Local and Regional Search: A Primer

Here is an article on the developments of local search.

Local search is steadily improving, but who should use it? My dilemma revolves around the size of my clients. Many of them are just launching national campaigns which is primarily a result of their size. However, I do see my company taking the campaigns to another level and rolling out local search. Still a lot to be determined but it is great to see this continue to develop.

Do you think your company could leverage local search? Please give me your thoughts...


Local and Regional Search: A Primer:

"Recently, many IYPs embraced the auction-style pay-per-click (PPC) search listings. A sample of major players includes:
Verizon SuperPages. SuperPages listings are purchased from Verizon and powered by customized FindWhat.com technology. The tiered results are syndicated to other portals, including MSN, but the PPC listings are not.


Switchboard.com. Switchboard.com (recently acquired by InfoSpace) sells listings directly by category. It's partnered with Google to show relevant ads to searchers. However, my tests indicate the Google ads shown aren't locally targeted based on search query but instead are national directories for the category searched.


Yahoo! Yellow Pages. The Yahoo Yellow Pages uses a tiered approach. Monthly fees are based on the tier and category. Yahoo's yellow pages don't (yet) use Overture's local targeting or paid placement results.


YellowPages.com. This service sells listings directly by category and is partnered with ePilot.com (Interchange Corporation) to show relevant ads to searchers.


YP.com. Like Switchboard.com, it sells listings directly by category and is partnered with Google to show relevant ads to searchers. I did see more instances of geotargeted Google results at YP.com."