A Map of the Local Search Turf War - Phil Rozek

[Linda Buquet]

Phil did a post yesterday with a great infographic.

A Map of the Local Search Turf War: 5 Big Boys vs. Goliath Google | LocalVisibilitySystem.com

Lots of companies want to be the place customers turn to when searching for local businesses. It?s a battle a between Google on one side, and every other search engine and major directory on the other side.

I?d say the situation is that Yelp has made itself indispensable. It?s at the center of a gang-up on Google that includes Apple Maps, Bing Places, Yahoo Local, and YellowPages. They?re only small compared to Google.

These 5 Big Boys exchange reviews, business data, now ads, and presumably money. They do it to get more local search ?mindshare,? and ultimately more ad revenue.

Their relationships to each other and to Google are messy. They?re easier to draw. So I thought I?d map out the turf-war over the local map:

Head over to read the rest. The infographic really helps to show how the various types of info flows between Google, Yelp, Apple Maps, Bing Places, Yahoo Local, and YellowPages.

 

[Colan Nielsen]

Very nice! Thanks for the share Linda!

Thanks for the awesomeness Phil!

 

[Jo Shaer]

In the UK we now have Scoot saying that they are the authorised 'RESELLER' for Bing Places.

That word reseller sounds ominous. Sounds like it's going to be how Infoserve was with Yahoo Local - you could only guarantee to be seen if you paid for a premium listing.

Not sure what happened to Nokia Prime Places who seemed to be doing it last year

Seeing some prominence in a search for our images for the Yelp listing today as well.

 

[Andrew Scherer]

Now that is a cool article, nice to get some insight into these companies' relationships and how they are playing their cards.

 

[Jan]

In the UK we now have Scoot saying that they are the authorised 'RESELLER' for Bing Places.

That word reseller sounds ominous. Sounds like it's going to be how Infoserve was with Yahoo Local - you could only guarantee to be seen if you paid for a premium listing.

Not sure what happened to Nokia Prime Places who seemed to be doing it last year

Seeing some prominence in a search for our images for the Yelp listing today as well.

Hi Jo, I received that mail too for a few clients. "Reseller" does sound ominous - but what it appears to be (for now at least) is a managed listing on Bing.

The "authorised reseller" badge they're using is one for Bing Ads resellers. I'm hoping it's just the way they're marketing the service rather than Bing looking to move back to 3rd party listings.

In October last year, Bing allowed us Brits to add our own listings to Bing. I put the bunting up and had a street party (ok slight exaggeration there!) The listings have all the sections Scoot are saying they provide.

I don't know about you, I never had any luck with data flowing from Nokia Prime over to Bing Local. Not sad to see it disappear!

 

[Broland]

Good article Phil, nice to see some different topics.

I would say Facebook is a big player right up there between Yelp and Google. A huge (probably the majority) portion of small to medium sized businesses spend the most time promoting, updating and interacting on their Facebook page over any other site. Facebook has been compiling an enormous amounts of data for years. And in many cases it can be the best source of info for some insight into a business you want to learn more about. I know several people mid twenties and under who use Facebook search over Google. It can all change fast in this industry, but if Facebook were to make there right moves in the local search space I could see them continuing to grow into the leader.

 

[Jo Shaer]

Thanks for that clarification Jan. I had a devil of a time getting one client listed on there at all. I must have missed the option in October where we could DIY. Thanks for the heads up - will go check it out.

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Broland - have you ever used Facebook search? It is PANTS!!! Social Media Managers always search Google if we want to find anything related to Facebook :O

Having said that, if you set your Facebook page up right, you can get it to rank for some less competitive local keywords - taking up another one of the ten slots available on the front page.

Small business owners are hurting badly over the terrible reach on Facebook currently. The incessant grinding push towards paid promotion has produced a lot of doubt in whether it is worthwhile to bother with Facebook at all. And even the personal users are complaining about not seeing content from Pages they have asked to - by the very action of liking those pages - and lots of paid content from Pages they have no interest in. It is crucial to get your demographic right when targeting your ads.

 

[Phil Rozek]

@Broland

Thanks. Good point about FB. I didn't include it only because it isn't really allied with anyone else in "local" (at least at the moment).