July 31, 2009

Yahoo! Updates UI on Local Search Results

Yahoo! has made some UI changes to their local search results. The update is centralized around the idea of reducing clicks.

When you're viewing a result, the links to Yahoo! Shortcut information (reviews, photos, etc.) now load the content directly on the page you're viewing.

Additionally, when you do a category local search on Yahoo!'s main search, a local section will pop up, enabling the Yahoo! Shortcut content to be accessed in the results page.

Raleigh must be in some kind of vortex, though, because I couldn't get this feature to work for my hometown. But I can get it to work for other cities of varying populations.

What do you think of Yahoo!'s local search updates? Let us know by leaving a comment.

Posted by Nathania Johnson at 1:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

July 3, 2008

Yahoo and MerchantCircle Enter Local Online Marketing Partnership

MerchantCircle, a network of local business owners, has announced a new partnership with Yahoo. As a newly minted Yahoo! Local Ambassador, MerchantCircle members will have exclusive access to Yahoo Local online marketing services. MerchantCircle has seen dramatic growth since December 2007, when it began a new push for its online advertising products. The network has now surpassed 500,000 members.

“Yahoo! is one of the most important brands on the internet – one that really appeals to our local business members. Local business owners tell us they want to advertise on Yahoo! to get more local customers to their storefront,” says Darren Waddell, Vice President of Marketing, MerchantCircle. “This partnership creates an important product option in our growing suite of advertising products for local merchants.”

Merchant Circle expects its members to get access to the program by the end of the summer.

MerchantCircle offers its members SEO-friendly profiles on its site. Last November, MerchantCircle announced a partnership with Citysearch, where members can be featured on the popular online local guide.

Posted by Nathania Johnson at 9:08 AM | Permalink | Comments (12)

April 24, 2008

Yahoo! Local Adds Dynamic Radius Circle to Maps

Yahoo Local has added a nifty little feature that lets you interact with their maps. Their new dynamic radius circle helps you narrow down the area that you are searching in.

When you're on Yahoo Local, look on the right side of your results for a map. Click “Expand Map.” Then you can drag the circle around, as well as zoom in and out.

The only thing I didn't like is that when you zoom in, the circle stays in proportion to the page instead of expanding or contracting with the zoom on the map.

Here's a screenshot of a search for “coffee” in Washington, DC:

Posted by Nathania Johnson at 9:49 AM | Permalink

April 16, 2007

Yahoo! and Newspaper Consortium Expand Ad Partnership

Today,Yahoo! and 12 leading U.S. newspaper companies announced a formal agreement to use Yahoo! as their exclusive paid search partner, and bring local newspaper content to 150 MM U.S. visitors per month.

The latest addition to the consortium is the McClatchy Company, making it the 12th member of the newspaper publishing group. This group represents more than 264 newspapers across 44 states.

The McClatchy Company is among the latest newspaper groups to join the consortium, currently participating in all aspects except the HotJobs component. Other new members since November 2006 include Calkins Media, Inc.; Media General, Inc.; Morris Communications Company, LLC; and Paddock Publications, Inc.

Consortium members announced last November include: Belo Corp.; Cox Newspapers; The E.W. Scripps Company; Hearst Newspapers; Journal Register Company; Lee Enterprises; and MediaNews Group, Inc.

The newspapers in this consortium include major market dailies such as the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, The Commercial Appeal (Memphis), The Dallas Morning News, The Denver Post, The Florida Times-Union, Houston Chronicle, The Miami Herald, New Haven Register, Rocky Mountain News, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, The Sacramento Bee, San Francisco Chronicle, San Jose Mercury-News and The Tampa Tribune.

Key points of the partnership from the official release:

-- Enhancing newspaper online advertising revenue using Yahoo!'s graphical advertising technology. For more than a decade, Yahoo! has been a leader in online graphical advertising. Advertisers and newspapers will be using Yahoo!'s sophisticated ad-serving, targeting and inventory management capabilities. This strategic alliance creates the newspaper industry's most comprehensive and integrated online advertising network.

-- Leveraging leading local and national online sales forces. This relationship creates an all-in-one buying opportunity for local advertisers, allowing newspaper sales representatives to offer the combined aggregated reach of local newspaper and local Yahoo! online audiences. Yahoo!'s sales force may sell newspaper inventory to their portfolio of national advertisers and newspapers' sales forces can sell Yahoo!'s local online inventory to local advertisers.

-- Integrating Yahoo!'s paid search technology across newspaper sites. Yahoo!'s search functionality will be deployed across hundreds of newspaper Web sites and exposed to more than 50 million users on a monthly basis. Additionally, users will benefit from having access to a customized Yahoo! toolbar which will be distributed on local newspaper Web sites, providing newspaper Web site users with easy access to the most comprehensive Internet search.

