August 30, 2005

New Article: Local.com launch

I've posted a new article on Interchange's Local.com launch. Overall conclusion: one to watch, but their main obstacle will be establishing market share against the big boys Y, G and MSN.

Feedback on how you think local search is developing and the reality behind the press releases and launches invited - leave a comment below or email me - duncan at payperclickanalyst dot com.

Posted by duncan at 06:27 PM | Comments (0)

June 21, 2005

MSN Local Search Beta

MSN US have launched an enhanced beta of their local search solution. It combines general web results, PPC adverts, strucured business directory listings and residential phone book listings.

Example for "Cape Coral Car Dealers".

A nice start, esp. with the maps and aerial photos on well laid-out, clutter-free pages.

I'd like to see the PPC adverts get more prominence and to know more about the targetting - are they truely local? The few I viewed didn't seem to be.

Posted by duncan at 09:38 AM | Comments (0)

June 01, 2005

Software Tool To Help Businesses With Local Search Services

Press release for a tool for optimising sites for local searches in standard (Non PPC) results. (I've not tried it).

Posted by duncan at 10:17 PM | Comments (0)

April 21, 2005

Free Survey on How Consumers Use Media to Make Local Purchase Decisions

Request it here from DRG. Hat tip to Danny at SearchEngineWatch for finding it.

Posted by duncan at 02:34 PM | Comments (0)

Danny Sullivan on Pay Per Call at AOL

Danny Sullivan looks at AOL's pay per call offering - see this blog entry for my earlier comments on this.

Posted by duncan at 02:29 PM | Comments (0)

InsiderPages.com - local businesses, personally recommended

A while ago I blogged about the potential for social networking / contact management servies like Plaxo and LinkedIn to offer local search results with members adding recommendations of those they have used in the past.

Those clever people at IdeaLab (think Overture or Snap.com) have started to make this a reality. InsiderPages.com describes itself as "...like the Yellow Pages written by friends". The idea is simple: take local search results, add customer reviews and give users the ability to invite friends to share recommendations.

They've just closed their beta test in LA and state they have "generated more than $1 million in new business for participating advertisers in just 30 days" as well as collecting more than 20,000 reviews of Los Angeles-area businesses.

The site includes customer reviews and pay-per-telephone-call advertising, and a national beta test is underway.

Press release and advertising options.

Posted by duncan at 12:13 PM | Comments (0)

Local Online Advertising to Reach $3.9 Billion

According to Borrell Associates local online advertising grew in 2004 to $2.7 billion in the US - a 28% increase on 2003.

They also predit an increase to $3.9 billion in 2005. ClickZhas more.

Posted by duncan at 09:32 AM | Comments (0)

April 20, 2005

Interchange Powers Local-Search and Directory Network for ivantage

Another win for local search technology company Interchange - they are to power local search and directory listings for ivantage's network of US local shopping websites, Shoptropolis.com.

The site will feature sponsored links from local and national advertisers using Interchange’s Advertiser Network. Interchange technology will also be used to enhance the overall search experience.

Interchange are also developing a global local search site at Local.com

Full press release.

Posted by duncan at 09:12 PM | Comments (0)

April 16, 2005

Interchange Provides Local-Search Solution to BDLocal.com

Another win for local search comany Interchange - press release here

Posted by duncan at 05:09 PM | Comments (0)

Google add local search to service for cell phones in the US

E-Commerce News: Internet: Google Takes Local Search Mobile

Of course, Yahoo beat them to it.

Posted by duncan at 04:55 PM | Comments (0)

Yahoo offers small business a free website

In a simple-but-ballsy move Yahoo is offering all small US businesses a free 5 page website. Press release and details of the free sites.

Of course, alongside the free package they are selling a "free" website with an enhanced local listing for $9.95 a month.

So, Yahoo is offering free websites - allowing them to gather Yellow Pages type data about businesses and cross-sell products including enhanced listings in Yahoo Local and PPC advertising.

Will we see Google offer similar free websites? They certainly could using Blogger technology. Of course, SuperPages have been offering businesses profile pages as part of their PPC advertising solution for over a year now.

