Act II – The world is local again

Are you looking for a hair stylist, a plumber or an electrician? Most people in this situation would choose to refer their local yellow pages and obtain precise results. Yes you heard me right – yellow pages and not the Internet – Internet which is supposedly capable of providing answers to anything 'under the Sun'. Then why not use the power of Internet and get a quick answer instead of browsing through the bulky yellow pages, which is conspicuously invisible whenever the need arises. People looking for local businesses are divided in their opinion on this subject. Looking for local information online or using more specialized local listing resources like yellow pages, local newspapers, etc., has always been the 'bone of contention.'

A study revealed that 30 percent of all online searches are local in nature, and 75 percent of these searches are performed using search engines. The remaining 25 percent is distributed amongst Internet yellow pages and directories, local guides, online newspapers, and local niche. Analyzing and interpreting the aforementioned data would prove beyond doubt that the market potential for local search is huge. The market for local search and yellow pages are one and the same – people looking for local businesses. By servicing this local market, yellow pages has built an enormously profitable industry. The best part of this market is that it promises to have enough room for all players to coexist.

The tremendous progression and the number of local searches performed online, makes local search a 'must win battle' for search engines. In an attempt to cater to online users looking for local information, search engines are actively incorporating the local search listing feature. Google for instance provides 10 local listings for searches made using a geographic modifier, in most cases. Maintaining a local search database seems to be the evident choice for search engines, to effectively handle local search queries. This seemingly easy task (given the might of Google and other major search engines) becomes an intricate and complex job, in the unstructured world of Internet.

The enormous amount of data present on the Internet, a boon for the users, acts like a hindrance while organizing data into geocentric indexes. This issue is further compounded by the fact that data is present in many different languages. It is difficult to assort this heterogeneous data and would require significant resources in terms of computational power. A perfect local search engine would require a homogeneous Internet. According to Carter Maslan, Microsoft, “Perfect local search requires a near-perfect mirror world.” Search engine robots cannot effectively handle the diverse nature of the Internet. Also, Google's local database of business listings is limited in nature. To overcome this inherent shortcoming, Google depends on websites that specialize in local listings. In the absence of local search listings for the searched term, Google brings the relevant local data to the forefront by pointing to local listing sites like Kudzu, Yellow Pages, Mojopages.com, etc.

Google has embarked upon an initiative to include as many local listings as possible and thus make its local listing database more comprehensive and widespread. According to Google “As more and more people use the Internet to search for local goods and services, it is increasingly important for locally-based businesses to establish a visible online presence through free local listings. To help with this (Local Business Referrals) effort, Google is contracting with individuals in U.S. cities to visit businesses in their area to collect information including location, hours of operation, and digital photos. This program will help people find local information using Google and Google Maps and help businesses take advantage of the Internet even if they don't have a Web site or online store. This is currently a pilot program intended to help local businesses in the U.S." Besides this, various studies have concluded that the conversion rates for local searches are higher as compared to general searches. This fact is fueling a mad rush among local businesses to get enlisted in local search and thus generate more revenue.

Local search, that can comprehend all aspects of local information is still a distant dream. However, major search engines are taking concrete steps to capture this frontier and make our global world local again.

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