[amanfredi]

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 In Chrome DNS has practically been replaced by google search, and it's great.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.

[prawn]

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.

[omarchowdhury]

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

[tedsuo]

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