Search Engine News :: Optimise Web Sites for Organic Search

Tuesday, March 30, 2004

Mapquest Beta Tests Local Search: "Sponsored links provided by Google appear on the right-hand side of the search results page. Google has been providing these listings to Mapquest since June of 2003 for its maps and driving directions results. Interestingly, Google uses Mapquest to power the mapping features of its own local search offering, now in beta.
Mapquest is competing in an ever-more-crowded field in the local search arena as major players jockey for position in local search, a sector predicted to generate $2.5 billion by 2008, according to The Kelsey Group (TKG) and ConStat Inc. About 25 percent of online buyers seek merchants near their home or work locations, according to TKG and BizRate.com...

In early March, Yahoo! launched SmartView on Yahoo! Maps, giving users an interactive and visual way to search for local content. Less than two weeks later, Google launched its own local search offering.

Mapquest, ranked the number one mapping site and travel site in the U.S. by comScore Media Metrix in early 2004, has offered similar, local search-type tools to users for some time.

Schafer would not say how much usage the tool has had since it launched at the top-right-hand side of the homepage several weeks ago. He did say local search queries are "growing significantly."