Comments on: Who gets the Traffic in the Local Space http://blumenthals.com/blog/2009/12/21/who-gets-the-traffic-in-the-local-space/ Developing Knowledge about Local Search Wed, 23 May 2012 23:11:13 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.2 By: Mike http://blumenthals.com/blog/2009/12/21/who-gets-the-traffic-in-the-local-space/comment-page-1/#comment-450896 Mike Mon, 21 Dec 2009 23:11:32 +0000 http://blumenthals.com/blog/?p=5630#comment-450896 I couldn't agree more. In fact about a year and half ago I wrote a post that did a <a href="http://blumenthals.com/blog/2008/06/16/does-iyp-market-share-matter-or-has-the-battle-already-been-decided/" rel="nofollow">back of napkin calculation</a> that Google.com had roughly 650% more local uniques than Maps. I made a similar argument <a href="http://blumenthals.com/blog/2008/10/08/google-maps-one-data-ring-to-rule-them-all/" rel="nofollow">here</a>. But Google needs an ever increasing number of eyeballs to show ads to and right now that growth is in local. To some extent the lead in local will translate to a dominating position in mobile. So from Google's point of view, why go for half a loaf when you can go for the whole thing. I couldn’t agree more. In fact about a year and half ago I wrote a post that did a back of napkin calculation that Google.com had roughly 650% more local uniques than Maps. I made a similar argument here.

But Google needs an ever increasing number of eyeballs to show ads to and right now that growth is in local. To some extent the lead in local will translate to a dominating position in mobile. So from Google’s point of view, why go for half a loaf when you can go for the whole thing.

]]> By: Mike Ramsey http://blumenthals.com/blog/2009/12/21/who-gets-the-traffic-in-the-local-space/comment-page-1/#comment-450884 Mike Ramsey Mon, 21 Dec 2009 22:00:39 +0000 http://blumenthals.com/blog/?p=5630#comment-450884 Great graph Mike and sheds a bit-o-light on the Yelp deal for sure. I think that yelp's focus on reviews is very important to Googles sentiment progression for having results based on real human thoughts of a business. I think that local results will move this way for rankings ultimately, because it will rank businesses according to people's perception of the local SMB in the market and truly return the top 5-7 local businesses based on local opinion. Great graph Mike and sheds a bit-o-light on the Yelp deal for sure. I think that yelp’s focus on reviews is very important to Googles sentiment progression for having results based on real human thoughts of a business.

I think that local results will move this way for rankings ultimately, because it will rank businesses according to people’s perception of the local SMB in the market and truly return the top 5-7 local businesses based on local opinion.

]]> By: David Kyle http://blumenthals.com/blog/2009/12/21/who-gets-the-traffic-in-the-local-space/comment-page-1/#comment-450882 David Kyle Mon, 21 Dec 2009 21:49:50 +0000 http://blumenthals.com/blog/?p=5630#comment-450882 I believe it would be safe to say that Google has a much larger share of local search. It's reasonable to assume that a good portion of traffic with "local intent" is generated by the 7-pack results displayed in the organic results. The majority of that traffic goes straight to the website of the listing, and never makes it to the maps subdomain. I base that last statement on data from LBC Analytics that show the same trend across multiple client accounts that are listed in the 7-pack. The "Clicks to your website" action ranges from 600-1500% more than the "Clicks to more info on Maps" action. I believe it would be safe to say that Google has a much larger share of local search. It’s reasonable to assume that a good portion of traffic with “local intent” is generated by the 7-pack results displayed in the organic results. The majority of that traffic goes straight to the website of the listing, and never makes it to the maps subdomain.

I base that last statement on data from LBC Analytics that show the same trend across multiple client accounts that are listed in the 7-pack.

The “Clicks to your website” action ranges from 600-1500% more than the “Clicks to more info on Maps” action.

]]> By: Mike http://blumenthals.com/blog/2009/12/21/who-gets-the-traffic-in-the-local-space/comment-page-1/#comment-450879 Mike Mon, 21 Dec 2009 21:22:29 +0000 http://blumenthals.com/blog/?p=5630#comment-450879 @Kyle It will certainly be an interesting year. :) @Kyle

It will certainly be an interesting year. :)

]]> By: Kyle Kazak http://blumenthals.com/blog/2009/12/21/who-gets-the-traffic-in-the-local-space/comment-page-1/#comment-450877 Kyle Kazak Mon, 21 Dec 2009 21:14:18 +0000 http://blumenthals.com/blog/?p=5630#comment-450877 I can say with almost certainty that Google will make a local directory/review purchase this up coming year. They are already leading the landscape, just needing to refine their algorithm and gather more accurate value added data. It will be interesting to see what angle they take. I can say with almost certainty that Google will make a local directory/review purchase this up coming year.

They are already leading the landscape, just needing to refine their algorithm and gather more accurate value added data.

It will be interesting to see what angle they take.

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