Local Search Blog

Google puts feet on the ground in Canada. Yellow Pages™ Group has announced that they have reached an agreement to become the first reseller of Google adwords in Canada.

The deal makes sense for both parties; Google now has the feet on the ground to reach out to the enourmous small and medium business audience that Yellow Pages™ Group has spent decades developing and Yellow Pages™ Group teams up with the search king. Google owns approximately 78% of the search market in Google Canada.

The only thing missing is organic search. Let’s keep our eyes open to see if yellowpages.ca listings start appearing at the top of natural search results in Canada.

Day 2 at SMX Denver provided a couple of sessions that exemplified what people expect to see when they come to any conference or seminar.

In the SEO Best Practices for Mobile session, three different presenters laid out step by step guides to mobile SEO. Cindy Krum from Blue Moon Works Inc gave a terrific presentation. Read Cindy’s seo/ppc/email blog for a how to on mobile search.

Greg Markel from search engine marketing firm , Infuse Creative and Rachel Pasqua, from digital marketing agency, iCrossing also provided clear game plans for mobile search.

During the, “Show Me the Money! ” afternoon session Justin Sanger from local advertising firm LocalLaunch provided a clear roadmap for small business marketing.

During the same session, Alfred Chow of (IYP) YellowBook commented on an audience question of consolidation in the local search space. I have often wondered why a major search engine hasn’t acquired an internet yellow pages company. The feet on the ground that IYP’s possess would be huge for the right company.

But, for the first time I am beginning to understand..why would IYPs sell when they believe they can win the local search battle. Stay tuned…

Day one of the first local and mobile search expo proved to be an interesting day. Highlights included presentations from Michael Jones, chief technology officer, Google maps and Google earth and Chris Smith , lead strategist, Netconcepts.

Michael Jones gave us a vision of the new local search, including, not only building geographically organized information but creating “a sense of place” around the image it presents.

Chris Smith, of NaturalSearchBlog discussed the difficulties surrounding mobile search and PPC options for mobile.

webpronews reports that MSN has combined with Atlas AdManager to create a video ad serving platform that will enable customer websites to serve up local advertising with local content.

Online videos that are relevant to the geographic area will help build viewer loyalty.

ClickZ reports that at a recent Kelsey Group conference, discussions revolved around:

The fact that over 50% of consumers who click on a local businesses site within the local profile at an Internet Yellow Page (IYP) site hit the “back” button.

Local businesses that invested in a local business profile page didn’t see that happen. Most likely because of the lack of meaningful content contained within the local business owners site.

An optimized business profile page is well organized and structured to give consumers important information about a business.

In addition, the profile is then optimized to meet search engine guidelines so the page will be found by the search engines.

The Yellow Pages™ Association announced that David Swanson ahs been named board chairman. Swanson is the CEO of R.H. Donnelley Corporation.

While the announcement may seem like just another PR move by a large association, this one will be interesting to watch. I have followed Donnelley for a dozen years and I can tell you whenever someone asked me where the YP publishers were going, I always answered, “Watch Donnelley”.

Donnelley has been a leader in the industry for years and by a leader, I mean a visionary. They recently bought business.com and have a terrific local business profile company in locallaunch.com. Let’s see if he can set a fire under the seats of his YP board members.

Check out our local business profiles on Sesimi.com

TechCrunch reports that Yelp Inc, a local review site, has released an API to allow third parties to access much of the content and features of the service.

You can review our latest business profile, Brampton Kitchens, on Google Canada maps.

Bill Hartzer reports that local business search engine Kudzu.com has won two Telly awards for two different TV commercials.

The local business search engine attempts to connect consumers with local businesses.

You can check out our latest local business profile on Malibu Woodwork, an Oakville, ON custom woodworking company.

Don’t be fooled by fake local directory Yellow Pages™. The FayObserver reports of a sales rep badgering a client to renew a listing they never had for a mere $ 399.00.

Always be wary of someone cold calling you for a “renewal” of a directory listing. An accredited directory will provide you with plenty of information and a signed contract from the previous year.

The Kelsey Group and Search Engine Strategies (SES) are partnering in order to enhance the content of both events.

SES will provide lead tactical SEM and SEO sessions for the upcoming Kelsey Group Interactive Local Media 2007 conference.

The Kelsey group has provided powerful data for the directory business for years and they will provide local content sessions for SES Chicago.