We talked about Yahoo’s potential buyout and how it could affect advertisers…

It could affect local online advertising in a number of ways:

If Yahoo! is unable to pull itself out of its looming financial crisis then it could eventually go belly up, leaving local advertisers with only two major choices for online marketing - Microsoft and Google (that’s not a real choice).
As Yahoo! continues to lose share value they may decide to seek another buyer and end up having to take less than Microsoft’s offer to sell and reap any returns for shareholders. That could affect Yahoo!s own prices for local advertisers in the long run.

Yahoo! may decide to turn its PPC offerings over to Google completely, which could change how Google prices its PPC advertising for all businesses.
This is just the tip of the iceberg. It will be interesting to see how Yahoo! navigates the waters from here on out.

And now it appears that we have our answer:

With Microsoft apparently out of the picture, Yahoo! is turning to Google to help its chief executive, Jerry Yang, prove that he made the right decision last month when he turned down Microsoft’s takeover bid of $47.5 billion, or $33 per share. Yang asked for $37 per share, prompting Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer to withdraw the oral offer.

If the Google partnership passes what’s likely to be a rigorous review by U.S. antitrust regulators and lawmakers, Yahoo! intends to use its rival’s superior search technology to display ads on its own Web site as well as those of its partners’ in the United States and Canada.

What is SearchMonkey?

Essentially, SearchMonky is a potential goldmine for Yahoo Local businesses, large or small. It is Yahoo’s (better) answer to Google’s Onebox and Microsoft’s WebSlices.

Yahoo is opening up its search platform , and the results can be big. There are a lot of layers and abilities that being built into the platform that will enable 3rd parties to really influence search results.

What’s the big deal about an open platform?

An open platform will give all web site owners the opportunity to present more useful information on the Yahoo! Search page, in comparison to what is presented on other search engines. It doesn’t matter if your website is big or small, all site owners will be able to provide additional information about their site directly to Yahoo! Search.
The results mean that instead of a simple title, an abstract and a URL, users will finally be able to see in depth results on the search.

Don Campbell discussed how could have a huge affect on Yahoo Local businesses.

Yahoo hinted that they they might turn on some “applications” by default, for example Yahoo Local. This means that small businesses listed in Yahoo Local might produce enhanced search results, for example including a map or other information about your business.
Recommendation for Small Business Websites:
1) Get your business listed in Yahoo Local. That way, if Yahoo decides to include a Yahoo Local SearchMonkey app as a default, your business will show up with enhanced results if you are listed in Yahoo Local with a complete profile.
2) SearchMonkey looks for special data inside websites, based on a standard called microformats. Your website should include this data so it is available to Yahoo as they crawl and index your site. This way your business information is available to any developers who build SearchMonkey apps, and you will show up with enhanced results as this gets adopted over time.

Each of the main search engines are using gadgets in one form or the other in their results. , and Yahoo has SearchMonkey.

For many local businesses, getting their name out there both online and offline can be a struggle. The competition seemingly increases each year and opportunities diminish for many. The best way for any local business to stay in front of their potential customer’s eyes is through online local listings. These days most consumers look to the internet when searching for the best place to provide them with exactly what they need. This is where Local Search Engine Marketing comes into play. By placing your business in these local listing sites with optimized content regarding your services, you are effectively allowing your site to be found multiple times within the search engines. For just 49.95 a month, Brick Marketing will submit your business profile along with your website, address, phone number and hours of operation to local search engines – Google Maps, Yahoo! Local, MSN Local, YellowPages.com and several more. The good thing about this service is that the business does not even need a website in order to be listed. Providing your business simply has an address and phone number, it can be listed along with every other business in your area. This is a submission service and does not guarantee a particular ranking on any search engine but does mean your business will exist on the web if it doesn’t already. At any time, you may change your information and there is no commitment period. You may cancel at any time for any reason.

With Brick Marketing offering this form of Local Online Marketing, you can be sure you are in good hands as they are members of the Better Business Bureau and are known widely for their impeccable service and reputation. Sign up now for Brick Marketing Local and enhance your local business today!

There’s a new search engine in town that hopes to topple Google. It’s called Powerset. I’ve already read two reviews of Powerset, as well as tried it out for myself, and the two reviews could not have been different. Both were by bloggers that I respect and admire.

Greg Sterling of Screenwerk likes Powerset. Andy Beal of Marketing Pilgrim doesn’t. They both make good points.

Andy Beal is right when he says that Powerset simply appears to be another way to search Wikipedia. But I’d hope that Powerset has plans to take their search engine beyond Wikipedia. Just for the record, they do also pull information from Freebase, as pointed out by Greg Sterling. But the overriding question is, does it provide anything valuable?

