New Article - Broadband Consumers Make Local Search a Reality

[thejenn]

Full Text: http://www.searchengineguide.com/sterling/004594.html

Some Snippets:

"People want to know whether local search will materialize or whether it’s a bunch of hype. I’ve been tracking this phenomenon since its inception several years ago and the short answer is: it was at one time but it isn’t any more. "

"That study found that traditional yellow pages, white pages and newspapers were the dominant sources of local information. The Internet was then in fourth position. A follow-up survey with 500 consumers earlier this year found that, remarkably, the Internet had moved into a tie for first position."

"...the Internet now features a local reach equal to or greater than any other medium. Most of the Internet’s growth as a local shopping resource is due to the rise of search engines."

[Localmn]

At first it looked like he said "local search" is still just hype but then realized he meant that it used to be considered a bunch of hype but is now more of a reality, especially with the new numbers of households with high speed Internet connections.

I like the comparisons he uses between search engines, yellow pages and newspapers. Some of the online yellow pages have made great strides to make sure they work together with other online outlets such as search engine optimization and pay per click advertising. I don't think they are the perfect solutions, but they do have the power of sales force to sell potential customers.

A small example is if you do a Google search for Minneapolis accountants, or many "your city profession" type of searches. In this case, many online yellow pages results come up toward the top, as well as what seems to be other relevant and optimized sites (both commercial and informational). Some of these YPs in the results include pay per click advertising options, either from themselves or Google, Findwhat, etc... on their own sites. I wish that newspapers would have similar offerings, and a few do, but that's another story in itself.

I've had the pleasure a couple times to talk shop with Greg over the phone. The article points out that he is quite often known as the "local search guy" and I agree 100%.

Paul