Local search 65
Local search
Local search is the use of specialized Internet search engines that allow users to submit geographically constrained
searches against a structured database of local business listings. Typical local search queries include not only
information about "what" the site visitor is searching for (such as keywords, a business category, or the name of a
consumer product) but also "where" information, such as a street address, city name, postal code, or geographic
coordinates like latitude and longitude. Examples of local searches include "Hong Kong hotels", "Manhattan
restaurants", and "Dublin Hertz". Local searches exhibit explicit or implicit local intent. A search that includes a
location modifier, such as "Bellevue, WA" or "14th arrondissement", is an explicit local search. A search that
references a product or service that is typically consumed locally, such as "restaurant" or "nail salon", is an implicit
local search.
Local search sites are primarily supported by advertising from businesses that wish to be prominently featured when
users search for specific products and services in specific locations. Local search advertising can be highly effective
because it allows ads to be targeted very precisely to the search terms and location provided by the user.Evolution
Local search is the natural evolution of traditional off-line advertising, typically distributed by newspaper publishers
and TV and radio broadcasters, to the Web. Historically, consumers relied on local newspapers and local TV and
radio stations to find local product and services. With the advent of the Web, consumers are increasingly using
search engines to find these local products and services online. In recent years, the number of local searches online
has grown rapidly while off-line information searches, such as print Yellow Page lookups, have declined. As a
natural consequence of this shift in consumer behavior, local product and service providers are slowly shifting their
advertising investments from traditional off-line media to local search engines.
A variety of search engines are currently providing local search, including efforts backed by the largest search
engines, and new start-ups. Some of these efforts are further targeted to specific vertical segments while others are
tied to mapping products.
Various geolocation techniques may be used to match visitors' queries with information of interest. The sources and
types of information and points of interest returned varies with the type of local search engine.
Google Maps (formerly Google Local) looks for physical addresses mentioned in regular web pages. It provides
these results to visitors, along with business listings and maps. Product-specific search engines] use techniques such
as targeted web crawling and direct feeds to collect information about products for sale in a specific geographic area.
Other local search engines adjunct to major web search portals include general Windows Live Local, Yahoo! Local,
and ask.com's AskCity. Yahoo!, for example, separates its local search engine features into Yahoo! Local and
Yahoo! Maps, the former being focused on business data and correlating it with web data, the latter focused
primarily on the map features (e.g. directions, larger map, navigation).
Search engines offer local businesses the possibility to upload their business data to their respective local search
databases.
Local search, like ordinary search, can be applied in two ways. As John Battelle coined it in his book "The Search,"
search can be either recovery search or discovery search.
This perfect search also has perfect recall – it knows what you’ve seen, and can discern between a
journey of discovery – where you want to find something new – and recovery – where you want to find
something you’ve seen before.
This applies especially to local search. Recovery search implies, for example, that a consumer knows who she is
looking for (i.e., Main Street Pizza Parlor) but she does not know where they are, or needs their phone number.