MoneyMan - 9:17 pm on Mar 12, 2005 (gmt 0)

I feel the definition is clear and both Jake and Chicago hit it on the head.

Fundamentally local search is about users finding businesses in a specific locality.

For authoritative sources you have two in Chicago and Jake. Then there are the properties currently associated with local search and what those properties present to the public as their reason for being – see GLocal, YLocal, AOLLocal, community resources that Chicago listed above, the IYPs, the vertical plays. Look at what associations have been designated the authorities in this space such as Kelsey. At varying levels they all coincide with this definition.

Whether you are a “local searching local” or a “remote searching local” this difference IMO is merely a segmentation of the market. There are many more segments as well. While this segment is relevant and has implications on what properties a searcher would use and how a searcher would use them to find a business, the definition of the market remains the same.

Properties like Glocal, Ylocal, a local community-based property like metromix, a vertical play like hotels.com, all fit into the fray. All contain users searching for offline products/services near a specific geographic location.

Chicago's broader view captures essence and importance of this migration. To many, especially the savvy folk on WebmasterWorld, Internet local search isn’t anything new or ground-breaking. That’s true, it’s not. The attention to local search right now is related to the significant shift that is occurring from traditional offline mediums (YPs, Print, Newspapers, etc) to online properties by both people searching and businesses advertising. The market is just starting to pass the early adopters, and it is a significant market; hence the attention.

If anything, I believe it’s not the definition which lacks clarity, it’s the mass and rapid movements we are seeing in the marketplace that is causing some of the perceived chaos or ambiguity. Many people are vying for a piece of this transition in advertising dollars. There are many factors and reasons why local searchers and local advertisers would use one property type over the other. The migration of local search to PDA/mobile phones will be another factor making the options and landscape more complex as the technology and adoption take hold. There is no doubt we will continue see the lines continue to grey between current “category types” of local search properties and the functionality and experience they provide to users and advertisers.