gmac17
msg:3256569 | 5:27 am on Feb 19, 2007 (gmt 0) |
that must be a really tricky proposition from them. It makes the site so much better, but at the same time what business wants to advertise someplace where people (may be) trashing their business...
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earlpearl
msg:3258139 | 8:40 pm on Feb 20, 2007 (gmt 0) |
I think all this is related to Google's insertion of an expanded maps page into their organic serps. Im my experience this is the dominant method used by visitors to find businesses/services on the web. G maps will access all sorts of reviews and print them within the "package of information from a vendor found within the G maps group of businesses/services. Reviews are important. I believe G maps has just become THE IYP.
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Silvery
msg:3258323 | 11:58 pm on Feb 20, 2007 (gmt 0) |
EarlPearl, I'd agree with you if I saw the referral traffic to my sites drop after Google increased the onebox results in their web SERPs for local searches. But, it hasn't been the case as of yet...
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Robert Charlton
msg:3258606 | 7:52 am on Feb 21, 2007 (gmt 0) |
| Im my experience this is the dominant method used by visitors to find businesses/services on the web. |
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I can see that this might be true of businesses where location is a big factor. It's most likely less true with regard to professionals like lawyers, architects, designers, etc, where you want some local contact... but it's not like grabbing some pizza before a movie. I also think maps and listings in relation to the center of a zip code is a problem for businesses that serve a metro area... contractors, plumbers, etc... where offices can be in a low-rent industrial location that's really not closely tied in to service areas. Even ads on maps haven't licked this particular problem. PS - I'm responding more to question of maps as a locator for some businesses than I am to the question of Google vs Yellowpages.com as a destination site. How much do listings in Yellowpages.com affect your listings in Google, if at all? [edited by: Robert_Charlton at 7:58 am (utc) on Feb. 21, 2007]
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Location3
msg:3260182 | 1:12 pm on Feb 22, 2007 (gmt 0) |
Yellowpages.com and the other IYP's are going to have a tough callenge in moving users from the main engines to their portal, even with all the additional consumer generated contenet and the TV advertising dollars thrown at it.
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earlpearl
msg:3261769 | 5:58 pm on Feb 23, 2007 (gmt 0) |
Good point RC. Certain businesses/professionals thrive off of referrals, word of mouth (WOM) a more professional form of marketing/advertising. Yet those same industries are found in the YP and in certain cases are well represented with expensive display ads. It would be worthwhile from a marketing perspective to understand what percentages of new customers come from what kind of services. Dave
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