-- Distributing high-quality newspaper content broadly across the Yahoo! Network. Newspaper content will be fully integrated within local news modules and delivered to Yahoo! users interested in local news, sports, finance and other content in Yahoo! vertical areas. This will give readers superior local content developed by credible news professionals and community contributors across the country. Additionally, this strategic partnership paves the way for mobile distribution of newspaper content.

Posted by Elisabeth Osmeloski at 10:55 AM | Permalink

February 15, 2007

Yahoo's Local Ad Options

Patricia Hursh tackles the finer points of local ad options available in Yahoo's Panama platform in her ClickZ column today, Yahoo Local Advertising Options, Post-Panama, Part 2. She presented all the options in part 1, and now goes on to offer some strategic advice on how to best use those options.

In short, Hursh recommends:

Geotargeted Sponsored Search campaigns for Internet-savvy local businesses, regional firms, Web-based businesses, and national chains, franchises, and dealerships.
Local Listings for marketers who desire a simplified approach and appreciate the flat monthly fee.
A combined approach that tests both options

Posted by Kevin Newcomb at 1:26 PM | Permalink

February 1, 2007

A Look at Yahoo's Local Ad Options

In her latest ClickZ column, Patricia Hursh digs into Yahoo's local search advertising options, post-Panama. She explores Local Sponsored Search, Sponsored Search, Local Basic Listings, Local Enhanced Listings, and Local Featured Listings.

Posted by Kevin Newcomb at 10:13 AM | Permalink

January 11, 2007

A Majority of Users Would Submit Reviews

A Harris Interactive poll conducted for Yahoo Local found that 67 percent of respondents said they would be likely to post an online rating or review, and 79 percent of respondents said they'd be likely to be influenced by such a rating or review. That kind of data highlights the importance to users of social features, and explains Yahoo's decision to increase those features in Yahoo Local in recent months, outlined in today's SearchDay.

Posted by Kevin Newcomb at 3:19 AM | Permalink

January 3, 2007

Yahoo, Dash to Offer Local Search On the Go

Yahoo and Dash Navigation have announced plans to offer geo-targeted local ads to users of the Dash Express in-car navigation device. The device is expected to become available in California in the spring, and nationwide in the fall.

When a user enters their search term into their Dash Express, the device conducts a Yahoo Local search on the Web over a wireless connection. In many cases, Yahoo Local ratings and reviews are also presented with the listings. Results are formatted into address cards and presented to the user as a listing of nearby businesses, which can be mapped at the touch of a button.

Posted by Kevin Newcomb at 1:34 AM | Permalink

December 26, 2006

Vertical Strategies in Local Search

Just before the holiday weekend, Bill Slawski had an interesting post at his SEO by the Sea blog. The qualities of online search make it a natural fit for local he contends. This can be seen by the degree to which local has been emphasized within Google (Google Local), Yahoo! (Yahoo! Local), Microsoft (Windows Live Local), and most recently, Ask (AskCity).

But the real opportunity in Local could be in vertical segmentation, he argues. Increased verticalization has in fact gained steam over the past year with the introduction and development of many successful vertical destinations such as Zillow and Trulia in Real estate and Oodle and LiveDeal in classifieds. This “verticalization” of Local Search was a pervasive theme at the Kelsey Group's ILM:06 show last month.

Some of the advantages of a vertical search strategy include a refined corpus of data which increases the likelihood of relevant results within a category that a user is presumably interested in (going by their presence on the site in the first place). This increased relevance can lead to higher click through rates and higher intent to buy.

Some local shopping destinations such as NearbyNow enjoy these advantages because someone searching for “sunglasses” in their local area is more likely to be looking to find a place to buy them. Compare this to a Google search where the user's intent isn't as easily discernable (they could be in a research stage, many steps before a purchase decision and, ultimately, a transaction).

So vertical search can be valuable, but it also doesn't come without its own set of challenges. Use cases are different across vertical categories so different rules and interfaces should be applied for optimal experiences. This challenge is particularly relevant to the local products of search giants mentioned above. These local search offerings are all grounded in a map interface, however a map isn't as relevant in some categories as others.

A map that plots the locations of local landscapers isn't as valuable as one that plots local movie theaters (landscapers come to you). However the map interface dominates search results in both of these categories (and all others) in Google Local, Yahoo Local, et al.. For landscapers, plumbers, roofers and other service categories, user reviews or credentials might represent a better use of this space.

Still, there are many challenges in creating these rules and varying interfaces across vertical categories. The same challenge faces internet yellow pages companies such as yellowpages.com. Smaller vertical players can meanwhile create experiences that are more customized to the use case of that category, but they can't scale to the degree that a Google or a Yahoo! can.

Perhaps the best of both worlds is to build a “house of brands” strategy that brings together many individual vertical brands under one roof. The Classified Ventures family of online classified destinations (cars.com, apartments.com, HomeGain) has done this to some degree, but many believe the slow moving nature of their newspaper owners (Belo, Gannett, McClatchy, Tribune and Washington Post) has held this consortia back from reaching its potential. It's still an interesting model and one to watch – and possibly model after - in the coming year.