I’ll have to agree with Greg Sterling and say that there is some value in it. I tested a query that would intentionally be ambiguous. “Poetry schools” can mean all sorts of things. Under traditional keyword-type queries, anything that mentions the word poetry or school, if the query is made without quotation marks, would be pulled into the SERP. If I’m looking for information specifically about poetic movements, which is what the terms Poetry Schools typically refers to, then the keyword-type query wouldn’t prove much helpful. I tested it in Google and I was right. I got a few results in the top 10 that were helpful, but most of them were not.

On the other hand, Powerset gave me exactly what I was looking for, mostly from Wikipedia and some from Freebase, but without the fluff that came in Google. So that’s one query in particular where Powerset was more useful. But what about local search?

Local searchers are going to be looking for information that is useful to them in their particular neck of the woods. For most people, especially rural searchers, Wikipedia isn’t going to be much help. A search for Texas brought up information organized into 4 tabs: Geographically (about the state of Texas), TV Series, Band, and Novel. In other words, somewhat helpful. But what about Sweetwater, Texas? 515 Wikipedia articles that mention Sweetwater, Texas, a community with less than 15,000 residents.

Among the type of entries found for Sweetwater, Texas are:

• Rattlesnake Roundup
• KTXS-TV
• Registered Historic Places
• Libby Thompson (a prostitute and madam of a famous brothel)
• Women Airforce Service Pilots
• Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway
• Bat Masterson (his first gunfight took place in Sweetwater, Texas)
• Clyde L. Garrett
• Asa Earl Carter
• Willie Amos
• Active Worlds
• Pig Show

So does Powerset, or semantic search, have any local search applications? Possibly. I think so in limited terms, but it can’t go on forever relying on Wikipedia. If Powerset could tap into the search algorithms of the major search engines and aggregate them with its semantic search technology then that would prove a lot more useful. It would have to filter out the fluff that is found and simply include useful search results based on the semantic intentions of the searcher - if that is possible. But for now, let’s suffice it to say, it’s off to a not-half-bad start.

Debra Mastaler asked a great question on her blog, Link Spiel:

what’s better at giving us the quick qualifying factor like the PageRank toolbar?

In other words, she wants to know if there is a resource that webmasters can turn to in order to find information on authority - a kind of one-size-fits-all way to determine which sites are the greatest authorities within their niche. Then she recommends Myriad Search.

I hadn’t heard of Myriad Search until I read Link Spiel’s post on it. Then I tried it out. It seems a bit limited, but it does do what it promises to do and deliver results from the four top search engines for a particular key phrase. It looks like a good tool for competitive research.

Just for giggles, I performed a search for “Gettysburg Pennsylvania.” I wanted to try the local angle to see what would happen. You can see the results of that search here.

If I were truly interested in building a website to search the local market of Gettysburg Pennsylvania and wanted to use that place name as my primary keyword then this search for that key phrase is very telling. Here’s what I see:

• The most authoritative site for that key phrase is www.gettysburg.com. Not surprising.
• The most authoritative site for my key phrase is No. 1 on 3 of the top 4 search engines.
• It is also No. 2 on the fourth search engine (Yahoo!).
• The second most authoritative site for the local place name I’m interested in is a government website (the National Park Service) - very important to know that for competitive analysis!
• The Gettysburg Welcome Center’s website is the the third most authoritative site on the local key phrase.
• Also, GWCs website has only half the authority as the No. 1 most authoritative site - great information!
• Coming in below GWC are Gettysburg College, Wikipedia (who’d have thunk?), the local newspaper, and various nonprofits, tourism websites, and local businesses.

Now I know what the competitive landscape is for my key search term. But what if I wanted to compete locally for the key phrase “auto mechanic?”

Well, I tried using my first key phrase along with “auto mechanic,” putting both key phrases in quotes and all I got back was a bunch of useless websites. So let’s try it without the quotes. Here are the results of that search.

I can see who the most authoritative site in Gettysburg for the term “auto mechanic.” It truly is a competitor and I know where he ranks in each of the search engines. It doesn’t look like any of my other competitors are even close. After Mike’s Towing and Recovery, it’s government websites and the Chamber of Commerce of Gettysburg. The next real competitor is an About Us page for Eagle Software, which makes software for auto shops. It looks like I have an in here if I was an auto mechanic in Gettysburg.

So you can see how useful this tool is for doing competitive research at the local level. I hope you get some use of it.

Microsoft has spent the better part of this year trying to convince Yahoo! to sell itself and Yahoo! has spent the year trying to find other alternatives. Well, Microsoft has officially withdrawn its offer and left Yahoo! with no hope for its future. But how will that affect local online adverting?

