There are many places to advertise online. But that doesn’t always mean they are the best methods for you. Some online advertising platforms are far superior to others. Not Getting Results From Ads on Yelp and produce much better results.
So if you’ve been advertising on Yelp, Angi, or HomeAdvisor and paying huge amounts for a high cost per lead — or worse, getting no leads at all — you’re not mobile phone number data updated 2025 alone. These ad platforms are well known in the marketing industry for their expensive billings, high cost per click, and minimal, if any, results.
We’ll cover the problems with Yelp, Angi, and HomeAdvisor. Then we’ll talk about how to better use your marketing dollars.
Why Yelp Is Terrible for Small Business Advertising
To get online advertising, you need to be present in search engines and online classifieds sites. But knowing where to invest your advertising dollars can be tricky. Let’s first look at some facts and figures about Yelp.
When you’re looking for the best local businesses, you’re likely turning to one of two places: Google or Yelp. Google processes 3.5 million searches a day. That’s 1.2 trillion searches a year. And 58.4% of those searches result in a purchase.
But while Google returns results improving management quality can create for millions of queries, Yelp doesn’t even rank in the top 100 most visited sites on the Internet , where Google ranks 45th.
So if you’re considering where to advertise based on statistics alone, it seems clear that you’ll get more results by investing in your presence on Google than on Yelp.
This is why investing in Google through SEO, content marketing, and PPC is much more valuable than advertising on Yelp.
1. Yelp uses a questionable algorithm to sort reviews
Your business works hard to provide excellent customer service and then to collect legitimate reviews from them. Yet many reviews are relegated to the bottom of your page under very small text that says “Other reviews not currently recommended.”
While Yelp maintains its algorithm, no amount sault data of proof that the customer is legitimate or the history of the profile that posted the review matters. In fact, many businesses find that their positive reviews appear in the “Other reviews that are currently not recommended” section when they pay for advertising, and their negative reviews pop up when they no longer pay for advertising.
The Daily Show aired a segment on this issue: Is Yelp Extorting Businesses? It looked at one small business’s claim that its overall rating increases when it pays for advertising and decreases when it doesn’t pay for advertising. Other small businesses have made similar claims.