According to an article released by the Wall Street Journal, Yahoo Inc. has recently signed an agreement with Yelp Inc. to improve Yahoo search engine’s local results. This means that results shown on Yahoo’s search engine will now feature listings and reviews for relevant local businesses, similar to what Microsoft’s Bing search engine currently shows in its main search results (seen below). Yelp currently has an API that allows third parties to use various portions of its local listings. However, Bing announced in June, 2013 that it had established a deal with Yelp, gaining access to a more detailed version with deeper integration. The agreement is seen as an attempt by Yahoo’s Chief Executive, Marissa Mayer (who used to lead search at Google), to differentiate Yahoo’s local search platform from the search engine giants like Google and Microsoft.
Recently, Yahoo changed its local search results. The biggest change is that when you click on a business a “snapshot” of key information appears in the results. This updated feature replaces the displayed map, paid ads and search refinements which are normally seen to the right side of the organic search results (as seen here).
Clearly there is growing importance being placed on verifying and updating Yelp business listings, which, in turn, places more value than ever on obtaining relevant, quality customer reviews. In one form or another, business information and customer reviews from Yelp are now being used by all major search engines. Don’t fall behind the curve, let our team help get you to the top of search results and dominate your local market. Contact our team to find out how this feature can help your business make the most of localized search.
1) http://online.wsj.com/news/article
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