expertSEM

In checking the local listings for one of our Local Search Traffic clients, BigO Tires, I came across something interesting:

Google is now filling their Local Search Listings with ten listings. This is yet another great, unannounced Google innovation. As of last week, they were only showing three map results:

This confirms what I’ve been saying for some time, local search is a convergence point between several technologies which will grow dramatically in the coming years. The key is that the combination is greater than the sum of its parts. Yellowpages or online indexes alone are kind of useful, as are digital maps, and search engines. Once you combine the three, WHAMMO! Now that’s a product!

But wait, there’s more, access this from a cell phone, a car’s navigation system or your WiFi laptop, and now you’ve got a disruptive technology which will supplant the forms that came before it. The integration is happening at incredible speeds, iPhones, G-Phones, and now most wireless carrier’s phones all have some way to access local search technology. It will not be long until the tech-savvy public remembers the old days of trying to find the right index book, and flipping through to an alphabetized list of vertically sorted service providers.

If you are still spending money getting your ads in the yellow pages, my advice is to stop immediately (unless your clients are older people). Fewer and fewer people are wasting their time flipping through those pulpy yellow volumes. Local search is where it’s at.