Local… Hitwise reports Yelp traffic up 91% past 6 months

Continuing my LOCAL theme of the day, LeeAnn at Hitwise posted some interesting metrics about some of the local engines. She shows that for the past 6 months, Yelp traffic is up 91%! and InsiderPages (which was just sold this week) up 34% while Judy's Book traffic remained pretty flat.

Her last comment hits the nail on the head:

Based on traffic to Local.com, Yahoo! Local and Live Local Search, it does not appear that interest in local search is increasing, but the substantial growth in Yelp's traffic indicates that the social networking/local search combo is an effective means of engaging users around local content. The demographic and lifestyle differences between Yelp's user base and that of other local search sites are quite interesting, and merit another post – look for one next week.

Why does Yelp do so well? It's easy. They cater to the high-end techies. The design, the feeling also play into it. But what else is it? C'mon now boys and girls, I have said this a million times. It is the community. Loads of sites have user generated content but no community. Yelp has a community and when you have that, you have gold.

Spend 30 minutes on Yelp and then the other local search/reviews sites. There is a different feeling that you get on Yelp. When you design your web app, think about this. Community is key for so many and without it, you really have a tough hurdle to climb.

Can a wiki play in this market? It's too early to tell but Wikia sure wants a piece of that pie.