Yelp is licensing reviews, photos and related content for use in ChatGPT responses; the integration will display Yelp branding and links and is planned to expose Yelp's Request a Quote capability so users can contact local providers directly from ChatGPT. Yelp frames the deal as part of a broader AI distribution strategy and already offers Request a Quote flows and an AI-powered Yelp Assistant. The announcement omits consumer launch timing, geographic or category coverage, data refresh cadence, attribution, pricing and governance; financial terms were not disclosed.
- Yelp confirmed an agreement with OpenAI in investor communications dated February 12, 2026 to extend Yelp business listings and content into AI-driven local discovery.
- Axios reported in July 2026 that Yelp is licensing reviews, ratings, photos and other business content for use in ChatGPT responses.
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Questions about Yelp
What is Yelp?
Yelp is a local discovery platform where consumers find businesses using reviews, ratings, photos and listings, while businesses use paid tools to improve visibility and attract customers.
Who uses Yelp?
Consumers use Yelp to research local businesses, while local SMBs, service providers, multi-location operators and brands use Yelp's business tools and advertising products.
How does Yelp make money?
Yelp makes money mainly by selling advertising and promoted visibility to businesses, with additional revenue from premium business features and some transaction or partner-linked services.
Sources & coverage
This profile uses public, official and technically observable information. Missing information does not prove that a product or relationship does not exist. The list below does not imply that every profile statement has been verified.
20 publicly documented primary sources and citations linked across the market graph.
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