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You mean, like how every other website on the planet is dependent on Google? Yes, that is true. Just like Ford/Toyota/etc are dependent on BP/Exxon/etc.

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That analogy doesn't really work. If BP or Exxon refuses to support Ford's vehicle, there are other people to supply the fuel. If Google drops Yelp's ranking, there is no other search engine who is going to fulfill that traffic source that was just yanked from Yelp.

But yes, I agree that it's a problem that most websites face, not just Yelp.

Actually, I don't think it's a problem.

No, I think the gp is referencing the fact that 75 (seriously, 75!!!) percent of yelps traffic comes in from google [1]. You have to view that as basically a failure of the company and the brand. Instead of going to yelp for a review, people just search in google. This also obviously leaves them enormously exposed to changes in Google's algorithms, whether intended to affect yelp or not. (Cue the google employees with their usual church and state / separation of search from other product lines story. Sorry, not buying it. And even if it's true now, some day a beancounter will win and it won't be.)

There are lots of companies that are far more of a destination than yelp -- the obvious contrast is facebook. I'd bet very little of their traffic is google search driven. Weaning themselves from dependence on Google should be one of the top goals for any web company.

[1] http://techcrunch.com/2011/09/21/stoppelman-75-of-yelps-traf...

This isn't really fair. In Chrome DNS has practically been replaced by google search, and it's great.

Instead of typing yelp.com (or was it yelp.net? www.yelp.biz? http://www.yelp.info?) I can just type "yelp" and get where I'm going without having to remember the exact url and without getting an annoying error page if I make a typo. I suspect for many users even in other browsers the search box gets much more use than the URL box.

Further to that, it's usually quicker to Google for "yelp las vegas restaurants" than it is to get to Yelp and then search or browse from there.

Long tail search traffic related to local businesses is the key here, not people attempting to navigate to Yelp through Google.

Exactly. Yelp gets a higher ranking, and may have better info, than the local business's website.

To be fair, while they might right now be reliant on Google for 75% of their traffic, they aren't resting on their laurels. Consider Apple and Siri's use of Yelp. With Apple moving away from Google as much as possible, speciality services like Yelp will become more valuable.

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