Yelp’s Nearby Feature Gets Personal

Yelp has revamped its Nearby feature in order to bring more personalized results to mobile users and drive more foot traffic to local businesses.

The updated feature now offers suggestions to users of Yelp’s iOS app based not only on their location, but also their previous check-in and review history, as well as their Yelp friends and data like time of day and weather. In addition, the Nearby page provides users with a list of popular places based on the interactions of other Yelpers.

This update provides local businesses with even more reason to maintain a presence on the Yelp platform, as the more positive interactions a business has on Yelp, the more likely it is to be suggested to other users. Plus, Yelp says that nearly half (approximately 45%) of all searches on its platform now come from mobile apps, which suggests that consumers want to discover new places to visit while out and about. That said, only iOS users can currently leverage this update. However, the Yelp blog states that the company does plan on bringing the updated Nearby feature to its Android app soon.