Yelp introduced more than 20 features aimed at enhancing user experience and supporting business owners. Key highlights include AI-powered Review Insights, personalized home feeds, and smarter ad optimization, marking a significant leap in leveraging AI for local business discovery and engagement.
Why we care. Yelp’s AI-powered updates, like smarter ad optimization and enhanced lead management tools, could help connect with high-intent customers more effectively. These features streamline ad performance, improve targeting, and provide insights into consumer preferences, which should help you stand out in a competitive local marketplace.
Key updates.
- AI-Powered Review Insights: Summarizes reviewer sentiment on topics like food, service, and ambiance using large language models (LLMs). Aggregated scores (positive, neutral, critical) simplify decision-making by surfacing key details upfront.
- Enhanced Business Pages: New features include tipping policy displays, reviewers’ recognitions, and quick connection options to streamline user-business interactions.
- Personalized discovery: A revamped home feed delivers trending searches and AI-stitched videos, offering users dynamic and engaging local business content.
- Yelp Assistant enhancements: Expanded functionality makes it easier for users to connect with service professionals and manage project details seamlessly.
- Advertiser tools: AI-powered ad optimization and a refreshed inbox help business owners attract and manage leads more effectively.
What’s next? Review Insights is available on iOS for restaurants, food, and nightlife categories, and it plans to expand to service-based businesses next year. Yelp also aims to broaden its personalized discovery tools, including testing AI-generated videos to showcase local gems.
Bottom line. Yelp’s AI-powered updates are designed to make finding and connecting with local businesses faster, smarter, and more intuitive. By investing in AI, Yelp aims to drive efficiency and enhance the overall user experience, solidifying its role as a key player in local search and business discovery.
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About the author
Anu Adegbola has been Paid Media Editor of Search Engine Land since 2024. She covers paid search, paid social, retail media, video and more.
In 2008, Anu’s career started with
delivering digital marketing campaigns (mostly but not exclusively Paid Search) by building strategies, maximising ROI, automating repetitive processes and bringing efficiency from every part of marketing departments through inspiring leadership both on agency, client and marketing tech side.
Outside editing Search Engine Land article she is the founder of PPC networking event – PPC Live and host of weekly podcast PPCChat Roundup.
She is also an international speaker with some of the stages she has presented on being SMX (US), SMX (Munich), Friends of Search (Amsterdam), brightonSEO, The Marketing Meetup, HeroConf (PPC Hero), SearchLove, BiddableWorld, SESLondon, PPC Chat Live, AdWorld Experience (Bologna) and more.