Posted by duncan at 04:44 PM | Comments (0)

March 12, 2005

Google Local, business reviews and trust

Google have added reviews to Google Local results covering restaurants and other local businesses.

They've also worked on improving results by adding to the structured data displayed in results using "unnamed" business information sources and the web itself.

According to eweek they are also looking at ways to allow businesses to update their listings (Yahoo has this feature already).

Reviews and online ratings of businesses are a logical progression in local search results; we all listen to friend's recommendations about restaurants or local contractors (especially builders, plumbers, accountants etc).

So adding this functionality is a no-brainer; the challenge is ensuring the reviews are trustworthy (i.e. businesses aren't favourably reviewing themselves) and that users trust them enough to a) believe the reviews and b) add to them. We've already seen customer reviews of products take off on sites like Amazon; people are prepared to contribute for free to websites they view as holding value for them. And this sort of "community" momentum can be kick-started with free prize draws, discounts etc.

These sort of reviews link in very nicely with social networking sites like Friendster and Orkut and business networking sites like Linkedin and Plaxo.

How long before these networks are enabling users to recommend local businesses and suppliers? Well Linkedin already helps members find jobs, recruit staff - or recommend services.

So the future of search doesn't just include local search: it includes trust. If the problem of ensuring reviews are genuine can be solved, then this will be a real bonus for searchers - and for good businesses.

Con-men, rip-off merchants and bad chefs beware the search engines.

Posted by duncan at 03:41 PM | Comments (0)

March 11, 2005

AtLocal.com

Via a comment on an earlier posting, this new local search site, AtLocal.com, has been brought to my attention.

According to Sam who posted the URL and I assume is connected with the site: "There is lot of valuable local information out there in the Internet. Atlocal is a new local search engine that does it differently than Google Local and Yahoo local. We do not use IVPs data or cross match with IVPs data at all."

Right now the site is limited to a few areas of the US, and pulls data from ePilot as well as what look like normal web results. The site desing is basically the same as Google. Example here.

You can submit your site if it covers New York, New Jersey, California, Connecticut, Massachusetts or Pennsylvania.

Right now the site is quiet basic - it'll be intersting to see how this independent approach develops.

Posted by duncan at 08:39 PM | Comments (0)

Mobiles and local search

CNET has an article on how mobiles will be "the next thing in search" and how the search engines are launching SMS and WAP based search services in the US.

This is hardly news for anybody in Europe or Asia; mobiles and search have been converging here for a while and mobiles are more common. There are apparently now more mobile phones than people in the UK (! - some people have two, one for work and one for personal calls).
Smartphones are catching on with companies and more workers are being provided with phone and PDAs in one Smartmobiles.

UK mobile network 02 recently started offering advertising on their phones and mobiles already provide local content and business listings. My Vodafone handset, for example, tells me where I am and lists local cash machines etc. 26 billion SMS text messages where sent in the UK in 2004.

So mobile-based search certainly has big potential: but if the search engines are slow in launching their mobile services outside the US they might find the YellowPages companies and others have tied up the markets before them...

Posted by duncan at 07:43 PM | Comments (0)

March 08, 2005

Study: IYPs at a Competitive Disadvantage in Local Search

Rob McGann at ClickZNews looks at a report that suggest IYPs are falling behind search engines in providing local search results.

Put simply, the report says this is because it's harder to find businesses on an IYP site than a search engine with local results.

I agree this is true some of the time; but nobody has the perfect resutls set (or data to generate results from).

The search engines are especially useful if you carry out a non-local search and the engine prompts you to refine the search by making it local (e.g. a search for "cosmetic surgery" is refined to "cosmetic surgeons in Cape Coral"). Right now Google, Yahoo and MSN do this to a degree.

The "helpful" factor of this will win loyalty from searchers - possibly to the extent they "forget" about IYP sites and do their local searches on the main search engines.

Of course, it is far from over for the IYPs; they do have loyal users and could keep them - and increase them. Improvements they could make include better interfaces, more content about businesses (perhaps a review/recommendation function) and innovate into SMS-based search.

Most of all, they should recognise the need to grow their ad revenues on a performance basis (PPC or similar) and to buy in the technology they need (pay per call for example).

