Yelp reports Q1 revenues of $159 million, 269 percent ROI for advertisers

Yesterday, after the stock market’s close, Yelp reported Q1 revenue of nearly $159 million, which beat financial analyst consensus estimates. Guidance for the second quarter was also higher than expected, as was full-year guidance of roughly $700 million.

The company reported that it had 121,000 active local advertisers with a 76-percent “repeat rate,” meaning year-over-year retention. Local (small business) revenues grew 40 percent to $138.1 million. National accounts contributed 20 percent of Q1 revenue. Transactions revenue from (mostly) Eat24 generated $14.5 million in the quarter.

Yelp said 77 million unique visitors came to its PC site in Q1 and that it had 69 million mobile web visitors. There were also 21 million “app unique devices” (app users).

This is the most engaged part of Yelp’s audience, generating approximately 70 percent of page views and 10x those of website users. Yelp added, on the earnings call, that it is now in the list of the top 20 mobile apps tracked by comScore in the US market.

Yelp revealed that its average advertiser monthly spend is $267, which then yields $983 in revenue from leads produced by the site. This represents a 269-percent ROI, according to the company.

Yelp has 102 million local reviews globally (in 30 countries), half of which have come in the past 2.5 years. The company also announced the appointment of  Lanny Baker as the company’s new CFO, effective next week.

About The Author

Greg Sterling

Greg Sterling is a Contributing Editor at Search Engine Land. He writes a personal blog, Screenwerk, about connecting the dots between digital media and real-world consumer behavior. He is also VP of Strategy and Insights for the Local Search Association. Follow him on Twitter or find him at Google+.