Yahoo has announced a nice change to the way it shows local search results for businesses. The Local Shortcut, which has always indicated things like how many reviews/ratings a business has, is now expanded to include the actual text of those reviews and other information like photos and driving directions. All of this is available right inside the shortcut.

As you see above, the new options appear as tabs below the business entry. Clicking any tab opens up a new layer of content so users can see the photos, read the reviews, or get driving directions with no extra clicks needed.

Yahoo says the added information is available on searches for specific businesses, as shown above, as well as on categorical searches such as “san francisco diners.” If the Microsoft/Yahoo deal is approved and the two companies sit down to figure out how to integrate their search results display, this would be a good feature to save.

Related Topics: Yahoo: Maps & Local | Yahoo: Search

About The Author: Matt McGee is Search Engine Land's Executive News Editor, responsible for overseeing our daily news coverage. His news career includes time spent in TV, radio, and print journalism. His web career continues to include a small number of SEO and social media consulting clients, as well as regular speaking engagements at marketing events around the U.S. He blogs at Small Business Search Marketing and can be found on Twitter at @MattMcGee and/or on Google Plus. See more articles by Matt McGee