Yelp rolling out redesign and faster way to hire home and local services

To help solve for this, we're announcing the most significant evolution of our platform in the home and local services marketplace. Today, we're reinventing the hiring experience by expanding Yelp's existing Request-A-Quote product with guided questionnaires in new categories and adding a scheduling functionality that makes setting up appointments a breeze. Yelp is also launching Nearby Jobs, a new product that gives professionals an opportunity to proactively grow their business and pick the leads they want to pursue through a monthly subscription. All these new features for home, local, automotive and professional services will also be part of a modernized user experience across the Yelp platform.

Today, these new and improved questionnaires are available across nearly 60 business categories, including auto repair, childcare professionals, contractors, hair salons, photography, pet groomers and real estate agents. In the coming months, this feature will expand to a total of 100 additional categories — from florists to pool cleaners to home cleaning. After a consumer connects with the best business for their needs, a new scheduling feature allows them to save time and efficiently confirm their availability. According to Kelton Global, 15% of respondents feel it took too much time and effort to book an appointment with a professional. Now, while messaging a potential customer on Yelp, businesses have a simple way of sharing the days and times they can set up a call, consultation or appointment. Consumers can easily confirm the time that works for them and even add the upcoming appointment to their mobile device's calendar.

Nearby Jobs is similar to an online job board that allows professionals to proactively find and secure new jobs that are suitable for their current schedule or skill set. Currently, more than half of Request-A-Quote consumers opt into receiving additional competing quotes, which allows Nearby Jobs to alert an applicable business if there's a request they can respond to. This helps surface professionals with the exact expertise, availability or budget a consumer is looking for, but wouldn't ordinarily find at the top of Yelp search results — either because it is a newer business or has fewer reviews.

Our new hiring experience is rolling out as part of Yelp's new, modernized design. As we've grown beyond a discovery and review site, we've redesigned the platform to better highlight how Yelp is a one-stop local platform where people can communicate and transact with great local businesses. Whether people are looking to request a quote, book an appointment or order takeout and delivery, we've combined all these actions into a modern, seamless and cohesive consumer experience that prioritizes these new connections. The new design has been rolled out across search results and business pages on web, as well as business pages on mobile. A new home screen and search experience is coming to mobile devices soon.