It could affect local online advertising in a number of ways:

• If Yahoo! is unable to pull itself out of its looming financial crisis then it could eventually go belly up, leaving local advertisers with only two major choices for online marketing - Microsoft and Google (that’s not a real choice).
• As Yahoo! continues to lose share value they may decide to seek another buyer and end up having to take less than Microsoft’s offer to sell and reap any returns for shareholders. That could affect Yahoo!s own prices for local advertisers in the long run.
• Yahoo! has been tweaking its offerings lately and it’s possible that, in order to cut expenses and losses, the company will take to take some of its current offerings for local advertisers off the table.
• Yahoo! may decide to turn its PPC offerings over to Google completely, which could change how Google prices its PPC advertising for all businesses.

This is just the tip of the iceberg. It will be interesting to see how Yahoo! navigates the waters from here on out.

There are many business owners who realize the value of local online advertising and Yahoo Local provides a great way to get started in this area of advertising. It´s a simple system to use and for anyone just starting out, this could be an excellent way to go. Yahoo Local offers quite a range of benefits, despite attempts by Microsoft to buy the company.

Recent expansion means that there are even more opportunities for publicity with Yahoo Local advertising. They have been making deals left, right and center in an attempt to improve the quality of the advertising for their clients.

If you are looking for a place to get started in local online advertising, consider looking into Yahoo Local as a jumping off point. It is definitely a good way to go for anyone who is just beginning to venture into the waterss of this type of advertising.

Yahoo has recently updated their images, greatly improving the zoom factors and quality. While most of the time, this company has shied away from the image side of things, preferring to leave the graphic genius to Google, Yahoo is now stepping things up.

What does this mean for Yahoo advertisers? Well, as the imagery improves, chances are more people will be heading to Yahoo as a favorite search engine. Google has long since been a major player in this area, but with Yahoo stepping up, it could get interesting.

The fact is that the gap between the two is narrowing drastically and you can expect to see more value from your Yahoo advertising dollars.

Yahoo local listings now have the chance to be seen even more since the internet giant recently signed a deal with LiveDeal which will give those local advertisers who have hung in there more exposure. With all the recent upheaval that Yahoo has been going through, some advertisers may be a bit wary of jumping in with local online advertising via Yahoo local ads. But with deals like this one, Yahoo is proving that it is still very valuable to those investing in publicity with them.

It´s hard to say exactly what will happen with Yahoo Local, but many are speculating that they are running out of options. Some of the top people in the industry believe that Microsoft still has some tricks up their sleeve, so it should be interesting to see where this goes in the next few months.

In the meantime, if you are advertising with Yahoo local ads, you can now enjoy having them appear on LiveDeal as well as other websites that Yahoo has deals with. The value of this is great for anyone using Yahoo local to place their search driven ads. This most recent contract would seem to indicate that Yahoo is continuing to look ahead and is hopeful that they will be able to make things right again.

For anyone using Yahoo local maps, things just got a lot better. For local advertising businesses and end users alike, you´ll find that Yahoo local maps are improving, signs that this site isn´t giving up on anything just because they have the opportunity to sell!

According to the Yahoo Local blog, there are a number of new features this time around, including the following:

• 300 cities with new neighborhood data added throughout North America, from Palo Alto, to Chicago, to Toronto, etc.

• Expanded Worldwide Coverage with much improved coverage, especially throughout Eastern Europe.

• City label density increased for better usability

• Lighter map tiles – with an average of 30-60% reduction in size

All of these make Yahoo local maps that much easier to use and finding businesses will be simpler, as well. Google may still have the lead on map traffic, but Yahoo is obviously working hard to keep up and they are doing a great job of it.

Yahoo has been popping up in the media a lot lately, but that hasn´t hurt the Yahoo Local brand . . . in fact, now is just a good a time as any to get your business listed. In fact, it might even be best to do it now, since we have no idea how the rules of submission will change once the company is sold, which experts agree is definitely going to happen at some point.

It´s very easy to get listed in the Yahoo Local directory. Simply head over to http://listings.local.yahoo.com and you can fill out the form to give all your business information, which will then be put into the Yahoo Local directory and show up on any maps that are shown. This can be a huge benefit because Yahoo still gets a good chunk of traffic, even with Google overshadowing the search engine market.

Having your business listing pop up when someone is searching on Yahoo Local is great. If you are on the map, your chances of being visited are far higher, since most people gravitate to those maps when they do a search. It´s easier for surfers because they can see at a glance where you are located and pick the business closest to them.

