I thought the quote from the Yelp CEO was interesting. I mean, if Yelp was actually more skilled at helping the customer find the relevant data than Google, the

I thought the quote from the Yelp CEO was interesting. I mean, if Yelp was actually more skilled at helping the customer find the relevant data than Google, then that would be a compelling reason to use Yelp. But is his claim accurate? Is Google search optimizing for attention? It's hard to see how that could be, honestly. Nobody browses search result pages for fun. Whether they're succeeding or not, it's hard to picture Google optimizing result pages for anything other than "get the user on to their most relevant (and/or lucrative) destination as absolutely quickly as we can manage." If I were Yelp, I would not try Stratechery's arguments here. What they should be saying is, "Google's search results for restaurants are crap. If you use us, your valuable time and money will be better spent than if you trust Google." Honestly, this is what I always worry about first when I look at online reviews. Is it honest and is it an accurate predictor of how I will feel if I choose this product? I have to confess, Yelp has not done a much better job engendering that trust in me than Google has. Not that I trust either very much, especially about restaurants. But if Yelp were able to crack that nut, I would be hugely grateful, and a loyal fan for life.