Posted by Mike Boland at 7:20 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

December 22, 2006

Bringing Small Businesses Online

TheStreet.com has an article on the growing trend of small businesses advertising themselves on Craigslist. As opposed to individuals buying and selling merchandise, this involves local businesses creating posts that list business information or possibly product or inventory info.

Essentially, this utilizes Craigslist as a place to have a free landing page. But this kind of advertising precariously places such pages where they can be bounced around as newer posts push them down chronological listings.

More effective for some small businesses have been free landing page and microsite offerings that have grown in number over the past year, as the name of the game for many search engine marketers will be to get more small businesses online.

This comes with the thought that a significant chunk of revenue growth for search engine marketers will come from new business - those local and small businesses that have thus far steered clear of online marketing because they aren't inclined to do it, or they simply don't have websites. Bringing a business online with free development and hosting tools is thought to hook them, and to develop early loyalties as a place to also do their online marketing.

Enter the free landing page development and hosting offerings. Yahoo! has done this for a while with its free local listings product, and Google came out with Page Creator in February which it recently upgraded with its new "hosted business pages" tool. Companies that have introduced similar solutions include vFlyer and Affinity Internet.

Many of the small businesses in this boat are service businesses that traditionally advertise in the yellow pages. In many cases these businesses are better equipped to handle a phone call than a click, which can be an abstract concept to some. A recent study done by Nielsen//NetRaings and WebVisible suggest as much.

So in addition to more free website development and hosting services, we could see more click-to-call functionality in paid search. In the last month alone, we've seen this from Google and LiveDeal. Look for more to emerge throughout '07.

Posted by Mike Boland at 12:38 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

November 2, 2006

GPS, Geotagging, Images and Maps

The NY Times has a long and relatively interesting article on geotagging images and mapping. It primarily discusses Flickr and, to a lesser degree, Google Earth and Picasa and other services such as TripTracker. The article also goes into the geocoding/tagging technology itself. Not discussed in the article is Microsoft's "Photosynth," which is an interesting hypothetical application and extension of all this technology.

Mapping, images (including video) and local/travel are rapidly coming together in very rich applications, as alternatives to pure text-based online navigation.

Posted by Greg Sterling at 2:01 PM | Permalink

September 14, 2006

Yahoo Adds More Social Features To Local

Yahoo has been rolling out its "FUSE" (find, use, share, extend) strategy across its many properties and has just made its popular Yahoo Local site more personal and simultaneously more "social." A number of new features have been integrated into the site that allow people to create customized profiles and lists of local favorites but also to tag and share those favorites for discovery by the larger user community.

Users may quickly create lists called "collections." They can be any group of "bests," "worsts" or any other list (e.g., best places to eat with kids, etc.). Essentially it's a personalized local directory of content that may remain private or be shared with the entire community.

Yahoo permits users to upload photos directly to Local now as part of collections. Yahoo Local users can also save others' picks with one click to their collections (like MyWeb or Yahoo TripPlanner). A new Local "dashboard" widget allows registered users to view their profile and collections, reviews, recent searches and also makes recommendations.

The functionality adds a new dynamic layer and more depth and richness to the Local experience. Previously there were ratings and reviews but now there's the opportunity to discover local favorites and other valuable community generated content. The new features will also likely create more engagement with the site.

Yahoo has been a leader in local and with the new functionality continues to make its Local property more practical and useful.

Posted by Greg Sterling at 10:21 AM | Permalink

August 31, 2006

Tips On Getting Listed In Local Search Results

Patricia Hursh wrote a ClickZ column named Four Steps Every Business Can Take to Improve Local Search Results. The article goes over the what, why and how on Local Search. In short, how does one get included in the local results you see search engines providing? She recommends that you (1) update your business listings at Amacai, infoUSA, and Acxiom, (2) submit your site to local engines such as Google Local, MSN Local, Yahoo Local, Ask Local, and TrueLocal, (3) update your Internet Yellow Page listings at YellowPages.com, Verizon SuperPages, and SwitchBoard.com, and (4) make sure to have your address clearly listed throughout your web site.

Don't have time to do all of that, you can pay one of these two companies to do it for you; Relevant Ads or RegisterLocal. Also, if you are interested in understanding who local search engine powers who, see Bruce Clay's and TrueLocal's PDF chart.

Postscript Barry: Although Amacai is related to another sister company, Localeze, it does not actually manage local search content. Localeze, a completely separate company (Amacai is its subsidiary), manages local search content for local merchants.

