Can you remove your business from Yelp?
Not on request, according to Yelp. Yelp says on its support pages that it does not remove business pages on request, because business information is typically a matter of public record and public concern. An owner can correct the details, report a closed business, or stop managing the page, but closing a business account does not remove the page from Yelp.
What Yelp says
Yelp's support page on removing a business page says Yelp publishes business information so consumers can share their experiences, and that the information is typically "a matter of public record and public concern". Because of that, it says it does not remove such information from the site, even though some owners might prefer to keep a low profile.
What an owner can do instead
- Correct the details: Yelp says to edit the business information on Yelp for Business or in its app and to submit a detailed note.
- Report a closed business: Yelp asks to be told when a business is permanently or temporarily closed. It says closed businesses sometimes still appear in search results, for example to tell people the business is closed.
- Hand the page to someone else: Yelp's closing article says that if you still own the business but want someone else to manage the page, add or transfer access to a new user instead.
Why closing the account does not delete the page
Yelp's help page on closing an account says a business owner who no longer needs access to a claimed page can unclaim it or close the business account, but "closing a business account does not remove the business page from Yelp". Yelp's article on closing a page adds that once a page is marked permanently closed, you lose the ability to reply to reviews or change the page. The same article says Yelp won't mark a business as closed if it is still operating and able to receive customers, so closing is only for a business that has actually stopped.
If the real reason is a bad review
Removing the page is not the way to remove a review. Yelp's recommendation software decides which reviews it recommends, as the related answer on why Yelp hides some reviews describes, and the related answer on Google reviews or Yelp reviews compares the two sites. The Google version of this question is covered in the related answer on deleting a Google Business Profile.
As general advice, other directories set their own rules, so look in each site's help pages for a removal or claim route, and expect some to keep the page too.
Sources
- Yelp Support Center, "Can I remove my business page from Yelp?"
- Yelp Business Help Center, "How to close your Yelp business page"
- Yelp Support Center, "How do I close my account?"
Related answers
- Why does Yelp hide some of my reviews, and can I ask customers to review me there?
- Which matter more for a service business: Google reviews or Yelp reviews?
- Should you delete your Google Business Profile and start over?
SEO for service businesses
Get found on Google by the people already looking for what you sell, in the places you serve, and see which searches turned into inquiries.