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Abstract

This research aims to understand the role of online reviews in the local search context by examining the effects of reviews on the representation of tourism businesses on local search platforms (LSPs). By simulating tourists’ local searches for restaurants on three LSPs, namely Google, Bing, and Yelp, this study examines how different ranking results are generated across the platforms and how online reviews contribute to the differences. The findings suggest that online reviews are incorporated into LSPs as ranking factors and, thus, affect tourists’ decision-making by influencing the information search results in the local search context. As one of the earliest studies on local search, this study discusses how the existing knowledge about the role of online reviews in tourists’ decision-making needs to be reevaluated in mobile and more dynamic environments, and offers practical implications for tourism businesses’ search engine marketing.

Keywords

local search near me search local search platforms online reviews ranking factors online representation

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Role of Online Reviews in the Local Search Context

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Keywords

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