Posted by Barry Schwartz at 9:04 AM | Permalink

July 27, 2006

Yahoo Partners With British Telecom For Yahoo Local UK

Revolution Magazine reports that Yahoo has partnered with British Telecom to share Yellow Pages data. Yahoo will add 120,000 businesses who advertise in The Phone Book from BT within the Yahoo Local UK platform. This helps BT offer an additional service to their Phone Book customers and gives Yahoo access to some more data and marketing opportunities they may have not had otherwise.

Post Script from Greg: Yell is the dominant yellow pages publisher in the UK and was previously owned by BT before it was sold a few years ago. Yell provides all its content to Google, as the basis for Google Local/Maps in the UK.

Posted by Barry Schwartz at 11:29 AM | Permalink

May 17, 2006

YSM and Geotargeting

Danny already posted in pretty extensive detail -- my laptop battery died or I would've put this up sooner -- regarding Tim Cadogan's presentation at Yahoo Analyst Day. Tim was very thorough and credible in discussing the upgrades and improvements to the platform.

One area of interest to me, of course, was his discussion of local.

He said in their numerous conversations with advertisers one of the top requests was improved geotargeting. (Cadogan saw this benefiting both large and small business advertisers, and Yahoo by extension.) Yahoo Search Marketing has long had geotargeting but it has generally been perceived as less flexible and less effective than Google's program.

Cadogan said that advertisers would notice many improvements around geotargeting on the new system including enhanced targeting by DMA, city and radius around a zip code and that these would be represented visually on a map.

Yahoo's acquisition last year of Whereonearth is partly responsible for the reportedly new and improved geotargeting, which should be global in scope. He also said that the technology will help deliver better locally relevant content across the network for consumers.

When I was with The Kelsey Group I asked then comScore SVP Jim Larrison to do a "thoughtful" analysis of local search to determine how much consumer traffic and what percentage of "search" carried a local intent. comScore's methodology was fairly "conservative," measuring traffic at local domains (e.g., local.yahoo.com or superpages.com) and those queries with geo-modifiers (e.g., "new york sushi bars"). The Kelsey Group estimate, which I had helped originally formulate, was that about 20% of search had a local intent. But Larrison's analysis suggested that, if consumer behavior was examined carefully, the number was closer to 40%. Larrison?s number came out at one of the Kelsey Group conferences and now has been picked up a number of times.

Indeed, today I heard that number reflected back to Cadogan in an audience question about what percentage of search was local in nature: "Some estimates put it at about 40% of queries." Cadogan gave a quick and qualified answer that the stated number was "in the ballpark."

CFO Sue Decker who fielded questions with Cadogan after he was through with his formal presentation also stressed the importance of local and geotargeted ads to Yahoo going forward. In her final remarks later in the day she also talked about Yahoo's successes with small business advertiser acquisition.

Here's more from my rambling raw notes on this morning's presentations.

Posted by Greg Sterling at 5:54 PM | Permalink

April 28, 2006

Yahoo Local Adds Featured Listings

The Yahoo Search blog just announced a new Yahoo Local advertising solution named Local Featured Listings. This advertising solution enables advertisers to place their ads at the top of a local listing for different business categories. The business categories seem to be based on your location and keyword. The rate chart shows you can spend $15 to $300 depending on your location and keyword phrase, Manhattan and florist being the most expensive category, since Manhattan is very populated and florist is a popular keyword phrase. A lot more information at http://listings.local.yahoo.com/prlfl.php, I may have more later on this.

Posted by Barry Schwartz at 11:18 AM | Permalink

April 7, 2006

SDForum To Host GeoSearch & Mapping Session With Google, Yahoo, MSN, & Ask.com

Search SIG announces that Google, Yahoo, MSN and Ask.com will be on a panel named MapOFF! to take place at Yahoo headquarters on April 11th. The panel includes Jeremy Kreitler of Yahoo, Thai Tran of Google Maps, Alex Daley of Microsoft Virtual Earth and Andy Yang of Ask.com, moderated by Brady Forrest of Microsoft. More information on the event here.

Posted by Barry Schwartz at 8:54 AM | Permalink

March 20, 2006

Yahoo Launches Local News Beta

Search Engine Journal reports that Yahoo News has launched a local beta version. For example, you can go to news.yahoo.com/local/New+York to check out local news in New York. I do not currently see an RSS feed for local news results. There is a link to "Suggest a Local News Source" that takes you here. I am a big fan of Yahoo's local efforts, especially at local.yahoo.com but these local news headlines can be done better, in my opinion. Postscript From Danny: Want to see all the local news available? Visit the Yahoo Local News home page here. You should see a map of the US with a drop down option to choose a state, then a local news area. Don't panic if that page then suddenly refreshes to automatically take you to a particular area. If that happens, look in the lower right-hand side of the page. You'll see a "Browse More Local News" area with the map and the drop-down box.

