Google announced on Thursday that it has purchased restaurant review guide Zagat, stepped up its battle for the local reviews and advertising market. The deal could also help Google establish its travel-search business.

Google Inc.’s purchase of restaurant review company Zagat Survey LLC will set the U.S. company back $125 million, a source told a New York newspaper.

Google previously explored buying Yelp (offered $500 million) and the discount buying service Groupon (offered $5.3 billion), although talks in both cases ended without a deal.

Zagat Survey, which was founded in New York over 30 years ago and provides reviews of restaurants in more than 100 cities around the world.