If you like reading a review or two before you head out to a local restaurant, you may find that Yelp is not your first port of call anymore—at least not sourced through Google. Google has decided not to serve (pardon the pun) Yelp review pages in its SERPS, preferring instead to serve its own Google Places listings. 
At first glance this might seem like bad news for people looking for reviews, but as Alexis Madrigal of The Atlantic points out, Yelp has started to serve crap in its reviews. According to Madrigal, gleaming anything useful from Yelp reviews, require an advanced degree in Psychology (my paraphrase).
Whatever the reality of Yelp reviews, however, you’ll no longer be able to access them at the top of Google’s search results. From now one, a quick glance at what other have to say about restaurant Y, will have to be conducted from within Google Places. The listings within Google Places are pretty much mirrors of the businesses reviewed in Yelp, so would-be review seekers shouldn’t lose out too much. The big question is whether or not Google will be able to replace Yelp reviews, with something useful and spam-free.
For now, it seems the love affair between Yelp and Google is over or at least on the back-burner. Yelp of course will feel slightly spurned, but with its loyal following, particularly those on smartphones, it should stay afloat.
Watch the video below to see how Yelp can help you track down the best local businesses.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dqi-jjbEKcs
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