Posted by Barry Schwartz at 10:24 AM | Permalink

January 6, 2006

Yahoo Forges Ad Partnership with Yellowpages.com

Yellowpages.com advertisers now get extended reach with placement within Yahoo! Local and Yahoo! Yellow Pages. This agreement expands on existing agreements Yahoo had with AT&T Yellow Pages and BellSouth Advertising and Publishing. Pamela Parker has more on today's deal over at ClickZ.

Posted by Chris Sherman at 4:01 PM | Permalink

November 3, 2005

Yahoo Maps Adds New Features and Tools

Yahoo has upgraded its Maps service, integrating local search results and adding a lot of cool "wow" factors to the service. They've also released a bunch of tools for developers to hack their own maps. More in today's SearchDay article, Yahoo Enhances Maps, Integrates Local Search.

Posted by Chris Sherman at 12:01 AM | Permalink

October 18, 2005

Yahoo Acquires WhereOnEarth, Provider of Local and Location Based Services

A note on the Yahoo Search Blog alerts us to Yahoo acquiring UK's WhereonEarth, that amongst many services, can help deliver location based local advertising They also do work in wireless location based services, hello Yahoo Mobile

According to Rafat, WhereonEarth has has a limited deal with Yahoo for five years.

In an offline world 80-90% of purchases happen within 8-10 miles of your home. We believe this will carry over into the online world and in an increasingly personalized internet, users should expect their search results to reflect their lives more precisely. Same for advertisers ? they need to target users with more meaningful, relevant ads based on the user?s locality.

Sounds similar to my scenario with Google being able to offer VERY localized advertising with their Wi-Fi ventures. John Battelle makes a few interesting points about Yahoo's potential Wi-Fi plans on his blog.

Posted by Gary Price at 3:57 PM | Permalink

October 5, 2005

Yahoo Acquires Upcoming.org Events Listing Service

Yahoo has announced on its search blog that it has acquired events listing and calendar service Upcoming.org, which it expects will help improve the offerings of its Yahoo Local service. You might recall in my recent write-up of Yahoo Local changes that I mentioned it was unclear where Yahoo was getting its events information. I still need to (and will) follow up on that, but Upcoming obviously will be playing a role now, too -- if it hasn't been already. The Yahoo blog points to posts that each of the Upcoming partners have to say on the move, and Jeremy Zawodny does a nice all-in-one quote roundup of that here.

Postscript: Yahoo tells me doesn't disclose its current events feed partners, but that Upcoming content will eventually flow into Yahoo Local. Yahoo also plans to maintain Upcoming as a standalone site.

Posted by Danny Sullivan at 10:29 AM | Permalink

August 17, 2005

Yahoo Local Expands With City Pages & More User Reviews

Yahoo Local has expanded with new city and neighborhood pages, along with increased display of maps and use of community reviews.

Yahoo features custom pages for major cities throughout the US, as listed here, with areas of those cities broken down into individual neighborhoods. In addition, it has coverage of all cities throughout the US offering information in various ways.

Browse Or Search For Info

Let's start off with a major city for a feel of what's presented, in this case, Los Angeles. To reach the page, you need only enter the city name los angeles into the Yahoo Local "location" search box. An LA ZIP code would also work.

When the page appears, you'll see options to browse categories of local merchant just above the map display. You can drill down into local auto dealers, florists or use the "see all categories" link for further options. Going into any of these areas will bring up listings, accompanied by a map on the left-hand side of the screen. Want to see more of the map? Move your mouse over it, and it automatically enlarges.

Rather than browse, you can also keyword search. For example, toys stores entered into the "search for" box brings back toy store listings around the Los Angeles area, more or less. Some false matches did come up for me.

Events, Restaurants & Favorite Places

Back to the main city page, you'll see a map as the central fixture there. Shown on it for LA are "What's Happening Locally" events, "Users' Favorite Restaurants" and "More Local Favorites." Look below the map, and you'll see these items also shown textually in columns. Hover with your mouse over any textual item, and you'll also see more info about it "light up" on the map.

It's not clear where exactly the events database is coming from -- I'm checking on this -- nor is there any way I can see to easily add an event for your area.

In contrast, the restaurant reviews are easier. When looking at any local restaurant, registered Yahoo Local users have the option to write a review. You'll see this option to the right of each restaurant listing -- use the "Write a review" or "Rate it" links. The most recent approved reviews for an area are shown at the top of the list on the city home page.

More Local Favorites is a way to review any non-restaurant item for a city -- schools, places to go, businesses and so on. If you can find in Yahoo Local, then as with restaurants, you can rate and review it using links to the side of a listing. Unfortunately, while you can see a full list of restaurants with reviews, you currently don't appear to be able to see a full list of all "Local Favorites," something I hope will change.

By the way, you can get an RSS feed for any new events, restaurant reviews and favorite places for any city. Just use the links along the left-hand side of the screen.

