Yelp Ads management at $450 a month
Yelp is the channel most agencies will not touch and most homeowners check anyway.
Almost every lead you pay for on Google visits Yelp before calling you. That means your Yelp profile is not a separate marketing channel so much as the last page of every other channel, and a thin one costs you jobs you already paid to generate. It is also, for exactly that reason, the cheapest place in most markets to buy attention.
The reason agencies avoid it is unromantic: Yelp is fiddly, the reporting is not Google's, and there is no way to make it look sophisticated in a slide deck. We run it because our Yelp Diamond Partner status gives us direct partner access and because in several trades it is the best-converting channel in the account.
A Yelp Diamond Partner, the top tier there is
Yelp ranks its advertising partners by how much Yelp Ads revenue they manage. Diamond is the top of that list, and it starts at $750k a quarter. It buys direct platform access, a named contact inside Yelp, and escalation on account problems that a self-serve advertiser waits weeks for.
Yelp-only management is $450 a month. That covers profile and advertising management by our Yelp team. Your advertising budget is separate and paid directly to Yelp from your account.
Do not take our word for it. we are listed in Yelp’s own partner directory.
How we run Yelp, and where it stops working
What is a Yelp Diamond Partner?
It is the top tier of Yelp's advertising partner program, given to agencies that manage a significant volume of Yelp advertising and meet Yelp's performance and account-management standards. Partners get direct platform access and support that a business managing its own account does not have.
The part that matters to you is commercial rather than technical: Yelp-only management is $450 a month. That covers profile and advertising management by our Yelp team. You still pay Yelp for the ad spend itself, exactly as you pay Google.
How much do Yelp ads cost?
Yelp advertising is priced per click, against a monthly budget you set. You are charged when somebody clicks through to your business from an ad placement, not when the ad is shown. Cost per click varies by category and area, and competitive categories in dense cities cost more.
The budget is the control. Yelp will spend up to it and no further. The practical work is making sure the clicks it buys are the right ones, which is a function of your categories, your keywords, your service area and, more than anything, what your profile looks like when somebody arrives.
Ask about the current contract terms on the call. Yelp has changed its commitment structure more than once, and we would rather tell you what is true this month than publish something that ages badly on a page.
How is Yelp different from Google for a home service business?
Google catches somebody describing a problem. Yelp catches somebody choosing between businesses. By the time a homeowner is reading Yelp they have usually decided what they need and are deciding who to trust, which makes reviews, photos and response time worth more there than ad copy.
That difference changes what the work is. On Google the leverage is in search terms and structure. On Yelp the leverage is in the profile and the inbox: complete categories, real photographs of real jobs, and answering a request-a-quote message fast enough to still be first.
What do you actually change on a Yelp profile?
The $450 monthly fee includes a 24/7 Yelp dashboard, ResponseGuard with an automated three-second reply, call tracking, keyword optimization, an auto responder with follow-ups, and a complete profile buildout.
The profile buildout covers your logo, removal of competitor ads, call to action, Business Highlights, portfolio, Yelp Connect, and slideshow. Categories, service areas, keyword settings, and response handling are managed alongside those visible profile features.
Can you remove bad Yelp reviews?
No, and anyone who says otherwise is either lying or about to get your profile penalised. Reviews can be reported to Yelp when they violate its content guidelines, and Yelp decides. What can be managed is the response, the review volume around it, and how the profile reads to somebody who finds it.
We also do not solicit reviews in ways that violate Yelp's policy, including asking customers directly. Yelp filters solicited reviews aggressively and penalises businesses that push, so the short-term gain is reliably worse than doing nothing.
Is Yelp worth advertising on if I already run Google Ads?
In most home service trades, yes, and the reason is that they are not competing for the same moment. Google buys the search; Yelp buys the comparison that happens afterward. Businesses that run Google alone are paying for the first half of a decision and leaving the second half to whoever has a better profile.
The trades where we see it perform hardest are plumbing, HVAC, garage doors and electrical. These are high-urgency jobs where a homeowner is messaging several businesses at once and the first credible reply wins. It is weakest where the purchase is planned, considered and visual, which is where Meta takes over.
Where Yelp is the wrong answer
Every channel has a shape. Knowing where one stops is the only way to know what the others are for.
- Yelp volume is capped by your market. It is a smaller pool than Google, and no amount of budget makes it larger.
- It rewards response speed more than any other channel. A business that answers messages the next day will underperform on Yelp no matter how the profile is set up.
- Review sentiment is outside anyone's control, including ours. A profile with a genuine service problem behind it cannot be advertised out of trouble.
- Some categories on Yelp are thin enough that the honest answer is to put the money in Google. We will say so rather than run it for the sake of the bundle.
Yelp Ads, trade by trade
What changes between one trade and the next is not the platform, it is the campaign structure and the buyer. These pages spell that out.
Plumbing
Plumbing is the most competitive Yelp category in most cities, and the request-a-quote inbox is where jobs are won or lost on response time. We manage the profile, the categories, the keywords and the response handling, at no cost on top of your plan.
HVAC
HVAC is one of the highest-intent categories on Yelp, and the request-a-quote flow puts you in front of a homeowner already messaging three contractors. Response time decides that one. Yelp-only management is $450 a month, with ad spend paid directly to Yelp.
Garage doors
High-intent, and the request-a-quote flow suits the repair call almost perfectly. Category selection matters more than usual, because garage doors sit next to gates, openers and locksmiths. We handle the profile, the keywords and the categories at no cost on top of your plan.
Electricians
Strong for service calls, where homeowners want somebody vetted and nearby for a job that involves letting a stranger touch their wiring. We manage the profile, categories and keyword bids at no cost on top of your plan.
Yelp Ads questions
What does Yelp management cost?
Yelp-only management is $450 a month. It includes a 24/7 dashboard, ResponseGuard, profile upgrades, call tracking, keyword optimization, and automated follow-up. You pay Yelp directly for the ad spend, and we never take a cut of it.
Do I need a Yelp account to advertise on Yelp?
You need a claimed business profile, which is free. Advertising sits on top of it. If your profile is unclaimed, claiming it and completing it properly is usually worth more than the first month of ad spend, and it is the first thing we do.
How fast do I need to answer Yelp messages?
Faster than you think, and faster than any other channel. A request-a-quote is usually sent to several businesses at once, so the reply window is minutes rather than hours. Yelp also shows a response time on your profile, which becomes part of how a homeowner judges you.
Can Yelp ads show my competitors on my profile?
Yelp sells placements that can appear on other business pages, which is how competitors appear on yours and how you appear on theirs. Advertisers get their own profile kept clear of competitor placements. It is one of the more concrete reasons to advertise in a category where your competitors already do.
Which trades does Yelp work best for?
Urgent home services where somebody is choosing between businesses right now: plumbing, HVAC, garage doors, electrical and roofing repairs. It works less well for long-consideration purchases that are decided visually, like remodels, where Meta and Google do more of the work.
Will you manage Yelp if I do not want to advertise there?
Yes. The profile work matters whether or not you buy placements, because homeowners who found you on Google still check it. Completing categories and uploading real job photography costs nothing and improves every other channel you run.
