Yelp for Business

Overview

Yelp for Business provides embeddable review widgets that allow businesses to showcase their Yelp ratings, review counts, and customer testimonials directly on their own websites. These widgets pull live data from Yelp's platform and are typically embedded on restaurant sites, local service provider pages, and retail storefronts. Yelp operates one of the largest local business review networks in the US and has significant presence in Canada, the UK, and Australia.

What This Script Does

Widget Rendering and Data Fetching

• Loads a Yelp review badge or widget via JavaScript from yelp.com domains
• Fetches the business's current Yelp rating, review count, and recent review excerpts from the Yelp API
• Renders a styled embed component showing star rating, review count, and a "Read our reviews on Yelp" call-to-action
• Widget assets (JavaScript, CSS) served from Yelp's CDN infrastructure

Script Files

• Badge embed: https://www.yelp.com/staticmap/v2/widget/assets/js/Yelp_widget.js or equivalent badge script
• API requests to api.yelp.com for live business data
• Some implementations use the Yelp Fusion API with a server-side key, avoiding client-side scripts entirely

Cookies and Tracking

• _ga, _gid — if Yelp's widget loads Google Analytics within its context; third-party, standard GA durations
• Yelp session cookies (yelp_tracking_id, ab_sampling) — Yelp's own tracking identifiers that persist in the yelp.com cookie jar when widget resources are loaded; these may be accessible to Yelp's advertising and analytics systems
• Impression tracking pixels fire when the widget loads, recording the host URL and business ID to Yelp's analytics

Data Collected and Transmitted

• Widget load event: host page URL, business ID, timestamp
• Click events when visitors click through to the full Yelp profile
• Visitor IP address transmitted to Yelp servers (US-based)
• Referrer URL passed when the visitor navigates to yelp.com

Yelp Advertising Ecosystem

• Yelp runs a local advertising network where businesses can purchase sponsored placements
• Impression data collected through widget loads may inform Yelp's audience modeling for its ad products
• Businesses that advertise on Yelp benefit from cross-referencing widget impression data with ad campaign attribution

Consent & Compliance

Consent category: Functional

Yelp for Business widgets primarily display publicly available review content. The core widget function — rendering a business's review score — serves a legitimate business interest. Under GDPR Article 6(1)(f), displaying social proof for a local business is unlikely to override visitor privacy interests when the tracking is limited to impression events. However, if Yelp uses widget impression data for its advertising platform (audience modeling, ad attribution), this goes beyond the functional purpose and would require consent under the ePrivacy Directive. Under CCPA, widget interaction data shared with Yelp for advertising purposes could constitute "sharing" of personal information for cross-context behavioral advertising, requiring disclosure and opt-out rights.

Should You Block This Without Consent?

Conditional. The core review display is functional, but Yelp may collect impression and interaction data that feeds into its advertising ecosystem. Sites under strict GDPR enforcement should consider gating the widget behind functional consent. Under a permissive interpretation, the widget can load without consent as a functional review display, provided its presence is disclosed in the cookie notice.