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We spent a lot of time in 2010 discussing Google and its would-be rivals in the search arena, and it looks like 2011 will bring more of the same. Despite some hiccups in its attempt to dominate the local search market, Google is still the biggest target for those looking to make waves. One contender with an interesting new twist is local advertising technology company Yext which has just released a feature called Yext Tags. According to a company press release, Yext has partnered with several major local search sites — “MapQuest, Citysearch, Superpages.com, Yellowbook and others” — for this project which will allow subscribers to customize and instantly update a highlighted message that accompanies their business listing in the organic search results of these sites. The company argues that this will allow businesses to centralize control of their message (updates through Yext will appear instantly at each of the partner sites) and to increase traffic by promoting their message in organic search results rather than in the “less trafficked” paid listings.
Yext’s service is not unique — in fact, it resembles Google’s recently released Places features. But Yext is addressing two apparent weaknesses in Google’s product. First, as stated in their promotional video, managing a paid search advertising service can be difficult and time-consuming. Second, it is argued that people tend to pay more attention to the organic listings than the paid or sponsored ones at a search site. Paid listings are attractive because they allow businesses to carefully manage their message. Unlike most organic search results listings, they are highly customizable and can be updated instantly. Yext’s new offering is an attempt to add these benefits of paid listings into the regular, unpaid results listings (but at a cost, of course).
Google is not yet listed among Yext’s partners, and the company resists suggestions that it is involved in an “anti-Google alliance.” But Yext tags, if available through Google, would clearly compete with Google’s own, highly profitable advertising marketplace. On the other hand, the potential benefits of Yext tags can only be realized if a searcher sees the organic listing — something entirely dependent on the search engine in which it is listed. Unlike a paid service, a subscriber to Yext has no control over placement on the page. Whether or not the nature of location-based search results offsets this disadvantage remains to be seen.
More on the web:
“Yext Launches Yext Tags - Offers Local Businesses Ability to Highlight Their Listing in Organic Search Results for First Time Ever,” PRNewswire (1/3/2011).
Yext Tags Free Trial @ Yext.com
Adrianne Jeffries, “NY-Based Yext Launches League of Advertisers That Are Not Google,” The New York Observer (1/3/2011).
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