Bing Adds More Yelp to Local Search
Bing and Yelp are teaming up to provide more local information when you search. Starting today, Bing’s U.S. users will see significantly more Yelp data included directly on Bing search results pages in the center column. It hasn’t been rolled out in the UK as of yet, but this is likely to happen over the next few months.
This information is now being provided using rich data markup and includes images, reviews, star ratings and more. Bing Local searches also include even more information powered by Yelp on local place pages.
This comes only a few weeks after Google announced that they were upgrading and re branding their local business offering as Google + local, making the interface more user friendly and including the social aspect of Google +.
Whilst Bing is still clearly 2nd best to Google at the moment, I do like their partnership strategy with industry leaders such as Yelp and Facebook in order to add value to their search engine. If Google takes its eye off the ball Microsoft could certainly make in-roads into their market share.
Yelp is one of the leading resources on the web for local restaurant information and reviews. Yelp provides online local search capabilities for its visitors. A typical search includes what the user is seeking (e.g. a Dental Practice) and the location from which the search is to be performed, entered as a specific address, neighborhood, city/county combination, or postcode code. Each business listing result contains a 5-point rating, reviews from other site visitors, and details such as the business address, hours, accessibility, and parking. Site visitors can aid in keeping the business listings up to date, with moderator approval, and business owners can directly update their own business’ listing information.
“Bing’s approach is to partner with leading content providers and services from across the web to provide people with more relevant results from the websites they trust,” a Bing spokesperson told Search Engine Watch. “By teaming up with Yelp, Bing is able to provide searchers with richer local data – including review snippets, photos and business attributes – from one of the web’s leading local listing services.”
The increased Yelp information is being provided to Bing is clearly labeling content provided by Yelp’s data. While no details are available about the partnership, it is apparent Bing is looking to not reinvent the wheel and utilize the expertise of other sites in their respective verticals.
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