Microsoft Teams Up With Yelp For Local Restaurant Listings

Microsoft has announced a partnership with Yelp, one of the leading user review and local search websites, so that Yelp business reviews will now appear in local searches on Microsoft's own search engine, Bing. Apple has also integrated Yelp into a new iteration of Siri and has announced it will use Yelp reviews in its new mapping service.

Both of these moves can be seen as a response to Google picking up Zagat last year for 151 million in order to integrate the user-generated restaurant guide into search results on its new interface Google+ Local, an overhaul of the company's marginally successful Google Places business pages.

"Yelp has become the leading destination for local information and we're thrilled that established brands like Bing recognize the value that Yelp communities bring to the local search experience," said Jeremy Stoppelman, CEO and co-founder, Yelp. "We are excited to see how Bing fans respond to this new local search experience powered by Yelp."

Maybe the partnership with Yelp is the break Bing finally needs to run with the big dogs, namely Google, in the battle over online and mobile restaurant listings.