Yahoo Local listings can really help boost your traffic, particularly if you are featured on the maps. If you haven´t listed your business there yet, then go do it now. It literally takes a couple of minutes and you can have everything up and running and start boosting your traffic levels and hopefully your local customer levels, too!  This is another solution to your local advertising efforts!

With the recent news that Microsoft was making a bid on Yahoo, local advertisers who use the network to promote their business got a little nervous. How would this change things in the world of Yahoo local? Well, fortunately, you can relax a little. Yahoo has reportedly turned down the Microsoft bid, saying that it undervalues the company.

While Microsoft has claimed they will leave the Yahoo brand intact, very few companies survive completely unchanged when a takeover is this huge. Google is still quite big, but Yahoo was popular before the internet mogul developed and Yahoo Local is still a big draw to local advertisers and consumers alike. If and when the company is sold, we can expect to see some changes in this area, but that might not happen for a while yet.

The reported amount that Yahoo was offered is over $44 billion, or around $31 per share. The next move on the part of Microsoft is still uncertain, but most experts are betting that this isn´t the last we´ve heard of a takeover. What remains to be seen is how a change of hands will affect those using Yahoo Local.

Finding the perfect keyword is something that anyone involved in local search engine optimization is striving for. What is the perfect keyword? That depends greatly on what you want to do with your website or blog.

Local Search Engine Optimization Keyword Technique One
The first local search engine optimization method is to simply choose the most searched for keyword and try to optimize for that. This can be extremely difficult, if you have a lot of competition. For example, thousands of internet marketers are attempting to rank for the keyword phrase “make money online” and the huge amount of competition ensures that the majority will never reach the first page of Google.

However, if you can rank for your popular keyword, you´ll be raking in the traffic. Local keywords tend to have a little less competition. “Miami deli” will have far fewer websites focused on that keyword phrase than simply “deli”.

Local Search Engine Optimization Keyword Technique Two
Our second local search engine optimization technique focuses specifically on low competition keywords with a good search base. These are ideal keywords, but hard to find. You will often end up with what are called long-tail keyword phrases, like “Miami kosher deli downtown”. The more words included, the more specific the phrase and the less competition there will be. However, you do need to be aware that little competition may mean only one or two people are searching that phrase per day.

Ideally, you want a keyword that has less than 30,000 competitors and at least 200 searches per day. This is the best way to go with local search engine optimization, because you can almost guarantee that you´ll be on the first page if not number one.

While Google may be the biggest player on the block, Yahoo Local is right behind them in terms of local online advertising. With a super easy to use interface, Yahoo Local is rapidly becoming a favorite among internet surfers who are looking for a local business.

There are several ways to find local businesses on Yahoo Local. First, at the top of the of the page, you have a simple search box where your search term can be typed in and then you select a location. Presto! You have a list of related businesses in the area you are looking for.

Yahoo Local also offers maps, clickable tag clouds with hot keywords, events and categories. However, perhaps one of the most useful areas on Yahoo Local is the reviews section. Here, you can read reviews on any of the businesses in the area you are looking at. This benefits both the user and the business (provided you get a good review!). If someone loves the ambiance and lasagna at your Italian restaurant enough to write about it on Yahoo Local, you have a pretty good chance of getting more customers through their review. Likewise, if someone is unhappy with the service, this could dissuade others from dining at your place.

Yahoo Local offers such a range of information for visitors to use, from maps and reviews to ads from the businesses themselves that it is a very valuable tool for local businesses. If you are looking to enter the world of local online advertising, this is a very good place to start.

A new Yahoo Local plug in for Wordpress blogs is available to boost your advertising power. Basically, the plug in adds links to relevant words in your post and readers can then mouse over the links to bring up a map. There are also product link options, but if you are using your local business blog for advertising, that´s a feature you won´t want to use.

The Yahoo! Search Blog announced their newest feature on December 13th:

Writing a good blog post is more than just putting words on paper. It’s also about rounding out ideas, opinions and thoughts with content that supports your statements — be it maps, pictures or links. And sometimes, the hassle of digging up that supporting content is the most painful part. So, to help bloggers address these pain points, we built Yahoo! Shortcuts for Wordpress — a technology that sits in the background and finds and offers content to help build out your post in real-time. Shortcuts lift the burden of finding additional content and integrating it into your posts so that you can focus on the meat — the writing.

Having a map appear whenever you mention a location can be a big help in letting your readers know exactly where you are located and may be one of the best Yahoo local advertising aides yet. For local online advertising, it could prove to be quite useful, since the reader can then click on the image that pops up to see a larger map, allowing them to figure out how to get to you.

As time goes on, we are seeing more and more features available to those investing in local online advertising and Yahoo local advertising options are getting better, despite rumors that the company is struggling. If you run a business blog, you might want to consider using this new plug in.