Ask Scott: ChatGPT Is Going to Show Yelp Reviews Now? Are you Serious???

This is the kind of question I get all the time, and it’s exactly what this blog is for. An owner sees a headline, wonders if it matters to their business, and asks me. So let’s get into it.

Here’s my quick take: I get it…you all hate Yelp!! But it’s time to get over it, because this is a big deal. AI search is real, it matters, and there are a few easy things you should do about it (none of which involve giving Yelp a dime). Here’s the whole picture.

First, let’s get the Yelp hate out of the way

I know exactly what most of you think of Yelp, because you’ve told me. The filter buries your BEST five-star reviews as “not recommended” while some one-star rant from a person you never even trained sits right at the top. The sales reps call you relentlessly about buying ads. And the whole thing can feel like it’s designed to squeeze small businesses.

I’m not here to argue with any of that. Some of it’s fair, some of it’s overblown, but honestly…. it doesn’t matter anymore. Here’s my bet: 9 out of 10 of you haven’t looked at your own Yelp page in over a year. Maybe two. And I get why…. ignoring Yelp has felt like a perfectly safe move, because your clients were finding you on Google anyway.

As of last week, it’s not a safe move anymore.

What happened

On July 23rd, Axios reported that Yelp signed a licensing deal with OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT. In plain English: Yelp is handing over its entire library…. roughly 330 million reviews and more than 8 million business listings…. for ChatGPT to use directly in its answers.

So when someone asks ChatGPT for a dog trainer recommendation, it’ll be able to show your Yelp reviews, your star rating, your photos, and your business details, with Yelp’s branding and links right in the answer. Wall Street liked it too: Yelp’s stock jumped 8% on the news.

And there’s one more piece that matters for service businesses like yours: Yelp’s “Request a Quote” feature is coming along for the ride. That means a dog owner could ask ChatGPT for a trainer, see your business, and request a quote or book a consultation without ever leaving the chat. No clicking through to Yelp. No Googling you first. The lead comes straight out of the AI conversation.

The integration isn’t live yet, and no launch date has been announced. But the deal is signed, and this is clearly the direction things are headed.

Why “I hate Yelp” is no longer a strategy

Think about what your Yelp page looks like RIGHT NOW. Old photos, or none. Hours that may or may not be right. Maybe a phone number from two owners ago. And whatever reviews happened to stick, good or bad, with nobody ever responding to them. That’s been fine, because almost nobody was looking.

Now run the new scenario: a dog owner asks ChatGPT for a trainer in your city, and THAT page…. the one you haven’t opened since who-knows-when…. is what gets served up next to your name. You wouldn’t send a client a proposal with a wrong phone number and ten-year-old photos. But that’s effectively what a neglected Yelp page becomes once AI starts reading it out loud.

And more people will be asking AI. Up until now, ChatGPT has been pretty weak at local recommendations…. it often pulled from no-name directories you’ve never heard of, and most people went and double-checked on Google anyway. Real Yelp reviews change that. Surveys show about 65% of Americans have used AI search but only 15% actually trust it “a lot”…. attaching a known review brand like Yelp is exactly how OpenAI closes that trust gap. The more trustworthy those answers feel, the fewer people bother with the second Google search.

One more thing worth knowing: this deal is not exclusive. Yelp already feeds its data to Apple Maps, Alexa, and Bing, and it’s free to cut the same deal with other AI companies. Translation: your Yelp profile isn’t just your Yelp profile anymore. It’s becoming the data file that a whole bunch of AI tools use to describe your business…. whether you ever log in or not.

So what should you actually do?

Here’s the good news: you don’t need to learn anything about AI, and you don’t need to fall in love with Yelp. You need about an hour to get your Yelp house in order, because that profile is about to be seen in a lot more places.

1. Claim your Yelp page if you haven’t. A lot of you set up Yelp years ago and never touched it again…. or never claimed it at all. An unclaimed page with a wrong phone number is what ChatGPT would be showing people.

2. Fill it out completely. Photos of you working with dogs, your services listed out, current hours, service area, correct phone and website. AI pulls whatever data is there. Make sure it’s accurate and makes you look like the professional operation you are. SEO TIP: Make sure your business info matches your Google Business Profile EXACTLY! (Name, Address, Phone, Hours…all exact)

3. Respond to your reviews…. especially the bad ones. I know, this is the part you’ve been avoiding. But a calm, professional response to a negative review might now be read inside a ChatGPT answer. That response IS your reputation to someone who’s never heard of you. And responding to the good ones shows you’re actually there.

4. Don’t mass-blast clients asking for Yelp reviews. This one’s counterintuitive, but Yelp’s own rules discourage directly soliciting reviews, and their filter is aggressive about burying reviews that look solicited. Yes…. the same filter you already hate. Don’t feed it. Instead, make Yelp easy to find…. a link on your site, a mention at pickup…. and let happy clients do the rest naturally.

5. When Request a Quote leads show up, answer fast. Speed-to-lead wins in this business, and that won’t change just because the lead came from a chatbot.

And notice what’s NOT on this list: buying Yelp ads. Nobody’s asking you to give Yelp a dime. When the sales rep calls to congratulate you on updating your page, you can still hang up on them with my blessing.

The bottom line

You don’t have to like Yelp. You don’t have to check it every week, and you definitely don’t have to advertise on it. Google still matters most, and your Google reviews are still priority one…. nothing about that changes. But “I hate Yelp so I ignore it” just stopped being a harmless habit and started being a hole in your marketing. One hour to claim it, clean it up, and respond to what’s sitting there. Hold your nose if you have to…. your future clients are the ones reading it.

I’m keeping an eye on when this goes live and what it looks like in practice. And if you’ve got a headline or a question you want me to break down next, you know what to do…. ask Scott.

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