TrueLocal Launches Canadian Local Search Engine

[Brett_Tabke]

[cbc.ca...]

TrueLocal.ca launched Tuesday in Canada, describing itself as an "intelligent business phonebook" on the internet.

The site offers a localized search engine in English and French that consumers can use to track down more than 1.3 million Canadian brick-and-mortar businesses, ranging from nearby dentists or contractors to car dealers or golf courses.

[whoisgregg]

Sounds like a "Congratulations Jake" is in order. :)

[bakedjake]

Not yet... I am still trying to make earlpearl [webmasterworld.com] a believer. ;-)

[jdMorgan]

Still waiting for the 'tucker' TrueLocal indexer to show up. Haven't seen him, although he's "allowed" in robots.txt and not blocked in my access control code (and for my sites, that's saying something). :)

Just in case I got it wrong, don't forget to add a "Webmasters" page with your robots.txt string and your full User-agent string...

Jim

[jatar_k]

nice work Jake et al

I am anxious to check it out

[Rugles]

Nice work Jake.

Its on the start page as soon as I get to the office. Looks very handy.

[cabbie]

Looks Great and a great idea!I wish you all the success with it Jake.

[encyclo]

Congratulations Jake! I'm going to risk a bit of constructive criticism, based on a very quick look at the site. :) I clicked on Français rather than English, and the French translation is at times rather awkward ("Enlistez-vous"?!). There are some parts which still display in English, the "Search" button being the most obvious. For the searches, sometimes there can be significant differences dependent on language and accents - compare hotel in Québec City (as suggested on the about page) to hôtel for example.

But overall the quality and depth of the search results is truly excellent. It is a site that I feel I can use regularly and recommend to others, and the exceptional presentation in itself puts the site above competitors. A great job!

[mack]

Nice work, well done!

Mack.

[Liane]

Ecellent Jake! Wish I had known about it a few days ago when I was in Toronto and was desperately searching for a specific product!

Really nicely done! ;)

[edited by: Liane at 2:20 am (utc) on Sep. 1, 2006]

[Harry]

Sorry, but I just don't see the value, but I do notice the bad French. The most pressing question is, will the people come and will the few that do convert?

I never understood the deal with so called local search. Please explain to me.

[earlpearl]

Best of luck Jake!

[Robert Paulson]

I also wish you luck, Jake. One of your reps got an ambush by me a week or so ago, when she called to verify account information. I asked her about how TrueLocal intends to market itself to the non-technorati in the various localities of the US and Canada.

She wasn't able to provide much of a detailed answer (but like I said, she wasn't expecting to have to answer that question, either). So I'd be interested in hearing your rollout plans for local marketing and if you have a priority list for individual markets.