Love thy neighbor? Maybe, but let’s start with “help thy neighbor” first…
Remember the old adage “you reap what you sow?” Well, it’s nowhere more true than in the neighborhoods in which we live. If you’re like me, perhaps you’re tired of seeing your favorite small businesses close due to competitive pressure from a chain store. Who knows, maybe you could’ve helped save that fave if you gave that merchant some kudos and told your neighbors about your great experience.
Well, now Yahoo! Local will help you do just that. We’ve completely overhauled the site to make it easier to contribute your opinion and through a new, updated algorithm, we’re making sure that search results take your ratings and reviews into account. We want to make sure that people’s contributions to Yahoo! Local count in more ways than one.
An example of this in action is the “pizza” in Chicago, IL results which better reflect what the community says is the best pizza in Chicago (obviously a hotly contested debate, we’re not sure we want to get involved in…):
In addition to the improved accuracy of our search results, some of the other new features we’re rolling-out today focus on more ways for you to find what’s best and closest to you:
- Commenting on User Reviews – No longer will it feel like shouting into the wind when you write a review. Now the people who benefit from your tips can reply back. You’ll also be able to track comments on your reviews from your My Local page.
- Weekender – Offers a weekly selection of events, movies (including show times and reviews), dining picks, and more to help you plan your weekend.
- More “Local Buzz” – Shows the top-moving search terms in your hometown with a new search cloud and exposes the most recent reviews of businesses in your area to see what people are buzzing about.
- Best Local Events – Taps into the Upcoming social events database to surface the best events in your hometown.
- Most Popular – Highlights the best of a city in the key categories of Restaurants, Health & Beauty, and Home & Garden.
- My Local Improvements – A new “save for later” feature so you can quickly archive those hidden gems you uncover along with your recent reviews, tags, and collections.
So, make sure to update your profile with a picture or avatar, look up some local favorites, write a few reviews, and comment back on some helpful reviews you discovered along the way.
Got a great idea for what you’d like to see next? Tell us about it on our new suggestion board.
Thanks!
- Brian Gil, Sr. Product Manager, Yahoo! Local
August 15th, 2007 at 12:24 pm
[…] have noticed some changes. Ok… maybe not just “some” changes. The site has been completely redesigned: We’ve completely overhauled the site to make it easier to contribute your opinion and […]
August 15th, 2007 at 12:31 pm
[…] Well I’m definitely biased – but I have to say I love it and this is just the path that Yahoo! should go regarding Local. Well done guys! […]
August 15th, 2007 at 4:32 pm
Love the new Y!Local! Thanks!!!
August 15th, 2007 at 9:33 pm
[…] gaining quickly with their own version of local services. So today as part of their new strategy Yahoo announced a newer and better Local service. This announcement brings much needed refresh to the […]
August 15th, 2007 at 9:40 pm
Great Job Guys!
Love the new service. Combined with Yahoo Go, this definitely kicks ass.
http://abhishek.tiwari.com/2007/08/16/go-local-with-yahoo/
August 16th, 2007 at 6:17 am
The reason why i got on this page to learn what is about.
August 18th, 2007 at 8:12 am
Pretty good integration. Yet how does this prevent the store’s affiliates from leaving reviews on their own stores?
September 3rd, 2007 at 9:24 am
Your maps for Wisconsin are not complete. I have been looking of address’s that are at least 60 years old and your site claim they are not there.
September 3rd, 2007 at 9:24 am
Your maps for Wisconsin are not complete. I have been looking of address’s that are at least 60 years old and your site claim they are not there.
September 3rd, 2007 at 9:24 am
Your maps for Wisconsin are not complete. I have been looking of address’s that are at least 60 years old and your site claim they are not there.
September 4th, 2007 at 3:13 pm
Cool! Love it!
September 21st, 2007 at 6:22 am
Desperately need help with obituary from Statesboro paper from March 30, 1927 for Thomas David Dabbs my Grandfather who died when my Mom was only 7 years old. Please email to sarahwcrook@gforce.com. Help thy neighbor. I am in another state and can’t get there for financial reasons for a while.
October 1st, 2007 at 6:54 am
Seems great!
November 7th, 2007 at 4:32 am
What a joke. I have contacted yahoo local with about 20 emails about this error and they just can’t seem to fix it. I am the owner of Big O Tires in Irvine and I have encouraged users to leave ratings on my business. All of sudden in August the 5 star rating mysteriously disappeared even though I still have a 5 star rating from my review. Now I am telling all my customers to forget it because they can’t even get their website to function correctly. Check it out……I have 7 reviews with 5 stars from all my customers and no red 5 stars show up on my listing……
http://local.yahoo.com/CA/Irvine/Automotive/Tires;_ylc=X3oDMTE2N2pwNmpzBF9TAzk3NjcyMDI1BF9zAzk2NjEzNzY3BHNlYwNBdXRvbW90aXZl
December 5th, 2007 at 12:05 pm
I couldn’t understand some parts of this article , but I guess I just need to check some more resources regarding this, because it sounds interesting.
December 18th, 2007 at 4:18 am
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December 18th, 2007 at 10:11 am
Hello. I need help with this -”&*(^%$#$ %*& ^&$##@%^)^&y”. How i can decode this phrase on my mail?
December 20th, 2007 at 1:14 am
I just wanted to say WOW!L
December 22nd, 2007 at 2:44 am
Thanks so very much for taking your time to create this very useful and informative site.r
December 28th, 2007 at 4:04 am
Big thanx to webmaster!i
January 4th, 2008 at 7:09 pm
Yes, you read that right… charity car donation
February 27th, 2008 at 12:04 pm
[…] absence of Google from the panel as both Yahoo! and Live had representatives including my friend Brian Gil over at Yahoo! Local. There were a number of suggestions from Chris Smith an others that […]