Yahoo Local has a new look and more features

Posted on August 19, 2007 at 4:30 pm

If you haven’t visited Yahoo! Local in a while, the site has been completely redesigned and a lot of features have been added. Yahoo! Local is a great place to find local maps, business listings, restaurant reviews, events, and other local items of interest. However, before it was recently updated, Yahoo! Local search results did not necessarily reflect the highest rated items in their system.

One of the major changes is that Yahoo changed their search algorithm so that user ratings and reviews are taken into account before the results are displayed. In this way, if you perform a search for a restaurant near you, the closest ones will be displayed, but in order of rating rather than just distance.

Also, it is now possible to comment on user reviews. So if someone writes a scathing review, for example, and you disagree, go ahead and post a comment on your feelings! One of the bigger feature updates is the Weekender, a weekly guide on the best events going on in the city, dining picks, movie show times and reviews, local bands, and more.

Another cool feature is the local Buzz, which is basically a tag cloud of the most popular searches that people in your locality are performing. For New Orleans, apparently a lot of people were interested in steak houses and the IMAX theatre! It’s a great way to easily see what people are “buzzing” about.

Another good feature is the ability to save local favorites for later viewing. If you find a business, restaurant you like, or whatever else, you can click the Save For Later button to store it in your profile.

There are also Local Groups and Local Collections created by locals where you can find other interesting bits of information or ask questions. For example, you might find a collection of local golf courses or a collection of all the theatres in the city! Scroll down to the bottom to find the local groups, collections and maps. Using the local maps, for instance, you can quickly find all of the local Wi-Fi hotspots in your area!