SYDNEY/PRNewswire/ -- Yelp (http://www.yelp.com), the community led local search site, today announced the availability of Yelp Australia (http://www.yelp.com.au).

(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20050511/SFW134LOGO )

Aussies are now able to create accounts on Yelp to share their opinions about local businesses and services in their neighborhoods. Yelp's free iPhone and Android mobile applications are available, as is Yelp for Business Owners, the company's free suite of business owner tools.

"It's easy to forget how much of an impact local businesses have on our day-to-day lives. Be it an auto mechanic, dentist, hair stylist or dry cleaner, we rely on them to help make life easier and more colorful," said Jeremy Stoppelman, cofounder and chief executive officer of Yelp. "The most interesting finding for us has been that, regardless of geographic boundaries, people seem to have this altruistic desire to share their great local business experiences with others. We look forward to seeing what Aussies think of the site."

Yelp will be available throughout Australia; however, the company will focus its initial community-growth efforts in Melbourne and Sydney. This city-by-city expansion strategy has proven to be an effective one for the company, which has increased its global footprint to 12 countries.

To learn more and see pictures of Yelp.com.au and our iPhone and Android applications, visit our Official Yelp Blog (http://officialblog.yelp.com/).

About Yelp:

Yelp (www.yelp.com) is a website that connects people with great local businesses. Yelp was founded inSan Francisco in July 2004. Since then, Yelp communities have taken root in major metros in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Ireland, France, Germany, Austria, the Netherlands, Spain, Italy,Switzerland and Belgium. In Q3 2011, Yelp saw an average of approximately 61 million monthly unique visitors to its website and our mobile app was used on an average of more than 5 million monthly mobile devices. Since Yelp's inception, yelpers have written more than 22 million local reviews. These reviews are written by people using Yelp to share their everyday local business experiences, giving voice to consumers and bringing "word of mouth" online on everything from restaurants, boutiques and salons to dentists, mechanics, plumbers and more. Yelp.com.au's basic business listing information and sales effort will be driven by Australia-based Sensis, a relationship which was announced earlier this year. For more information, please visit yelp.com.au or send an email to press@yelp.com.

Media Contacts:
US
Yelp Inc
Stephanie Ichinose 
Stephanie@yelp.com 
415-908-3679

Australia 
Howorth Communications
Graham White 
graham@howorth.com.au
0404 840 533

Rudolf Wagenaar 
Rudolf@howorth.com.au
0439 082 550

SOURCE Yelp