Yelp reviews have always been important since the review site has become a favorite place for people to boast of their excursions, as well as air out frustrations. Results from the review site often rank high in searches for businesses. Coupled with the fact that Yelp has a loyal user base, many buying decisions are made based on what others say on the review site. Today, Yahoo made Yelp even more influential by integrating reviews from their new partner, directly in search results.Local search is becoming bigger and bigger with search engines. Online reviews and business details allow search engines to cater even more to people looking to buy products or services from local vendors. Furthermore, search engines realize that even if you don't type a specific location, and you're looking for a business, it most likely means that you are searching for something local, so they interject results for places close to you. Google has been pushing local search hard, finding ways to integrate Google Places into search results and maps. In order to compete, Yahoo teamed up with Yelp to leverage their information and reviews.If you do a search on burgers in Seattle, here's what you'll see now:At the top of the results:

When you click on one of the businesses shown, you'll see the overall Yelp rating and a couple of the reviews:

What does this mean for you if you have a business?It becomes even more important to encourage people to leave reviews for you on Yelp because they're influencing not only Yelp users, but also Yahoo visitors. You can do this by posting signage at your business near the entrance or cash register or by printing a reminder to people on receipts to leave a review. Generally angry Yelp users will take to the site on their own out of vengeance, but happy customers need encouragement to write a review because there's not necessarily a driver for them to do so.It also means that you should schedule a regular check-up of your reviews. If someone leaves you a negative review, you want to respond. If you don't respond, people will take the criticism as a fact, and that you don't care. For example, if someone writes a review that says you provide poor customer service, you want to write a reply in Yelp either apologizing for the bad experience, or helping the person understand why they had this situation occur. By responding it shows that you are cognizant of the fact that some customers feel this way, and that you care. Do this routinely, weekly or monthly, depending on the volume of reviews you receive.If info is missing from your Yelp listing, you should also look to add that, as well as correct any business details that are wrong. This information flows through to Yahoo so it has a "multiplier effect" - incorrect on Yelp, as well as Yahoo.Whether you like Yelp or not, it's become an important part of your reputation online. Guard your Yelp reputation to make sure that people don't get the wrong impression of you, as well learning from reviews what you can improve on to be even better.[contentblock id=1]