•  Consumers can now stay updated on businesses’ health and safety precautions •  Yelp will proactively safeguard businesses that add the new attributes With the uncertainty surrounding the spread of the COVID Delta variant, we’re seeing an increasing number of businesses implement new safety measures to protect their employees and communities. To help consumers understand how a business is currently operating as pandemic guidelines continue to evolve, today, Yelp is announcing two new, free attributes – “Proof of vaccination required” and “All staff fully vaccinated.” Users will be ..read more

Today, we’re introducing Yelp’s refreshed logo and our reimagined suite of app icons. Our latest updates are part of the continued roll out of our new modernized platform. Yelp started as a discovery and review site and has since grown into a one-stop local platform where people can easily discover, connect and transact with great businesses in their communities. Our new look updates the Yelp product experience to feel simple, modern, and cohesive. Whether you’re requesting quotes for a home project, booking an appointment, joining a restaurant’s waitlist, or ordering takeout, you’ll discover ..read more

In Q2 2021 the U.S. saw a significant decrease in new COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations fueled by many Americans getting vaccinated once they qualified. While the Delta variant continues to create some uncertainty, 59% of Americans 18 years of age and older are fully vaccinated, every state except Hawaii has fully reopened, and across the U.S. businesses are resuming normal operations as people begin to return to pre-pandemic activities.  Yelp’s latest Economic Recovery Report, published in June, showed an increase in consumers getting back to pre-pandemic activities – such as dining ou ..read more

Today, Yelp announced Yelp Audiences, a new way to help national and regional advertisers connect with consumers across the web based on Yelp search activity. Yelp Audiences offers an opportunity for location-based, direct-to-consumer, consumer packaged goods, and online advertisers to reach Yelp’s high-intent audience at all stages of the buying cycle. We sat down with Tom Foran, our SVP and Head of GTM, National, to learn more about Yelp’s new advertising platform. Give us the elevator pitch on Yelp Audiences. Tom: Yelp has this really unique audience of down-funnel, high purchase intent co ..read more

As more people are vaccinated and local economies reopen this summer with the lifting of capacity restrictions and mask mandates, Yelp data reveals that Americans are eager to return to normal. The post Yelp Consumer Interest Data Shows Local Economies Near A Full Recovery appeared first on Yelp ..read more

As warm weather approaches and summer kicks into full swing, outdoor activities are top of mind for many Americans. Last year, Yelp saw mentions of interior designers increase 372% as people spent more time in their kitchens, converted spare rooms to offices, and completed projects around the home amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. This year is all about the backyard: Searches for terms like “outdoor deck”, “patio heaters” and “outdoor lighting” have skyrocketed (jumping 373%, 263%, and 88% respectively) as homeowners are looking for more ways to spruce up their outdoor spaces for al fresco en ..read more

As we head into the summer, nearly 65% of adults in the U.S. have received at least one dose of the vaccine, many local restrictions and mask mandates have been lifted, and restaurants have seen diner demand surge. In fact, the increased interest in dine-in service at restaurants has grown so much that many restaurants are facing a staff shortage. With more new restaurants opening and many that were once temporarily closed reopening, restaurant owners are turning to technology to help manage their front-of-house in light of the current labor shortage. Yelp data reflects this surge, with more t ..read more

As temperatures warm, this summer is poised for a return to social activities and celebrations — and for most of us, that means delicious food. Many of us are eager to return to dining out, rooftop bars and outdoor festivities. In April, the share of U.S. restaurant searches specifically for reservations were up 106% from January and searches were up 146% for places that are good for groups. So what will everyone be eating and drinking this summer? We tapped Yelp’s data science team to analyze millions of reviews to find the food and drink that have been surging in popularity over the last six ..read more

As summer approaches and homeowners are continuing to upgrade their outdoor spaces in anticipation of warmer weather, oftentimes those ambitious and well-intentioned projects are left for dad to complete. Dads may start these home improvements with the best of intentions, but then life takes over and – like many of us who lost interest in our newfound hobbies during quarantine – they may have left half-finished projects around the backyard. In fact, according to a recent survey from Kelton Global*, close to a quarter (22%) of Americans who want to build or refinish a deck haven’t yet because t ..read more

Over the last year, we learned that we can operate successfully as a distributed remote workforce, which we attribute to the tenacity of Yelp employees. While we plan to continue to operate as a distributed workforce when we return to the office, we know that some employees are looking forward to having flexible access to an office. With the encouraging pace of vaccinations in the U.S. and the U.K. and drop in COVID-19 cases, we are confident in our ability to safely reopen our offices by the end of the year, and we have shared with employees our timeline for returning to the office in each of ..read more