As noted in the report, they could consider offering local SME services too, becoming the one-stop launching pads into PPC, SEO and Yellow Pages listings for local businesses.

Posted by duncan at 01:48 PM | Comments (0)

Interchange Acquires Local.com for $700,000

Interchange (who own the ePilot.com PPC engine and offer a suite of technologies for powering local search sites) have announced they have acquired Local.com and are going to launch a local search site of their own.

Full press release here.

Local.com already has US, Canadian and (some) international city guides. The site offers articles and functionality for hotel and car rental searches and booking.

Interchange will relaunch the site later this year and deploy their local search technologies on it - so I expect to see local PPC advertising and their KeywordDNA technology used to map keywords to business listings.

More on their technology.

This is a continuation of their stated 5 point strategy: developing local-search services, expanding their Advertiser Network, expanding their own Distribution Network and international expansion (they made a recent European acquisition).

Interestingly, they are an Overture LocalMatch ambassador as well as owning their own PPC.

Posted by duncan at 01:36 PM | Comments (0)

March 02, 2005

Kanoodle Local

Alongside their standard PPC search, contextual and behavioural offerings, Kanoodle offer a local search advertising program, LocalTarget.

I'm not sure how long they've offered this, but it is another good move from them (putting aside the partner and traffic quality issues I know some advertisers have with them).

The site says they are building a network of advertising partners whose websites are locally-focused - so theoretically they should have targeted traffic.

Another "to try" local advertising program.

Posted by duncan at 05:39 PM | Comments (0)

Jupiter not enthusiastic about local search

In their latest research report Jupiter have played down the potential value of the local search market:

According to a forecast provided by JupiterResearch analyst Niki Scevak during a session Monday at the Search Engine Strategies Conference in New York, spending on local search will reach $879 million in 2009. That figure is far lower than a recent forecast from search analyst firm The Kelsey Group, which predicted spending to exceed $3 billion by 2009.(Source: Media Week)

Sadly I couldn't find a snippet of the report on the Jupiter Research website or in their blogs.

Their thinking is based around the idea that local professionals won't be that interested in local search ads online as they view see the Internet as a way to gain clients.

Well, three immediate reactions from me: 1)they pay for Yellow Page ads - so they "get" advertising; 2) wait until they see their competitors in results on the search engines, IYPs and cell phones; 3) a good sales person will be ready for this sort of opposition.

I'm not saying every local professional will want to advertise online; but most will want at least a basic listing (like free printed Yellow Pages / business directory listings).

Posted by duncan at 01:33 PM | Comments (0)

February 26, 2005

MSN and Local Search

We've all seen the MSN search adverts on the TV and elsewhere by now (they are here in the UK too).

I just saw one in the contextual ads in my GMail account for MSN Search linked to here.

There's a link on this page to "Search Near Me". Search for a keyword that MSN has deemed local and you are prompted to select a city from a dropdown list to see local results for that location. Examples are searches for "weather" or "malls".

A nice start from MSN - but that's where it ends. The PPC ads shown from Overture don't change as you select a different city; search for "attorneys" for example and select any city and the same dull PPC ads appear ("attorney" doesn't seemed to have been marked as a local search at all by MSN).

A pity - local/regional firms won't be convinced to start buying PPC ads until there are local searches for their servies for them to buy ads on.

Let's hope MSN has significant local search plans and is working on then right now. Ask, Yahoo, AOL and Google all have some sort of lcoal search interface in place now, if only in beta.

Mr Gates' engine needs to not just play catch up - but to leap frog the entrenched competion. Local search results are one area where the rules are unwritten and they could lead the field. Could - but I suspect they won't.

Posted by duncan at 05:16 PM | Comments (0)

Useful Local Search Articles

Here are links to some local search articles I've been meaning to post for a while...

Meet the Local Search Engines

Local Search Marketing Tactics

Pay-Per-Call: A New Avenue for Search Marketers

Approximately 90 percent of search conversions occur offline (Overture). (Scroll down to below the yellow table) So if you sell offline you need to use local search advertising and optimisation to get your products and location in front of people whilst they research.

