Short Answer

tl;dr: Yelp leads can work for contractors, but only when the economics work in your specific market. Treat Yelp as a 30-day test: track lead quality, response speed, close rate, and gross profit per booked job. If your real cost per booked job beats your target, scale. If not, pause quickly and reallocate budget.

This post is intentionally not another full Yelp setup guide.
If you want the full platform walkthrough, read:
The Complete Guide to Yelp for Home Service Contractors in 2026.

This post answers one question only: Are Yelp leads profitable for your company right now?

Yelp Leads in 2026: The Reality

Yelp is still a major home-service discovery channel. Home and local services now drive most of Yelp’s ad growth, and the platform continues to push quote-driven lead flows. At the same time, contractor sentiment is split:

Some businesses report strong ROI in dense metro markets.
Many report high CPC, low-intent leads, and difficult cancellation experiences.

Both can be true. Yelp is not “always good” or “always bad.” It is an economic test.

The key point: Yelp has enough consumer traffic and quote activity to generate real opportunities for contractors. Most bad outcomes come from poor fit, slow response, loose targeting, or weak follow-up, not from traffic volume alone.

The Yelp Lead Economics Model

Ignore vanity metrics first (impressions, clicks, profile views).
Track only this chain:

Lead -> Contact -> Estimate -> Booked Job -> Gross Profit

Core Metrics to Track Weekly

Lead Volume: Total Yelp leads in period.
Good Lead Rate: % of leads that match your service area + service type.
Contact Rate: % of good leads you actually reach.
Estimate Rate: % of reached leads that move to estimate/visit.
Close Rate: % of estimates that become paying jobs.
Avg Gross Profit per Job: Revenue minus direct job costs.
Ad Spend: Total Yelp spend for the period.

Two Numbers That Decide Everything

Cost per Booked Job (CPBJ)
CPBJ = Ad Spend / Booked Jobs
Expected Gross Profit per Lead (EGPL)
EGPL = Good Lead Rate * Contact Rate * Estimate Rate * Close Rate * Avg Gross Profit per Job

If EGPL is lower than your effective cost per lead, your campaign is losing money even if lead volume looks good.

Break-Even Yelp CPL Calculator

Use this to define your max affordable Yelp lead cost:

Break-Even CPL = Contact Rate * Estimate Rate * Close Rate * Avg Gross Profit per Job

Example:

Contact Rate: 60% (0.60)
Estimate Rate: 50% (0.50)
Close Rate: 35% (0.35)
Avg Gross Profit per Job: $1,400

Break-Even CPL = 0.60 * 0.50 * 0.35 * 1400 = $147

If your real Yelp CPL is above $147, you are upside down unless downstream metrics improve.

The 30-Day Yelp ROI Scorecard

Run Yelp like a structured test, not a permanent spend commitment.

Days 1-7: Setup Baseline

Confirm service area targeting.
Confirm ad categories match only profitable jobs.
Set an explicit max budget for the 30-day test.
Track every lead in one sheet or CRM pipeline with source = Yelp.

Days 8-14: Quality Check

Optimize first, then reduce if these stay true after changes:

Good Lead Rate below 50%.
Repeated out-of-area or irrelevant inquiries.
Contact Rate below 35%.
Leads are heavily price-shopping with no estimate intent.

Days 15-30: Profit Check

At day 30, decide:

Scale if CPBJ is below target and gross margin is healthy.
Refine if quality is acceptable but conversion is weak.
Pause if CPBJ is too high or lead quality remains poor.

What Contractors Commonly Report About Yelp Leads

Across contractor threads, recurring patterns show up:

High variance in lead quality by market and trade.
Good weeks mixed with sudden runs of low-intent inquiries.
Friction around billing clarity and cancellation timing.

There are positive outcomes, but there are also many reports of weak conversion and frustration with spend efficiency. That is exactly why the scorecard above matters.

Important context before reading quotes: Reddit naturally over-indexes on negative experiences because people usually post when something goes wrong. Use these quotes as signal for risk patterns, not as proof that Yelp can never work.

Real Contractor Quotes from Reddit

“Almost every single ‘lead’ on yelp is fake… In multiple years I’ve only closed 1 deal… 19 out of twenty of the accounts they come from are bot accounts.”
Source: r/smallbusiness

“The paid side feels like you’re buying clicks, not customers… you’re not paying for guaranteed leads. You’re paying for clicks/traffic… and that doesn’t mean the person calls, books, or even replies.”
Source: r/Yelp

“It looks and feels like a casino… you can easily pay $135 just to send a message and get ignored, and you’re out the money either way.”
Source: r/Yelp

“Yelp advertising is expensive.”
Source: r/Contractor

“For a new/small business… it’s been a terrible ROI and honestly feels stacked against you. My recommendation STOP pay to Yelp, focus more on google.”
Source: r/Yelp

Positive (With Caveats)

“I’ve booked quite a bit from Yelp but a lot of leads go nowhere or they are scammers.”
Source: r/smallbusiness

“We are spending $1600 on Yelp… we pull in at least 2 kitchens and or bathrooms a month with them.”
Source: r/Contractor

Where Yelp Usually Performs Best vs Worst

Better fit

Urban markets with strong Yelp consumer behavior.
Emergency or fast-turn service categories.
Teams that can reply in minutes, not hours.

Weaker fit

Slow-response operations.
Rural/low-Yelp-adoption markets.
High-ticket categories with long sales cycles and heavy bid shopping.

How Contractors Actually Get Real Results on Yelp

The contractors who win on Yelp usually do a few things consistently:

Fast first reply: They respond in minutes, not later that day.
Tight targeting: They narrow service area and categories to profitable work.
Strong profile trust: They keep reviews, photos, and service details current.
Disciplined lead handling: Every Yelp lead gets structured follow-up until closed or disqualified.
Channel mix mindset: Yelp is one part of pipeline, not the entire growth plan.

If you treat Yelp like a managed performance channel and run weekly optimization, results are often materially better than “set and forget” campaigns.

How to Increase Yelp Lead ROI Without Increasing Budget

Respond faster than competitors: first-response advantage still dominates.
Narrow categories and geography: pay for fewer but better-fit leads.
Filter for profitable job types: remove low-margin services from ad focus.
Use structured follow-up: do not let leads die after first reply.
Centralize speed-to-lead workflows: route every Yelp lead into one response process.

If response speed is your bottleneck, review:

Final Decision Framework

Use this rule:

Keep and scale Yelp when it consistently produces booked jobs below your target CPBJ.
Optimize Yelp when quality is mixed but trend is improving.
Pause Yelp when 30-day data stays negative after optimization steps.

Do not decide based on anecdotes alone, good or bad. Decide from your numbers.

FAQ

How much should contractors budget to test Yelp leads?

Use a fixed 30-day test budget you can afford to lose, then evaluate CPBJ and margin impact. Do not treat early lead volume as proof of ROI.

What is a good Yelp lead close rate for contractors?

There is no universal benchmark. Track your own funnel from lead to booked job and compare CPBJ against your margin targets.

Are Yelp leads better than Google LSA leads?

It depends on market, trade, and response speed. Compare channels using the same CPBJ and gross profit framework.

What is the biggest Yelp lead mistake contractors make?

Running campaigns without a clear break-even CPL and without weekly lead-quality review.

Yelp Leads for Contractors in 2026: Cost, Quality, and the 30-Day ROI Scorecard

Short Answer

Yelp Leads in 2026: The Reality