Yes, even LinkedIn, the web-based networking tool is getting into the local search game. MediaPost reports that the company will announce that they will offer a new business-to-business local search product called “LinkedIn Services.”
According to the article, the service is, “designed to connect its network of 2.4 million professionals and business owners with in-area service providers like lawyers and accountants…[ Konstantin] Guericke [LinkedIn Co-Founder and VP of Marketing] said that 150,000 service providers have registered and created listings with the search service. The listings are free as of now, but Guericke said that LinkedIn will start charging soon — likely after about six months. The model could be based on a Yellow Pages-type arrangement, where companies pay for more extensive listings, and thus appear in more searches, or possibly on a per-lead basis.”