"Distributed by Yellowpages" -- Google & Yellowpages Partnership

[HurricaneK8]

Totally coincidental, but last week I asked if someone could explain what the maps listings that say "Distributed by Yellowpages" really means... I'd really like to know why Google is handing over listings to Yellowpages, and not letting businesses who have a GMB listing, optimized website, and great citations/content into the maps.

Maybe the sales guy was just trying to convince me that I NEEDED a paid listing to get into the maps for "Distributed by Yellowpages" phrases... Or I misunderstood him, but he said that he wouldn't talk about it over the phone and is coming in for a meeting on Wednesday at 1pm.

Does anybody have any information about these "Distributed by Yellowpages" map packs?



Paying Yellowpages for links & categories sounds TOTALLY against Googles guidelines (and unfair, but lifes not fair), yet they say they're partnered with Google... From what I've been told, you get 1 category for free and then you have to pay for the rest.

Here's an example of a search term that brings up those results by Yellowpages:
https://www.google.ca/maps/search/masonry+toronto

Any questions you'd like me to ask "Paul" from Yellowpages?

 

[DFoertsch]

You're seeing this just for Canadian results, correct? Just tried replicating the results for some US cities and the map data is attributed solely to Google - no mention of YP.

 

[Dustybones]

I did find a legal Notice page talking about YellowPages supplying info in Google Maps, but its for Turkey, Kenya and Egypt. The Sources page on Google Classic maps mentions Yellowpages as well in there Sources of Information Section.

In the lower right-hand corner of the map, you can see the source of the base map data for a map (eg. Map Data ? 2012 Google). Please note that we aren't currently able to share our full list of U.S. Yellow Pages sources.

And Blumenthal talks about it

GOOGLE DETAILS INFORMATION SOURCES FOR THE BUSINESS LISTING “CLUSTER”

YP: Yellow Pages. This describes information we get from public directories created and licensed from 3rd parties. In some areas, we provide attribution at the bottom of a list of results (e.g., business listings distributed by YellowPages.ca™).

Not sure how updated all this is though..

 

[Phil Rozek]

@Kate

YP is the main data-provider in Canada. Google scrapes the hell out of those listings, and often uses them to auto-generate Places pages (where the business owner didn't have one already). Unlike in the US, on those pages Google cites the source of their data: YP.

Here's a post by David Mihm that might help:

Mihmorandum | The Guide to Canadian Citations for Local Search | Local SEO

 

[Dustybones]

Thanks Phil.

 

[HurricaneK8]

Thanks for the info I guess what I REALLY want to know is how Yellowpages/Google decides which listings to show... Do they still use the local/map algo. with these listings? Sometimes I see a business in there that REALLY doesn't deserve to be there, and all I can think is that they paid Yellowpages for an "enhanced listing"... It would really suck if you have to pay to be in the map for these phrases

 

[HurricaneK8]

I just got off the phone with "Paul" from yellowpages and he says:

-It's a combination of the algo. and Yellowpages own data
- You get 1 listing category free, from your phone provider
- It's $13-25/month for addition categories
- The addition categories can help you rank better for keyword phrases with those categories in them


Anyways, he won't meet with me unless I promise to buy advertising from them... which we're not going to do, we just wanted more information for our clients.