Neighborhoods

The pages for major cities also show "neighborhood" links to the left of the main map. So for Los Angeles, you can click to see just the Miracle Mile area. Do that, and the events, restaurants and favorite places listings also change to be relevant to that neighborhood.

Only major cities have neighborhoods, however. For instance, look at the Newport Beach page. Though small, that city has well defined neighborhoods of its own, such as Balboa and Corona Del Mar. These unfortunately don't show up. Yahoo says it is considering a way for people in smaller cities to be able to define known neighborhoods.

Traffic & Wi-Fi Maps

The central maps in the city pages can be toggled to show you traffic conditions and wi-fi hotspots, which is pretty nice, when these are available. They aren't always. Bend, Oregon, for example, doesn't have a traffic map but does have hotspots.

Hopefully, we'll see even more ability to put things on the big map. In particular, it would be great if those who create map mashups, such as overlaying crime data on a map, would be able to easily get links to their maps associated with the Yahoo Local page. I'd also like to be able to see my local listings gathered through browsing or keyword searching on the big central map, if I wanted.

It would also be great to be able to overlay multiple search results. For example, check out this map for Newport Beach made using MSN's Virtual Earth. There, I'm able to show pizza places, bike rental places and hotels all on the same map -- and I could add more, if I wanted.

Other Stuff

Look below the search box for any city, and you'll see top searches for that locality are shown. Scroll down to the bottom of the page, and you'll see your recent searches displayed, along with items you recently reviewed and recommendations of other things to consider.

Look near the bottom, and you'll also see a Tagged Pages link. Click on that, and if anyone has tagged a page as relevant to that city in My Web 2.0, you'll see those listings.

Back at the top of the page, below the search box, you'll also see a weather forecast for the area. Next to the search box, if you've looked for more than one locality, check out the little drop-down arrow which lets you easily access previous locations for entry.

Next Generation of Yahoo! Local on the Yahoo Search Blog gives you a few more details about the service, and especially check out the Yahoo Local Features Page, which is a nice illustrated overview of the service.

Overall, it's a nice, slick, polished presentation. There's lots to like and check out if you're looking for local information, so it's highly recommended to check out the service if you've yet to pay it a visit.

Chris Sherman's currently away on vacation and will likely review and contrast to other service when he gets back, as he tends to watch the local search space more for Search Engine Watch. However, if you like the idea of local reviews, you might also check out Citysearch. Restaurant reviews, hotel reviews, events and more are all listed for various localities. You can even get events on a map, as like this for LA, but it's far more work than with Yahoo Local.

Posted by Danny Sullivan at 8:41 AM | Permalink

May 2, 2005

Yahoo and Local Directory Provider Dex Media Announce Partnership

Dex Media, the official provider of yellow and white page directories for Qwest Communications in 14 states, is announcing a deal with Yahoo that will make local content/listings from Dex Media advertisers available at Yahoo Yellow Pages and at Yahoo Local. Dex also offers its own online directory at DexOnline.com.

If Dex Media sounds familiar, it should. In November, we posted about a content sharing arragement they had just made with Google.

Here's a list of the 14 states where Dex Media is a local directory provider: Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Iowa, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oregon, South Dakota, Utah, Washington and Wyoming.

April 18, 2005

Overture Becomes Yahoo Search Marketing & Comparing Listing Products At Yahoo To Google

The rebranding promised in March has happened. Overture has officially become Yahoo Search Marketing, marked by the launch of a new Yahoo Search Marketing site that lists all of Yahoo's search-related listing products.

It's a good change that ought to help new advertisers. Rather than having to explain that they need to buy "Overture" to be on Yahoo, Yahoo can now direct them to a site that retains its branding.

But with rebranding can come confusion, so I thought it would be helpful to look at all the products listed at the new site and also compare them to Google products. In particular, an email I got from a reader prompted the idea:

I am trying to find the "comparable" Yahoo program to Google AdWords. Since their rebranding of Overture last week, I'm still looking unsuccessfully for something like Precision Match, but it looks as if the program has been axed?

We've been using Google AdWords since it launched and are very happy with the format and back office (most of all the results). Is Yahoo offering a similar program? Honestly, I've read about their "Sponsored Search" and it's simply not obvious.

Meanwhile at our Search Engine Watch forums, a thread on the rebranding shows similar confusion:

I thought Overture was being renamed to Yahoo Search Marketing, but this page boasts a range of products, including Shopping, Travel, Directory, PPI & Overture (sponsored search).

The chart below gives you a side-by-side look at all the products listed on the new Yahoo site, along with some other listings areas that I thought made sense to add. If you're a Search Engine Watch member, see this extended post that provides commentary and additional advice and information about each listing area.

