Local Search

On the Internet, information is world-wide, in fact the Internet’s draw is that it connects people to remotely stored information and to other far away people.  But world-wide and far away isn’t always best.  That’s why many search engines like Google, Yahoo and MSN created local search engines - fill in the gaps between here and the other side of the world.

How They’re Different

Local search engines like Yahoo Local and MSN Local are different from regular search engines in two key ways:

  • Local search engines present information filtered locally, rather than global information like regular search engines present.
  • Local search engines focus on concrete places and services in a local area, whereas regular search engines include articles and other information.

Search the term “restaurant” for example. 

On Yahoo it returns the following (first three):

  • Restaurants.com - a national restaurant database with coupons and other special offers along with restaurant listings.  The site lists local restaurant information, but the link itself is not a local restaurant.
  • Wikipedia restaurant entry (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Restaurant) - an encyclopedic listing, it covers restaurants’ general history and place in the modern world.
  • Restaurant.org - the National Restaurant Association

The same search on Yahoo Local, for any given zip code, returns local restaurant web sites.  Like the printed Yellow Pages it’s specific information people, interested in eating out that evening, need.

Yahoo contains all the same information, but it’s harder to find because it’s buried within millions of other links.

Uses

Local search engines save people time if they want to find local businesses, local activities, or local information.  This includes the news in a particular area, that area’s weather, shops and restaurants, and even local travel information.  They can use normal search engines, but the local search engines are faster when people want information about what’s near them.

The local search engines also allow searches of other local areas by zip code, which is handy when people plan vacations or other travel.

Savvy Internet users can filter their own results on regular search engines.  But for the majority of people, when they search for local information, the pre-packaged local search engines provide quicker, cleaner results.

Categories: Glossary
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