Is yelp.com legit?

85
/ 100
Trusted
Industry: Food & Dining

Yelp.com appears to be a highly trusted platform for reviews and business information. While a few warnings about excessive scripts and hidden content emerged, its long operational history, robust infrastructure, and strong security measures provide a solid foundation for user confidence.

Food & Dining average: 83/100 · based on 15 sites

Checked: April 18, 2026 at 1:08 PM UTC · Refresh

Is yelp.com a scam? Here's what we found.

Security 85/100

The security setup is generally strong, featuring modern TLS 1.3, a valid SSL certificate from a reputable issuer, and robust policies like HSTS and CSP. However, the high number of external scripts is a notable concern, as it could introduce vulnerabilities.

Identity 95/100

Yelp's identity is exceptionally clear and well-established. Operating for over 22 years and registered with a major corporate registrar like MarkMonitor, there's no question about the longevity or authenticity of this domain.

Reputation 90/100

With a high Tranco rank (globally top 1000) and a clean record on DNS blacklists, Yelp enjoys a very strong reputation as an established and widely recognized platform. Its extensive history reinforces its standing.

Transparency 80/100

While the site has clear branding and a strong social media presence, the lack of readily visible contact information on the homepage is a minor drawback for a service that facilitates communication between consumers and businesses. The excessive hidden content raises some questions about content presentation.

Compliance 85/100

Yelp provides essential legal pages like Privacy Policy and Terms of Service, which is critical for a platform handling user data and reviews. The sheer volume of hidden elements, while not necessarily malicious, is an unusual finding that could hint at practices impacting compliance with ethical transparency standards.

Infrastructure 90/100

The site boasts a robust infrastructure, including comprehensive email authentication (SPF, DMARC), stable DNS resolution, and selective access through robots.txt. This demonstrates a well-managed and professional backend.

Signals Detected

[+]
Tranco Rank: Rank #676

This is one of the most visited websites globally

[+]
Structured Data: Found

Site uses structured data identifying itself as: Organization, WebSite

[?]
Trustpilot: No Trustpilot profile

This business has no Trustpilot presence — not unusual for smaller or newer companies

[+]
SSL Certificate: Valid

Valid certificate, expires in 231 days

[?]
Certificate Issuer: DigiCert Inc

Certificate issued by DigiCert Inc

[+]
TLS Version: TLS 1.3

Connection uses TLS 1.3

[+]
Domain Age: 22 years, 8 months

Domain created 2003-12-12T21:24:56Z (22 years, 8 months ago)

[?]
Registrar: MarkMonitor Inc.

Registered through MarkMonitor Inc.

[+]
Domain Expiry: 2027-12-12T21:24:56Z

Expires in 603 days

[+]
DNSSEC: unsigned

DNSSEC status from WHOIS

[~]
External Scripts: 126 scripts

Excessive number of external scripts — may indicate malicious injection

[~]
Hidden Content: 149 hidden elements

Excessive hidden content found — may indicate cloaking or deceptive content

[+]
DNS Resolution: 1 IP(s)

Resolves to: 146.75.120.116

[+]
Email (MX Records): 5 record(s)

Mail servers: aspmx.l.google.com., alt1.aspmx.l.google.com., alt2.aspmx.l.google.com., alt3.aspmx.l.google.com., alt4.aspmx.l.google.com.

[+]
SPF Record: Present

Domain has SPF email authentication configured

[+]
DMARC Record: Present

Domain has DMARC email authentication configured

[?]
Name Servers: 8 server(s)

DNS providers: ns02.midtowndoornailns.com., ns03.midtowndoornailns.com., ns04.midtowndoornailns.com., dns1.p06.nsone.net., dns2.p06.nsone.net., dns3.p06.nsone.net., dns4.p06.nsone.net., ns01.midtowndoornailns.com.

[+]
Branding: Complete

Site has custom branding and social media metadata

[+]
robots.txt: Selective access

Blocks unknown crawlers by default but grants access to specific bots (142 directives)

[+]
DNS Blacklists: Clean

Not found on any DNS blacklists

[+]
HSTS Header: Present

Site enforces HTTPS via HSTS

[+]
Content Security Policy: Present

Site has Content Security Policy configured

[?]
Server: envoy

Web server: envoy

[+]
Google Web Risk: Clean

No threats detected by Google Web Risk

[?]
Sitemap: Not found

No sitemap found — common for smaller sites

[+]
Website Status: Online

Website is live and responding

[~]
Contact Info: Not found

No obvious contact information found on homepage

[+]
Legal Pages: Privacy & Terms found

Website has both privacy policy and terms of service pages

[+]
Social Media Presence: 4 platforms

Website links to multiple social media platforms

[?]
Web Archive: Unable to check

Could not query Wayback Machine

[?]
Certificate Transparency: Unable to check

Could not query certificate transparency logs

[?]
Page Load Time: 1407ms

Average page load time

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Stay Safe Online

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Use a password manager

Never reuse passwords across sites.

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When evaluating a platform like Yelp, which serves as a vital bridge between consumers and local businesses, understanding its operational integrity is paramount. A legitimate site in this industry, much like Yelp, typically exhibits a significant domain age, reflecting years of established service and brand recognition. Yelp's 22-year history far exceeds the typical lifespan of fly-by-night operations, establishing it as a long-standing fixture in digital consumer reviews. For review platforms, it's crucial to examine how they handle user data and ensure secure interactions. Yelp's strong security measures—like modern TLS encryption and robust email authentication—are standard for any reputable online service. While the presence of many external scripts can sometimes be a harbinger of potential issues or bloat, for a platform with Yelp's scale and complexity, these often relate to advertising, analytics, and rich user interface elements, which are typical. However, users should always be wary of unusual redirects or unexpected pop-ups on any site, regardless of its reputation. The discovery of numerous hidden elements is a point worth noting; in some contexts, this could be a 'cloaking' technique used to manipulate search engines, though for a site of Yelp's caliber it might also relate to dynamic content loading or user interface optimizations. Always ensure you are on the authentic Yelp.com domain to avoid phishing attempts.