Certified. Trusted. Yelp's shopper.
Yelp still runs the review culture for cannabis — especially with the older, more mainstream buyer who compares three listings before they walk in. Sparks is a Certified Yelp Ads Partner, one of fewer than 40 agencies allowed to run cannabis ads on the platform.
Book A CallThe Context
Yelp's shopper is the mainstream shopper.
The Yelp cannabis shopper is older, less product-native, and more review-driven. They compare listings. They read three reviews before deciding. They trust the star rating more than the marketing.
Monthly Yelp users nationwide
Yelp public reporting, 2026
Yelp is the review platform that mainstream cannabis buyers still trust. If your rating dips below 4.5, or your reviews go 30 days without a response, or your Business Info is incomplete — you lose them.
Sparks is a Certified Yelp Ads Partner. Fewer than 40 agencies in the country carry the certification. We run cannabis ads on Yelp for 100+ dispensaries — and manage the rest of the listing alongside it.
What We Manage
Everything a Yelp shopper reads.
Business Info
Hours, address, services, amenities, price range — every field structured for Yelp's search and filter behavior.
Reviews
Every review answered within six hours in your brand voice. Fraudulent-review flagging, competitor-attack removal.
Yelp Ads
Certified Yelp Ads Partner. Sponsored placements in category and area searches, targeted to buyer intent.
Photography
Hero photo, interior tour, product close-ups. Sized for Yelp's mobile grid where 75% of Yelp traffic lives.
Q&A
Preemptive Q&A entries answering the top questions about parking, first-time visits, ID requirements, and product selection.
Analytics
Yelp metrics rolled into the Sparks Dashboard alongside every other platform. Views, calls, direction requests, conversions.
The Sparks Approach
How we run Yelp.
Four moves. Certified Partner-level access, first-30-days deployment.
Move 01
Business Info completeness sweep.
Every field, every attribute, every service tag. Yelp's search rewards depth; most cannabis listings are 40% complete.
Lift · Yelp search visibilityMove 02
Review SLA + fraud flagging.
six-hour reply on every review. Certified-Partner-level access to Yelp's fraudulent-review flagging queue.
Lift · Star avg → 4.7+Move 03
Certified Yelp Ads campaigns.
Sponsored placements at negotiated Certified Partner CPMs, targeting the cannabis-shopper buyer intent segments Yelp allows.
Lift · Cost-per-lead ↓ 30%Move 04
Photo depth + Q&A hygiene.
Monthly photo refresh with product close-ups and interior. Preemptive Q&A entries for the top 10 questions in your category.
Lift · Profile actions +40%Where This Fits
Yelp reaches the shopper the other platforms miss.
The Weedmaps shopper is committed. The Google shopper is deciding. The Yelp shopper is comparing. Sparks manages all three so no matter which surface a shopper starts on, they end at your storefront.
See the Weedmaps programFrequently Asked
Yelp Management FAQ
Is Sparks a Yelp Certified Advertising Partner?
Yes — Sparks is a Certified Yelp Advertising Partner, which means Yelp has vetted our team and gives us direct access to agency pricing, campaign tools, and account support that in-house teams don't get.
How much do Yelp Ads cost for cannabis dispensaries?
Yelp Ads use a cost-per-click model, so pricing depends on your market and the keywords you want to compete for. As a Certified Partner, we get agency pricing on Yelp Ads campaigns, which usually beats what a dispensary can get going direct.
Can I remove bad Yelp reviews from my dispensary profile?
Yelp will remove reviews that violate its content guidelines — fake reviews, conflicts of interest, reviews about a different business, hate speech. We flag qualifying reviews on your behalf and work with Yelp support to get them pulled. Legitimate negative reviews stay, but we respond publicly to every one.
How do I claim and verify my dispensary on Yelp?
Yelp requires a phone or postcard verification tied to the listing's business address. Sparks handles the claim and verification process, then fills out every attribute, uploads your photos, and keeps hours current so your Yelp page actually ranks for "dispensary near me" searches.
What makes a Yelp listing rank higher for "dispensary near me" searches?
Review count and recency, review rating, response rate to reviews, listing completeness (hours, photos, attributes), and Yelp Ads all affect rank. Sparks works on all five simultaneously — most dispensaries only get around to one or two.
Book a Yelp listing audit.
Free. 30 minutes. We'll pull your current Yelp listing, score your Business Info completeness, review response velocity, photo depth, and ad share of voice against Sparks-managed dispensaries in your market.
Book A CallYelp is a registered trademark of its owner. Sparks is an independent agency and is not affiliated with or endorsed by Yelp.