Is Local Search Online or Print Yellow Pages Being Used More?

Search engines have become the most popular way for the average person to find local listings. It's great news for businesses because they can get listed on Google and Yahoo for local search for free. TMP Directional Marketing (TMPDM) recently released the results of their 2nd annual Local Search Usage Study. For the first time, according to the study, the first source used for local search are Search Engines with 31% of users but right behind it at 30% are the print Yellow Pages or White Pages. Last year’s study ranked print yellow pages first with 33% of users followed by Search Engines at 30% of users. The number of people using local search over the yellow pages will continue to increase. To me, it should increase for no other reason than to save trees. It’s ridiculous, particularly in large cities with huge directories, the number of trees that are cut to produce the paper for these directories.

Eighty six per cent of respondents said they have a print directory in their home. I must admit it is hard to imagine not having the yellow pages isn’t it? I have one right behind my computer monitor but I still go to local search on Google first. Habit or laziness call it what you will but I usually only resort to the print yellow pages when I can’t find it online.

For small businesses continuing to advertise in the yellow pages is a big decision. It is very expensive and doesn’t provide the metrics that online advertising provides to determine if it is working. It makes it really important to track calls to see how people are finding your business. Doing this can help you best determine your advertising choices next year.

All businesses with a local presence should put their listing in Google Local Business Center and Yahoo! Local. They can really generate a lot of leads for your business free of charge. The Google Local Business Center allows you to list your business on Google local/Google maps for free. Google Local also pulls results from Verizon Superpages and other trusted sources. If you are a service business working from home you can use a P.O. Box located at the center of the area you want to market to for your listing. You can also use Google Adwords to buy local ads on Google Maps. Yahoo! Local offers basic listings that are free. You need a physical address to list your business in Yahoo! Local however.

Lynn Jebbia is a Senior Project Manager at ArteWorks SEO, search engine marketing company. Her focus is SEO Strategy, Keyword Analysis, Competitive Analysis, Web Site Audits, Pay Per Click Management and Client Account Management.

Using Google Search for Everyday Essentials

Google offers so many things to users that it’s really hard to keep up. As an SEO I am constantly thinking about Google search but with a focus on getting good rankings for our clients. If you are like me (you poor thing) you put just about anything you might be looking for in the google search box and hope you will find the answer.

Here are a number of things I should have realized many moons ago and would have saved lots of time if I had. I’m wondering what the weather is like in New York City today for the opening day of SMX East. So I go to one of my most visited sites: http://www.nytimes.com/. I am rarely looking for the weather when I go to this site. Even though the area I visit the most: OPINION is right underneath the weather I have never noticed it until just now. It would have been much easier to just put: weather New York City in the Google search box. Voila! Its 62 degrees Fahrenheit and mostly cloudy in New York. I bet they don’t have Bar Harbor, Maine weather. Yep, they do, its 44 degrees and cloudy. I will definitely remember this feature and use it.

How about what time is it in Bangkok? It’s 1:54 am Tuesday and it’s now 2:54 p.m EST Monday. I will definitely use this as I can never remember what time it is in the central or rocky Mountain Time zones. It’s fast – a no brainer. And who knows we could get a client in Bangkok.

Do you need to make some quick calculations? Just enter your numbers with the proper +,-,*,/, = symbols and you get your answer. Don’t know the metric system – just enter what you want, say 2 liter in gallons, the answer is 0.528344105 US gallons. Having trouble remembering how to spell receive? Or even more trouble remembering the rule i before e except after c. Just type receive into Google and it will ask you “Did you mean receive”.

If you need a quick definition for a word just put define before the word. I got to thinking about someone I recently met, unfortunately, and the word pompous came to mind. Define pompous – grandiloquent (huh) - puffed up with vanity and a boastful manner (yep that’s him).

Local search is pretty cool too. You can find stores, restaurants and other local businesses by putting in the category of the business and the location. There are lots of other things you can find quickly too. It’s truly amazing particularly if you can get online with your cell phone. If you are wondering why I am writing about this because most of you probably already know this it’s for other people like me who can really benefit from knowing these little time savers that make everyday life easier.

Lynn Jebbia is a Senior Project Manager at ArteWorks SEO, a search engine marketing company. Her focus is SEO Strategy, Keyword Analysis, Competitive Analysis, Web Site Audits, Pay Per Click Management and Client Account Management.