In recent weeks, Yahoo has made several major announcements affecting local search including the streamlining of Yahoo local business listings, integration of Yelp reviews in search results, and now, links to OpenTable for local restaurant reservations.
While consumers can already make OpenTable reservations via Google and Bing search engine results, Yahoo has given the online reservation tool significant prominence on its local results pages, as seen below.
Since CEO Marissa Mayer took the helm in 2012, Yahoo has grown to almost 800 million monthly users and over half are mobile users. With its recent updates and integrations, the search engine is on its way to once again becoming a major player in local. As former head of Google’s local business, Mayer has a strong background in the space, so expect even more to come from the company in the next several months.
Mayer is also setting the tone for another trend we are seeing in the local marketing space by investing heavily in acquisition. Yahoo has acquired over 30 start-ups since Mayer took over. From search to mobile and from start-ups to major platforms, we’ve seen unprecedented investment in the mobile, and inherently, local space.
It’s an exciting time in the local search space, and we hope you can join us as we analyze and explore the future of local at the 2014 Local Search Association Conference, April 27-29 in Huntington Beach, Calif. Register today and receive $200 off the registration price.
