You’ve heard us talk about Google’s anti-competitive practices in local search before. By manipulating search results for local business information in its favor, Google is impeding consumers’ ability to find the best information. Unfortunately, using size and reach to constrain consumer choice isn’t limited to Google, and is increasingly becoming a strategy that appeals… Read more
For more, see focusontheuser.eu Today, the European Commission announced that Google has breached antitrust rules by manipulating search results to favor its own vertical search services. In a landmark decision, the EU antitrust enforcement body hit Google with a record fine of €2.42 billion and gave Google a deadline of 90 days to end all… Read more
Researchers at the Manhattan Institute recently published a study showing that higher Yelp ratings correlate with lower potentially preventable readmission rates (PPR), a widely accepted metric for hospital quality, concluding that Yelp is a “useful, clear, and reliable tool for comparing the quality of different facilities.” The researchers chose to use preventable readmissions, instances where… Read more
A Nielsen study commissioned by Yelp finds that many consumers report strong purchase intent at the businesses they find through review sites. Now, 92% of consumers who use consumer online review sites say they made a purchase after visiting Yelp at least sometimes, frequently or almost always. Consumers who use online consumer review sites and… Read more
A new study coauthored by professor Michael Luca of Harvard Business School and Dara Lee Luca of Mathematica Policy Research shows that an increase in minimum wage leads to an increase in the probability that a restaurant with a lower star rating will go out of business. While prior research in this area mainly used… Read more
Today we’ve begun rolling out a new business attribute that helps users identify businesses that offer gender neutral restrooms to patrons. What constitutes a gender neutral restroom, you ask? Gender neutral restrooms are accessible to persons of any gender and are a locking, single-stall bathroom. On desktop and mobile versions of Yelp, users will be… Read more
Yelp is proud to join the Human Rights Campaign’s amicus brief in support of Gavin Grimm. With the help of the ACLU and others, Gavin sued his local school board in Virginia, which had denied him access to the boys’ restroom at his school because he is a transgender boy. A federal court denied his… Read more
Last year Yelp integrated Nowait, the industry’s leading waitlist system and real time seating tool. Today, we’re excited to announce that we’ve acquired Nowait, expanding our ability to enable hungry diners to get in line remotely and empowering restaurants to share real-time seating availability in the Yelp app. Waitlist functionality is the perfect complement to booking… Read more
Yelp has joined nearly a hundred other companies nationwide, from throughout the tech industry and beyond, to file an amicus brief supporting a lawsuit challenging President Trump’s recent Executive Order on immigration. As has been widely reported, among other changes, this Executive Order seeks to block nationals from certain Middle Eastern and African countries from… Read more
Yelp’s Data Science team has dug in on projects ranging from the fun to serious forecasting, and we’re excited to announce that Carl Bialik will be joining Yelp as our new Data Science Editor to further our exploration of all the ways Yelp data can inform and inspire the world. Yelp data has been powering… Read more