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Creating the Ideal LocalSearch Experience

Revenues from online local adver=sing surpassed $4 billion worldwide in 2006, and are expectedto grow to over $11 billion by 2011, according to the Kelsey Group. It’s no wonder, then, thatsearch engines, Yellow Pages publishers and others in the informa=on business are interested incapturing a slice of this pie. As the local search business heats up, however, it will take more thanoffering access to a business lis=ngs database to succeed. Ul=mately, what will make a local searchengine stand out from the others is the extent to which it can accurately and successfully find moreobscure items. (Aer all, any search engine can find common informa=on.)To provide this experience, the local search directory must offer complete, accurate, rich, deepcontent, along with super‐fast, mul=‐faceted full text‐search capabili=es. Given these reali=es,you’d think that Internet Yellow Pages (IYP) sites should be including reams of data for eachbusiness whether they pay for it or not. This would help the IYP sites connect buyers to sellersmore effec=vely.`However, the IYP bean counters will tell you that this does not make very good financial sensesince their business model is strictly one of paid inclusion. Sure, they agree that if you “tell more,”then you will “sell more.” But if you want to tell more, they argue, then you really should pay more,too. However, we believe that it’s =me to move past paid‐only inclusion of business‐lis=ngscontent. While the IYP sites might make more short‐term revenue this way, they’re deprivingbuyers of data they need to find merchants who meet their needs. And searchers won’t hangaround if their needs aren’t met. Ge\nG a Good return from local search content One approach todesigning your local search experience is to help each business maximize its exposure, visibility andimpact (EVI). EVI analysis is an effec=ve sales and marke=ng tool that can be used to develop,classify and sell content‐based online products. Unlike other methods of developing local searchcontent, EVI factors give search engines a quan=ta=ve basis to evaluate the return on investmentthat a business might expect from including addi=onal content on the site.

“Ul$mately, what will make a local search engine stand out from the othersis the extent to which it can accurately and successfully ﬁnd more obscureitems.”

Exposure

Exposure refers to reach and traffic, i.e. the number of users that visit and use a site. It isequivalent to the circula=on of a newspaper or magazine. Rich content builds exposure. Havingdeep content will create a good user experience that will, in turn, build user loyalty and fosterword‐of‐mouth adver=sing. Consider the user who is looking something unusual — say, a windowretailer that offers the Hunter Douglas™ brand and is open on Saturday. If a search engine or portalis able to service this kind of very specific request, as well as the run‐of‐the‐mill queries, then it willreceive good return traffic and also benefit from the same viral word‐of‐mouth adver=sing thatGoogle did.

Visibility

Visibility is a measure of how easily a lis=ng can be found. For instance, if a business were to listSony as one of the brands that it sells, and a user were to search for “Sony,” then a search enginewith perfect recall will return that business as part of the result set. If that business were to list 10brands instead, then it would become visible for searches containing any one of those 10 differentbrands. The more brands it lists, the more visible it becomes.However, just because the search engine finds the business, there are no assurances that user willfind business. For instance, if there are 1,000 businesses that list Sony, then clearly most of thebusinesses that want to be found are not on the first page. In fact, it is possible that the businessthat is most suitable for the par=cular user is on the last page, where few souls ever travel. Toaddress this issue, the search engine should provide some mechanism that will help guide the userto that business on the last page of the result set by providing en=cing and relevant informa=on.For example, if the search engine were to proac=vely present filters that enabled the user to selectthe category of business, the opera=ng hours, payment types and also select only authorizeddealers, then the user could easily specify that she or he was looking for a television store that wasopen on Saturdays and was an authorized Sony retailer that accepted Discover. If, star=ng withonly a single keyword, a concierge type tool allows users to drill down using specific keywords,then this tool could enable users to pinpoint the exact business that is most suitable for theirneeds. This resembles the way a hotel concierge might help a patron find that perfect restaurant.

“Having deep content will create a good user experience that will, in turn,build user loyalty and foster word‐of‐mouth adver$sing. .”

Impact

Impact is the influence that is exerted on the user to make a purchase. Once a lis=ng is found, theuser must be convinced to buy from the merchant in ques=on. High‐impact items includeaddi=onal content (e.g. audio or video), “call‐to‐ac=on” items (send to phone, click‐to‐call, etc.), aswell as other features related to the presenta=on of the content, such as bold type or coloredlis=ngs. It’s worth no=ng that although impact is strengthened greatly by a nice visualpresenta=on, without the necessary content, the impact of any visuals is limited. For instance, a“Visa” medallion is a high‐impact item, compared to the statement “we take Visa.” However, if thedata did not contain informa=on about the credit cards accepted by the business, then presen=ngthe Visa medallion would not even be possible.That’s why content is key to making impact features effec=ve. buildinG local search traffic withcontent Clearly, then, content is beneficial to users and adver=sers on a site and this benefit can bequan=fied by the EVI factors. And so in this lucra=ve, dynamic marketplace, there is a vast blueocean for those who are willing to risk turning in their “safe” online products for new content‐driven ones. On a site where content abounds and effec=ve search enables users to filter resultsbased on structured data, new opportuni=es arise.As users drill down to indicate their preference of “accredita=on” or “service hours” or“special=es,” the search engine has more and more specific informa=on about exactly what theuser wants. This means that each subsequent click becomes more relevant for the user and, as