Yelp's New iOS Home Feed: Discover Local Restaurants

Yelp's New Visual Discovery Feed

Despite its long-standing presence online, Yelp continues to be a vital resource for diners seeking local restaurants. The company is now launching a new vertical home feed, prioritizing images of food and other visual content to enhance restaurant discovery.

Focus on Visual Content

This new feed will prominently display “trending photos from consumers and popular dishes,” according to Yelp. This includes pictures of food, as well as images showcasing a restaurant’s interior and exterior.

Content displayed within the feed is determined by several factors. These include a user’s location, the recency of the content, and the overall popularity of specific dishes.

Deeper Dive into Dishes

Selecting a featured dish will redirect users to a dedicated page. Here, they can explore additional photos and read reviews specifically related to that menu item.

Yelp employs machine learning to identify and highlight these dishes based on user reviews. The system then connects these selections with corresponding photos and feedback.

Similarly, clicking on images of a restaurant’s ambiance will lead to the business’s Yelp page, offering a comprehensive view of photos and information.

Yelp Connect: A Paid Feature for Restaurants

Alongside the new feed, Yelp is introducing Yelp Connect, a paid service designed for restaurant owners.

This feature enables businesses to share updates directly with both current and potential customers through the home feed, increasing post visibility.

Initial testing suggests that Yelp Connect could potentially increase consumer engagement by as much as 30 percent.