getlisted.org

I actually was hesitant linking to this site because I didn't feel that getlisted.org was working to it's expectations. I feel it's a great tool and concept but also believe that it's not working to it's full capacity.


If someone wants to see and score how their website listing is coming up in Google Local, BOTWL, Yahoo, and MSN you can use this tool. Be cautious though. I searched for my favorite pizza joint, Atlantis Pizza in Alexandria and found that it is misleading at least for the Yahoo Local portion.


The listing score says zero - I spoke to the owner and yes the Google portion is correct. He never answered and verified the listing when Google sent their postcard after his business was submitted.











Yahoo however is listed
http://search.yahoo.com/search?ei=UTF-8&y=Search&fr=yfp-t-501&p=atlantis+pizza+alexandria&rs=0&fr2=rs-top
They actually have reviews and photos listed as well. This is a conflicting result from the data on Getlisted.org


The search option also can be confusing. If someone starts their search by putting in address and their zip code - it should display the business. Problem is what if there are multiple businesses at that address. There should be a little more upfront to ensure the listing you are clarifying is the exact listing you are presented.

All in All - great concept and the execution needs works. I hope it has some staying power and grows the list of local providers.

Local Search Marketing

As search engines attempt to collect and distribute the world’s data, local listings are becoming more prevalent in search results. Searchers seeking local products and services will often find local business listings at the top of their search engine result pages. In addition, the major search engines are now offer a local component – Google Maps, Yahoo Local, Live Search local and AskCity, for example.

The information posted in these areas is typically collected from a variety of third party resources, but merchants also have the option of feeding store locations to the engines themselves. This is a major step towards the evolution of local search. Third party data is limited to business name, location and phone number. Engines that accept merchant supplied data allow additional attributes like business description, service categories, and brands sold, hours of operations, parking options, etc.. These additional attributes increase the chances for a merchant’s business listing to appear under a wider range of relevant search queries.

It is our job as search marketers to make sure businesses are listed properly and the engines are getting the right data. In the blog posts that follow, I will delve into the important aspects of Local Search and how business - can drive more business without having to spend a your entire marketing budget on improving your search listings.

More to come.