Posted by duncan at 04:54 PM | Comments (0)

February 24, 2005

AOL goes local

In a move that will surprise, umm, nobody, AOL has launched a local search "tab" at http://localsearch.aol.com/. This follows Google, Yahoo and Ask Jeeves' local tabs.

Users have to set their location upon visiting the site and results are then tailored to the location. (In the future AOL could pre-fill this for their subscribers based on the zip code in their profile.)

You can save several locations - e.g. home and work - by signing in as an existing AOL subscriber or creating a free (non-ISP) account. Once saved they are accessible via a drop down. Nice and easy to use.

However AOL need to add the ability to name locations to make this more user friendly, e.g. "home" "work" "Mum and Dad's" etc.

I did find an anomaly in the data used by the interface; it doesn't recognise the zip code for the office of Vocal Minds, PPCA's parent company (the Florida code is 33904 and "not found" by AOL; Google's recently launched Google Maps has no such problem ). FindWhat's Florida zip code, 33907, was recognised by the system.

The FAQ says AOL are adding data over time though; I expect anomalies like this will ironed out over time.

Once you have set your location local weather information is displayed. Search for a service - e.g. attorneys - and results feature:

- recommended sits from AOL's editors; a very good move IMO as this adds credibility to the results and offers a "guide" element that adds to usability. A good way to build audience loyalty.

- categories for that service to help users refine their search (similar to Yellow Pages categories)

- local firms with a link to driving directions and maps (from MapQuest) as well as phone number (pay per call potential advertising here)

- listings are accompanied by a star rating and AOL users can login to rate businesses
(interesting - I expect to see more of this "recommendation" type reviewing in local results; the idea is to mimic the sort of word-of-mouth recommendations we all use to find local businesses. Of course it might be open to abuse. Black hat local search SEO, anybody?)

- event and movie data is listed below (I can't see this being relevant to most local searches - a waste of space IMO)

- Google PPC results. These, unfortunately, were not locally targeted on the searches I tried.

Some types of listing have enhancen options like making restaurant reservations or buying cinema tickets - nice. I can see pay per call potential here too...

So what are my initial impressions?

An easy to use interface with the ability to store multiple locations. Good. Yellow pages style data with categories for search refinement. Good. Reviews. Good if trustworthy. Non-local PPC ads. Bad. Space for unrelated movie and event results (which return "No exact matches") Bad, a waste of space and poor design IMO.

AOL has an Yellow Pages site already, http://yp.aol.com/. So what's the difference? According to the site, AOL Local Search is aimed at information and not just finding businesses like Yellow Pages.

How many users are going to remember, or even know, to switch tabs like this? Not many IMO. Hopefully a unified search interface will be introduced to direct users to the right type of search results for each search. (Google US local searches now continue links to Google local results, for example).

Let's hope AOL keep on developing this and start using targeted local PPC ads, generating lots of nice local ad inventory as a result :-)

And the question some of you are dying to ask: how do you get listed? Unfortunately the FAQ doesn't say; I've emailed them to ask...

It's early days for AOL in search as a whole, so well done to them for making this early move to introduce a local search interface.

Posted by duncan at 10:32 PM | Comments (0)

January 21, 2005

AOL and local search

As part of wider moves to push into search proper and abandon thei "walled-garden" strategy fo the past, AOL have licensed FAST's technology to enhance their local search results (presumably by crawling the web and trying to understadn what locations any one site covers - a very complex task to undertake if that is their approach). Details of the developments in general here.

They have also partnered with Ingenio to provide pay per call advertising - the same technology FindWhat use to provide a telephone-based advertising solution for SMEs alongside traditional PPC advertising. How long until Yahoo! offer pay per call alongside Local Match PPC advertising from Overture?

AOL also have AOL CityGuide, AOLYellow Pages, and the MapQuest and Moviefone services for providing local services and content.

Posted by duncan at 10:37 AM | Comments (0)

January 18, 2005

Welcome To The PPCA Local Search Blog!

Welcome to the newest blog in the PPCA Blog family! This blog will examine local search issues, tips, and insight that can only be provided by Pay Per Click Analyst Editor Duncan Parry.

We hope you enjoy the blog, and we look forward to your feedback and participation in Local Search discussions.

Posted by ppca at 02:19 PM | Comments (0)