I have been using Google's Local Search since it was introduced and I must say I love the service. I have found myself using the local search to find everything: places to eat, stores, golf courses, etc. Local search seems to be one of those rare "Win / Win / Win" opportunities for consumers and businesses.
The first Win is for consumers. The service is obviously useful and helps people find what they need locally.
The second Win is for search providers. This opens an untapped and potentially lucrative market for advertising revenue from small local companies. Yahoo! needs to find new revenue streams to justify its lofty valuation (as will Google shortly) and this could be a huge market.
The third Win is for small local companies. Any small company looking to advertise through Google or Overture in the past had to risk paying for ads that weren't well targeted to their market. Local search should help to minimize the waste and make online advertising profitable for these companies. Apparently Yahoo's Overture local service will be able to target ads down to around a half mile radius.
No comments:
Post a Comment