Earlier today I wrote about Compete local search data: Local Search Up 27% Since 2010. It wasn’t clear to me what sites were included in the group being measured, however.
I subsequently discovered that there are more than 200 sites in the category and Google and Mapquest are not among them. Bing Maps/Local is also not in the Compete local category. Instead those sites are in a different category called “navigation.”
As a consequence we have an incomplete view of local search traffic online. But in the “Local Search” category proper, the following are the top 25 sites by traffic (June, 2011) according to Compete:
- yellowpages.com
- local.yahoo.com
- local.com
- whitepages.com
- yelp.com
- superpages.com
- citysearch.com
- yellowbook.com
- areaconnect.com
- patch.com
- peoplefinders.com
- dexknows.com
- yellow.com
- peoplesmart.com
- urbanspoon.com
- backpage.com
- search-results.com
- reachlocal.net
- yellowpages.lycos.com
- angieslist.com
- findlaw.com
- localdouble.com
- localguides.com
- yellowise.com
- insiderpages.com
On this list are a few sites that I’ve never used or barely heard of — for example: yellowpages.lycos.com, peoplefinders.com, search-results.com (from IAC), yellowise.com.
What do you think of this list?
August 12th, 2011 at 3:57 am
An Internet Business Directory can be a great place to post information about your local, national or International business. There are a number of websites which have consolidated hundreds of local sites into a single interface to make the job of … should definitely get your company listed on some national online directories like Yellowpages.com.
August 12th, 2011 at 4:34 am
I don’t think we need to know the comparative rankings of pure play YP/local sites as much as we need to know what’s going on overall with local search. By not including the leader Google, you omit so much local traffic and audience that the list seems meaningless with regard to local search.
As an analogy, Kroger is #1 US grocery retailer chain. But Wal-Mart is the largest US grocery retailer by volume ahead of Kroger. You couldn’t credibly discuss or understand the US grocery market w/o including Wal-Mart. Similarly I’m not sure how you can discuss local w/o including Google.
August 12th, 2011 at 4:35 am
Mike:
I agree. Google has at least 2 billion monthly local queries in the US, not counting mobile.
August 12th, 2011 at 6:53 am
FYI Greg, WhitePages would rank #1 on your list of local sites according to Quantcast: http://www.quantcast.com/top-sites (of course, not including the major search engines as you and MIke pointed out)
August 12th, 2011 at 6:57 am
Thanks Alex. I don’t post the traffic information as a definitive list. It’s merely another set of data in the market.
August 12th, 2011 at 9:06 pm
Nothing against Findlaw and UrbanSpoon but if you are going to include verticals (Angieslist is probably closer to a vertical too) where’s TripAdvisor? I imagine they would be close to the top of this list. And I am pretty sure MerchantCircle has more traffic than InsiderPages, although always nice to see the old girl up there
As you said Greg, this list is not definitive, but sometimes I wish all traffic reporting services would just pack it up and call it day.
August 12th, 2011 at 10:00 pm
Beyond bragging rights and curiosity, it’s not entirely clear what concrete purpose these lists serve.
August 12th, 2011 at 11:44 pm
How did Compete rank the site?
Was it based on unique visitors or on overall traffic?
August 12th, 2011 at 11:45 pm
Uniques I believe
August 15th, 2011 at 4:56 pm
Interesting, and so many popular local business directories missing from that list – as Andrew said Merchant Circle supposedly gets a lot of traffic, as well as Kudzu, Manta, BBB, BOTW and Hot Frog maybe.
I have seen yellowpages.lycos.com ranking at the bottom pages for brand name search results.
August 17th, 2011 at 4:28 am
If it based on number of unique visitors then it probably overlooks the fact that several of above site may be buying traffic from other portals. There is nothing wrong in buying traffic but with increased exposure of risk (and cost) of traffic acquisition may make margins somewhat less sustainable.
August 23rd, 2011 at 3:48 pm
[...] C) IYP (Internet Yellow Pages) [...]
October 26th, 2011 at 11:00 pm
[...] your YP.com listing will lead to a big improvement in your rankings on YP.com–one of the leading local search sites in its own right–not to mention other local search engines like Google Places and Bing [...]
December 19th, 2011 at 2:13 am
[...] C) IYP (Internet Yellow Pages) [...]
January 26th, 2012 at 1:05 pm
Can anyone tell me how to “claim” my listing on YP.com? I have tried to do so and when I check on getlisted.org, it says it is unclaimed. I do not see anywhere in my listing on YP to actually claim it
January 26th, 2012 at 1:41 pm
@greenonions: try here: https://adsolutions.att.com/listings/Services/ServiceClaimSearch.aspx
January 26th, 2012 at 7:47 pm
and here http://www.yellowpages.com/listing_feedback