Listing Type Yahoo Google Web Search Listings Yahoo Submit Your Site Add Your URL To Google Web Search Paid Inclusion Search Submit Express & Search Submit Pro n/a (but advertisers can get listing support) Search Ads (Paid Placement) Sponsored Search AdWords (search targeted) Contextual Ads Content Match AdWords (content-targeted; AdSense is name for PUBLISHER program) Shopping Listings Product Submit Froogle Feed (free) Travel Listings Travel Submit n/a Directory Listings Directory Submit ODP Submit Local Search Ads Local Sponsored Search AdWords Regional & Local Targeting Local Search Listings Local Enhanced Listings & Local Listings (free) Google Local Business Center News Listings Yahoo News Submissions Google News Source Suggestion

Want to discuss the change from Overture to Yahoo? Visit our forum thread, Yahoo! Search Marketing is Released. Also check out Yahoo To Buy Overture for background on Yahoo buying Overture back in 2003, GoTo Makes Overture To New Name for the last rebranding Overture went through, that of losing it original name of GoTo back in 2001 and GoTo Sells Positions, about GoTo's launch in 1998.

Posted by Danny Sullivan at 9:48 AM | Permalink

April 13, 2005

Get A Free Business Web Site at Yahoo

Yahoo Local is making it easy for the millions of U.S. businesses that don't have an internet presence to stake out their own territory on the web. Today Yahoo launched a free business web site program, designed to allow small businesses to get online in less than ten minutes. These web sites will be included in Yahoo Local results, and can also be crawled and picked up by other search engines.

Today's SearchDay article, Yahoo Offers Free Business Web Sites, covers the new program in depth.

Posted by Chris Sherman at 12:00 AM | Permalink

March 29, 2005

Save Yahoo Local Data in Spreadsheet Format

Here's a new and potentially useful app (for Windows) that I just spotted on the Yahoo Developer Network Wiki. Do you want to work with Yahoo Local data offline? How about saving and storing entries in a spreadsheet? Rikul Patel's Local Search Excel Export makes doing this a breeze. Simply download the app, run a keyword search, specify a Zip Code/radius (in miles) and in a few seconds (it all depends how many records are available) you'll have the material in CSV format ready to save to your hard drive.and open in Excel. Data is sorted into six columns (Name, Address, City, State, Phone Number, and URL).

Posted by Gary Price at 11:07 PM | Permalink

February 16, 2005

More Mobile Access to Yahoo! Local Content: Driving Directions

About three weeks ago I posted about every entry in the Yahoo! Local directory including a link to send the address/phone number with just one-click to a cell phone or mobile device as a text message (SMS). I've used it several times and it works very well.

Today, news of another new service.

It's now possible to send driving directions to your cell phone or mobile device with just one-click. One important note, in addition to being able to receive text messages, you'll also need a mobile web browser.

Here's how it works: After entering your starting and destination location click the "get directions" button. Above the map look for the link labeled, "send to mobile phone." Enter the phone number where you would like the directions sent. That's it. In a few seconds, a text message containing a direct link to the specific directions will arrive. Click the link and the directions appear in your mobile web browser. Drive safely!

Posted by Gary Price at 9:14 AM | Permalink

February 8, 2005

New Google Maps Now Live

Google has released a new Google Maps service via its Google Labs site. Covering the United States, it allows you to drag maps around to find a new location, rather than the usual method of clicking to recenter and reload a page.

Once you've selected an area, you can then keyword search to make local information appear on the map. For pizza places on the Balboa Peninsula in Newport Beach, it worked pretty well. For apartment rentals, the map suddenly zoomed out from a scale of about 1 mile to 50 miles. But zooming back helped to show places I knew should be listed.

To do the searches, I found the area I was interested in, then used the search box above the map. A Local Search link above the map can also be selected. Doing that will let you specifically say to search the map below or you can enter a new city and/or search location. A Directions link brings up two boxes allowing you to enter a starting and ending address to generate driving directions, in the map and with turn-by-turn guidance.

On the Google Maps home page, you'll also find boxes to generate directions on the right-hand side of the page, as well as boxes letting you locate a local business or zoom directly to a location.

Google Maps doesn't offer traffic information, as was recently added to Yahoo Maps. See Yahoo Offers Real-Time Traffic Reports for more about that. Yahoo Maps vs. MapQuest looks at an LA Times article on Yahoo's own work to further develop its own mapping system. And from Chris Sherman, Yahoo Enhances Local Search with Maps looks at how Yahoo Maps allows for local information to be added to Yahoo Maps.

For more, see the Google Maps FAQ and tour pages. Want to discuss or comment? Visit our forum thread, Google Maps: Fresh out of Google Labs.

Postscript: Also see Gary's A Few Minutes With Google Maps

Posted by Danny Sullivan at 6:17 AM | Permalink

February 2, 2005

Search Executives Talk Local

Local search initiatives continue to build momentum, and no wonder: By most accounts, between 20 and 40 percent of all search engine queries have some sort of local intent. In today's SearchDay article, Meet the Local Search Engines, Shari Thurow covers a recent Search Engine Strategies conference where executives from Overture, Ask Jeeves and AOL discussed their local search programs and the opportunities they provide for search marketers.

