John Dilbeck Musings

Will Local Search Live Up to its Hype?

The potential exists for more geographic-specific search results and advertising, but meeting Web users’ needs and getting local businesses to advertise remain challenges, say executives of search and online directory companies.

“About 98 percent of the 22 million businesses in the United States are small or midsized, and they spend about $22 billion a year in local advertising, Greg Sterling, a program director at The Kelsey Group, said in an opening address. While these businesses are familiar with buying traditional ads, such as print yellow-page listings or newspaper ads, many remain unfamiliar with search-based ads that involve an auction method for bidding on top keywords in search queries to return a sponsored link.”

[eWEEK Technology News]