GOOGLE: Better Than YELP

To YELP quite literally means “to Howl, Yap, Screech, or Cry.”

Think about that the next time you regard a “Yelper” as a legitimate anything.

Since moving to New Orleans from the REAL culinary capital of the South, Lafayette, my girlfriend and I have made it a goal to try a different culinary establishment each week and give it a true taste-test. Being the Google AdWords Manager at Velocity Agency, it is my natural instinct to Google “Best Restaurant Near Me” rather than ask locals. Upon searching, there is a bevy of places that pop up. I narrow my destination upon two factors: ratings and types of food. One place caught my eye with its 4.5-star rating with over 170 reviews and Creole description, Jacques-Imo’s.

When doing a random search, it is easy to overlook all the amenities Google provides to help you in your decision. When searching Jacques-Imo’s, not only did it show salivating pictures of Southern dishes known to this region, but you can view their menu, hours of operation, and also click the map to give you directions from your current location. But, you already knew that. The features that Google recently added that are really captivating are the popular times feature. It shows which times you can expect the largest crowd. This is based on the users who have chosen to store their location information on Google servers and average out over the previous weeks. This feature is used for restaurants, bar, gyms, or other establishments Google deems relevant.

The other feature that Google recently rolled out is to make a reservation. All you have to do is simply click on the restaurant of choice to show more options, select the size of the party, and chose a time. Voila! Your table is waiting. However, to use this feature, the restaurant must use Open Table. Sadly, Jacques-Imo’s did not have this functionality, so we had to stand outside and wait (so 2012). These are just some of the features Google has provided to make our indecisive lives and future New Orleans tasting tour that much easier.