Not a Yelp internal recruiter but I've placed people there and know how their screening works. Also just to be useful: I've coached three candidates through Yelp loops in the past year, all offers.
The recruiter screen at Yelp is 30 minutes and pretty standard, but here's what people keep getting tripped up on.
What they cover: Your background summary. Keep this to 90 seconds. They are not your biographer. Hit: what you do now, what you've shipped, why Yelp. Why Yelp specifically. This is not a throwaway question. Yelp knows they're not Google or Meta. They want to hear that you understand what the company is and have a real answer. Saying "great engineering culture" with no substance will hurt you. Know something about their products, their local search mission, or their open-source work (they have a decent OSS presence). Comp expectations. They ask early. Know your number. Don't say "I'm flexible" and then push back on the offer three weeks later, it creates friction. Logistics: location, remote/hybrid, start date. If you're visa-constrained, surface it here. Don't save it for the offer stage.
What they're screening out: People who clearly applied to 80 companies and couldn't name one reason they want to work at this one. Also people whose comp expectations are way off the band for the role. Yelp's senior SWE bands in SF in 2026 are reportedly in the $200-280k total comp range depending on level. If you come in expecting FAANG L6 comp, the screen is where that gets surfaced.
One tip: send a quick follow-up email after the screen. Not a full thank-you note, just "thanks for the time, looking forward to next steps." Most candidates don't bother and it sets a small but real positive tone.