Search Query Understanding with LLMs: From Ideation to Production Loc Trinh, Software Engineer; Ali Rokni, Tech Lead; John Hawksley, Group Tech Lead Feb 4, 2025 How we bring LLM intelligence...

Yelp's platform is a central hub for consumers and businesses, offering insights into local businesses, user reviews, and recommendations. Through articles, guides, and user-generated content, Yelp offers insights into discovering restaurants, shops, and services in various locations. Readers can learn about reading and writing reviews, finding popular businesses, and exploring local communities to make informed decisions about where to eat, shop, or visit.

Yelp Engineering

Yelp integrates Large Language Models (LLMs) to enhance search query understanding and improve user experience. By leveraging LLMs, Yelp efficiently handles tasks like spelling correction, segmentation, and review highlighting. The development process includes ideation, proof of concept testing, and full-scale production rollout. Yelp's approach involves using powerful models like GPT-4 for iterative prompt refinement, fine-tuning smaller models for cost-effective scaling, and pre-computing responses for popular queries. This strategy has resulted in more accurate search results and improved interaction with the platform.