Yelp And YP Team Up

One of them is the biggest name in online reviews; the other used to be the only name in local search. Yesterday they got together to establish a strategic partnership that could significantly expand Yelp’s reach and give YP just the kind of in-depth customer engagement it needs for the comeback it has been planning.

“This partnership provides YP customers with the ability to easily manage their online presence and reach more consumers across YP and Yelp’s platforms,” a spokesperson for the company formerly known as Yellow Pages said, while Yelp CEO Jeremy Stoppelman commented: “This partnership allows Yelp to tap into YP's large, local sales force and advertiser base. Yelp's significant consumer engagement combined with YP's scale and advertiser reach will help both companies grow and take local advertising to the next level.”

While the details of the deal have not been formally disclosed, a few things about it are known:

• YP will have full access to Yelp’s ROI metrics
• Yelp will join YP’s local ad network
• YP business owner profile data will appear on Yelp
• The two companies will combine forces on sales

The key advantage of the deal is that YP will gain access to Yelp’s high social status and social media clout, while Yelp gains access to a great many more potential advertisers. It is also a promising situation for marketers, who will see the value of their existing YP ads increase as they are enriched by Yelp content, keeping potential customers focused on them for longer.

YP is currently the fifth-strongest company in mobile; although it does not have the clout of Facebook or Google, it has the potential to raise Yelp’s profile considerably within that marketplace and help it to hold on to its users as more and more people stop using traditional computers. This will give businesses currently profiled on Yelp an advantage, especially in the area of local search, making it easier for people to check reviews while they are out and about. It is likely to be particularly useful for those in the restaurant and hotel trades.

No timescale has been set for the progression of these plans but it is understood that the changes will take some time to propagate. Both companies have been clear that they see this as the first stage of the partnership and that they may extend their working relationship into new areas in the future.