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Local Search is the next "Big Thing"
in search engine technology according to the major players
at the recent Search Engine Strategies Conference in San Jose,
CA. Both end users and marketers stand to profit from this
technology. Yahoo!, Google, MSN and AskJeeves all intend to
go after the Yellow Pages market which is a mature and slowly
declining industry. Giant telecoms like SBC and Verizon have
been intelligent enough to bring the Yellow Pages online with
SmartPages.com and SuperPages.com, respectively.
Paul Levine, General Manager of Yahoo! Local states that
the Yellow Pages market is a $14 billion a year industry which
can also be addressed by upcoming search technology. This
is an interesting comment since Yahoo!, also has business
relationships with both SBC and Bell South telecoms.
But the major search engines and search directories plan
to do the online yellow page companies one better by integrating
general search, local search, yellow pages and mapping technology
into one-stop shopping for the end-user.
Who's On First?
At this writing neither MSN or AskJeeves have rolled out
their local search technology, even in beta form. Yahoo!
and Google, however, both have beta local search services
on their websites. Right now, the Yahoo! local search engine
(http://local.yahoo.com/)
is more robust than the Google local search engine (http://local.google.com/).
When you do a Google local search for "laguna beach
optometrists" for instance, you will find some sponsored
listing at the top, the top 10 listings and a link to a Mapquest
map showing those locations. Address, phone number and Mapquest
driving directions are shown. Also, there is a section for
Related Web Pages.
By contrast, Yahoo! Local Search carries no sponsored links
and has a clean interface with address and phone numbers shown
and also an area to give the business a rating. The Yahoo!
SmartView map is much more powerful and user-friendly than
the Google / Mapquest map. Zooming in is more precise and
powerful on Yahoo!'s local search mapping technology. With
SmartView you can also find local ATM's, hotels, parking,
public transportation and hospitals mapped out for you. With
Yahoo! there is a My Locations button where your most recent
local searches can be saved.
Some of the same listings for this search appear in both
Yahoo! and Google and for this search anyway, Google seems
to list more optometry groups at the top of the listings while
Yahoo! lists more individual optometrists. Both offer distance
from your location to the listed businesses.
What's On Second?
AskJeeves has teamed up with CitySearch.com for a partnership
with local search and content provided by CitySearch.com.
The CitySearch.com site now looks to be both more robust and
ad-laden than either the Yahoo! or Google local search betas.
If AskJeeves adopts this same format then they will appeal
mostly to buyers and less to information seekers.
I Dunno
If local search can also combine elements of personalized
search this will make the experience so much
more meaningful for the end-user. Suppose you do a local
search in Newport Beach, CA for restaurants and through
your personalized settings the search engine already knows
you prefer sushi and sunsets. The returned results will
be sushi restaurants on the beach in Newport. Now this is
getting pretty specific and less clicks to get to where
you want to be.
Both the end-user and marketers will profit from this kind
of search. And this is just the kind of relationship the local
search giants are hoping to achieve.
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