Yelp is ten years old and they gave everybody else a gift to celebrate - a new toy called Yelp Trends. Now I know it's a serious tool because it is a decade of data on 98 cities in 20 different countries but wow, is it fun. You can look at their suggestions, like whether chicken & waffles became popular before deviled eggs in San Francisco. This answers their question about which came first, the chicken or the egg.....
The Toy Is A Tool
Seriously, being able to look at what real people looked for in local searches gives you a handle on what, over time, has trended in different regions. If you are anywhere close to one of those regions it would be very helpful in seeing how your own products or services have trended over the last ten years. You can identify at a glance what's hot and what's cooling off. And you could put in your competition to see how they have done.
Data crunching is not always fun, but this tool does make it amusing if you want to get sidetracked. It's a good way to see how trends grow and die all over the world and give a larger perspective on marketing and local search.
Local Search Is Usually Mobile
One thing that strikes me as I look at Yelp Trends is the fact that most of the searches were probably on a mobile device. Somebody got hungry for chicken & waffles or deviled eggs and looked for where they could get it nearby. One of the trends that isn't a fad is mobile search and if your business isn't ready for it you will miss the boat.
Responsive website design & development and local search engines like Yelp have grown together over the last ten years and while I can't predict the future for Yelp, I am pretty sure that mobile devices and local search is here to stay.
Photo Credit: Local Search Toys/shutterstock