Posted by Chris Sherman at 11:45 AM | Permalink

January 27, 2005

Yahoo Factor: Victory In Search Wars Through Vertical?

Last to the game with desktop search, The Yahoo Factor from Technology Review argues that Yahoo may succeed in the search wars through a strategy of conquering through vertical search, such as mobile and local.

Posted by Gary Price at 11:46 AM | Permalink

Now Available: A New Service from Yahoo! Local

Yahoo Local users can now easily and quickly send phone numbers and addresses from the Yahoo! Local database to their cell phones or mobile devices as text (SMS) messages. The service is free but your phone provider may charge for text messages.

Each Yahoo! Local entry now contains a link labeled, "Send to Phone." Click the link and enter a phone number (U.S. only). Then, click "send." In a matter of seconds the name, address, and phone number of the Yahoo Local entry you've selected will be accessible on your phone or mobile device. Some phones even hyperlink phone numbers so don't even after enter the number. More info about this new service here.

The new Yahoo! Local mobile service is similar to another free service called Vazu that I've been using for several months. It works well. Vazu allows you to send text material from any web page to any phone around the world as a text message. Vazu also automatically recognizes phone numbers on web pages and you can even import, upload and send contacts from Outlook, Outlook Express, Apple Mail, or Ximian Evolution. Vazu requires a small download and only works with IE.

Posted by Gary Price at 11:00 AM | Permalink

January 3, 2005

Avoiding Road Rage with Yahoo Maps

During the holiday craziness last month, Gary noted that Yahoo quietly rolled out a new feature for Yahoo Maps: Real-time traffic information for 70 U.S. cities. Maps now display speed and congestion information on major highways, as well as road construction details and accident reports.

Today's SearchDay article, Yahoo Offers Real-Time Traffic Reports, takes a closer look at this nifty new addition to Yahoo Maps.

Posted by Chris Sherman at 1:08 PM | Permalink

December 16, 2004

New From Yahoo!: Traffic Reports

Media Post has a news brief about Yahoo Local! making real-time traffic reports available for about 70 U.S. metropolitan areas.

The real-time data comes from a variety of sources. Yahoo! also makes traffic speed info available for about 20 cities.

In addition to finding traffic links on this page, Yahoo! also offers a shortcut. Enter traffic [city name] into the Yahoo! Search box. For example: traffic San Francisco. A direct link to the traffic info appears at the top of the results list.

Posted by Gary Price at 8:39 AM | Permalink

December 8, 2004

Yahoo Offers Content Inclusion for Local Businesses

Yahoo quietly took the wraps off a new program today that provides U.S. based businesses with tools to modify or enhance their listings in Yahoo Local. Yahoo already has more than 15 million "basic" listings that it has compiled by crawling the web and pulling in data from feeds and other business information providers.

Today's SearchDay article, Yahoo Bolsters Local Search Business Listings, describes the new program. Businesses have the option of modifying a basic listing at no charge, or adding additional information, photos and links to promotional pages through an "enhanced" listing that costs just $9.95 a month--a steal compared with what yellow pages charge for even simple enhancements such as boldface listings.

Also of note: Unlike Yahoo's controversial Site Match paid inclusion program, which has both a fixed annual fee for inclusion as well as a cost per click fee, the new enhanced business listings program is a "pure" paid inclusion program with no CPC charges. All of this adds up to making participation in the program a no-brainer for virtually all U.S. businesses.

Posted by Chris Sherman at 1:00 AM | Permalink

October 4, 2004

Yahoo Local Tabs

With the launch of Yahoo Local today I've noticed that Yahoo can now add a tab for Yahoo Local on the streamlined search.yahoo.com interface. The option to customize search tabs using this interface has been available for several months.

Btw, Yahoo Local is also available for the Australian market.

Finally, take a look at the Yahoo Australia home page. Select Local Search. You should see the search interface change to Local Search without a page reload or moving to a new page.

Posted by Gary Price at 10:36 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

October 3, 2004

Yahoo Local Leaves Beta, Graduates to Yahoo.com

Yahoo Local moved out of beta moments ago, launching with a cleaner look and feel, improved relevance and a significantly expanded database of local listings.

In Monday's SearchDay article, Yahoo Local Officially Launches, I take a look at the upgraded service and describe some of the new features that make the service even easier to use.

Kudos to Yahoo for moving from a beta service to a fully-featured release in just two months. By contrast, Google moved its local search from Google labs into beta back in March, and not much seems to have changed since then. At least at this stage, Yahoo Local is the superior service. I'm looking forward to Google's response, which given the history of competitive jostling between these companies should happen relatively quickly.

Want to comment or discuss? Please join our forum thread: Yahoo Local Grows Up.

Posted by Chris Sherman at 11:13 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

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