In an effort to strengthen their level of influence in contextual search results, Yahoo partnered with Yelp in March to provide review content alongside its local search results. Content from Yelp, such as reviews, business information and pictures will be displayed along with local business search results.
"Yelp's rich reviews, ratings, photos and business information will help power Yahoo Search in the U.S., making finding businesses a breeze," writes Mike Ghaffary, vice president of business and corporate development at Yelp, in a blog post.
Initial reviews of the deal have been mixed, as there have been reports of years of reviews on Yahoo lost once new Yelp reviews are received. The Yahoo Local reviews will remain until a new Yelp review is posted, which means as more Yelp reviews come in the old Yahoo reviews will be pushed out.
"At Yahoo, we're always looking to build great partnerships to provide a richer experience for our users. That's why we're especially fired up to add trusted user content from Yelp, bringing more business listings, more photos, and more reviews to the recently refreshed Local Search and Yahoo Maps experiences," Anand Chandrasekaran, senior director of product management, wrote in a separate blog post.
Regardless of the lost reviews on Yahoo, this highlights the importance of having a well-monitored Yelp profile. 18 million users are on Yelp every month searching for local businesses, which makes it a dominant player in a competitive social review site market. Claiming a business, updating specific details such as hours, address, and contact information will greatly benefit an ECP by making them easier to find and engage with.
