TripAdvisor Buys Listings, Menu Management Company SinglePlatform

In its second acquisition this week, TripAdvisor purchased SinglePlatform for $51 million from Constant Contact, a subsidiary of Endurance International Group. SinglePlatform helps restaurants make their menus available on digital platforms, especially Google and Facebook.

Now, restaurants will be able to manage listings across platforms for their menus as well as crucial search information including contact information and hours of operation via TripAdvisor’s management center, the Boston Business Journal reported.

As SinglePlatform’s name suggests, the acquisition is a sign of changing and challenging times for search-related internet businesses. Facing pressure from a Google juggernaut that is increasingly mapping out any imaginable search experience on its own properties, digital services that connect consumers with restaurants or places to visit when traveling are consolidating, aiming to offer holistic information that offers enough utility to keep searchers coming back.

Just last week, a new survey from hyperlocal digital marketing firm Brandify showed that Google Maps has become the dominant resource on the Internet for US consumers searching for nearby businesses. Seventy-seven percent of survey respondents said they use Google Maps to find local businesses, a far more frequently cited option than any other.

On Tuesday, TripAdvisor announced that its subsidiary TheFork, an online restaurant reservation platform popular in overseas markets, had purchased its smaller rival BookaTable to consolidate its lead in online restaurant reservations in existing markets and expand into the UK, Germany, Austria, Norway, and Finland.