Yelp Launching New Home Page Design

Yelp has started to roll out a new home page — one that focuses more on user activity and the social aspects of the site, rather than search and discovery of local businesses.

The new design very prominently features photos, tips and other activity in the user’s local area. The “Recent Activity” section offers filtering choices like “Near You,” “Friends” and “Your Activity.” It also lists local events that friends are attending, along with recent check-ins and other social elements.

In its announcement, Yelp says that an increased amount of mobile activity played a big part in the new home page design.

Over the years we’ve seen mobile contributions grow at a rapid clip. Photos, Tips, check-ins and comments from your friends are a fantastic way to find great local businesses. We wanted to bring those to the front and center of Yelp.com and give you an easy way to share and explore your friends’ activity across Yelp.com and Yelp’s mobile apps.

Here’s a look at what my new home page looks like:

Yelp says the new home page will be rolling out to all users over the next few weeks.

Of course, it’s debatable if a change like this will have much impact one way or another for Yelp. The company gets a lot of traffic from Google and other search engines straight to its business profile pages, and is also seeing big update on activity in its mobile apps.