You can be on Entrepreneur’s cover!

Lazy Customers Can Now Search Yelp Using Emojis Fewer characters? Sure. More convenient? Probably not.

By Kate Taylor

entrepreneur daily

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

Looking for a [thumbs up emoji] place for some burgers and beer? Yelp has you covered.

The customer review site now allows mobile users to search for local restaurants and businesses using emojis instead of keywords. The app takes any symbol on the emoji keyboard entered in the search box – whether it's a happy face or an image of an eggplant -- and returns with Yelp's interpretation of the closest relevant businesses.

Yelp's emoji search works well with food-based searches – enter the spaghetti emoji and Yelp will provide you with an array of Italian restaurants nearby, as demonstrated in the screenshot below. Other emojis that clearly represent objects also produce good results: the eyeglasses emoji leads to recommendations of eyewear stores and optometrists, the diamond ring emoji showcases jewelry stores and the Statue of Liberty emoji presents the landmark.

Related: Yelp Listings, Reviews to Be Featured in Yahoo Search Results

Emojis can also be used for multiple keyword searches. If you're fluent in emoji and looking for somewhere you can dance and get drinks, you can type in the fancy salsa dancer emoji and the beer emoji for cocktail bars and pub recommendations. If you want dinner as well, add a burger or spaghetti emoji to the search.

Lazy Customers Can Now Search Yelp Using Emojis
Yelp results for emoji searches
Image credit: Kate Taylor

Since Yelp seems to have categorized emojis by matching each symbol with a keyword, more abstract concepts tend to yield less promising results. For example, the top three result for the winking face with its mouth puckered into a kiss are a stationery store, a coffee shop and a lingerie shop. However, Yelp has taken the time to define a few nonfigurative symbols, with the flying cash emoji resulting in expensive restaurants (those Yelp labels as '$$$$').

Even for the laziest Yelp-users, scrolling through the emoji keyboard will likely take as much time as typing in a keyword such as "hotel" or "pizza." Non-English speakers and true emoji-addicts may continue to use the function. For most, however, the fun begins and ends with seeing what Yelp will recommend when presented with bizarre emoji keywords such as dancing twins and smiling poop.

Related: Yelp Co-Founder: 'There Has Never Been Any Amount of Money You Could Pay Us to Manipulate Reviews'

Kate Taylor

Reporter

Kate Taylor is a reporter at Business Insider. She was previously a reporter at Entrepreneur. Get in touch with tips and feedback on Twitter at @Kate_H_Taylor. 

Want to be an Entrepreneur Leadership Network contributor? Apply now to join.

Editor's Pick

Business News

'Wildly Inappropriate': Woman Says She Was Denied a Job Because She Didn't Wear Makeup During the Interview

Melissa Weaver was applying for a VP of HR job at a tech company via video.

Business Solutions

Streamline In-House Developer Work with This $40 Program

Microsoft Visual Studio features tools to help programmers code faster and build complex projects across different languages and platforms.

Marketing

You'll Never Succeed in a Complex Market Unless You Try These Strategies

Complex industries offer opportunities in market needs, potential profitability and expansion opportunities — but the key to being successful is developing and supporting a clearly differentiated value proposition that separates your organization from potential competitors. Here's how to do it.

Thought Leaders

These Are the Five Attributes of Highly Successful and Happy People

If you'd like to be happier or more successful this year, then ask yourself if you're truly exuding these five attributes. The happiest and most successful people I know execute on these game-changers exceptionally well.

Side Hustle

I Started a Semi-Passive Side Hustle That Earns $33,000 a Week on Amazon: 'Selling There Is a No-Brainer'

Dr. Jenny Woo wanted to create a product that would help people connect, and it turned out to be a lucrative one.

Business Ideas

63 Small Business Ideas to Start in 2024

We put together a list of the best, most profitable small business ideas for entrepreneurs to pursue in 2024.