Yahoo Local’s Got The Look
Yahoo Local has updated its look. I like it.
One thing Yahoo has always done well is support small businesses. What once was a very popular directory has transformed itself into one of the biggest and most popular portals online. Google may have search wrapped up, but Yahoo is leading in services. That’s why it is the most trafficked website online. I believe Yahoo will only get better. Now that Terry Semel is gone and co-founder Jerry Yang is back on top I believe Yahoo will get back to the root of what made it successful in the first place: Good old-fashioned service.
If you are a casual Internet user who makes a few searches here and there, but that isn’t your life, then Yahoo may be the place for you. If you own a small business with a local clientele that you want to market to then Yahoo is definitely your place. I believe Yahoo is positioning itself to become the premier search engine portal for small businesses everywhere. That’s a good thing because Google is quickly becoming the place for corporate giants to go and be found. If Yahoo does become more successful at reaching small business owners and providing them the services they need to succeed online, will that make the Internet more divided?
As far as I’m concerned, that doesn’t matter. A small business can go online and make something of itself at Yahoo Local. And the new look will only make it a more attractive place to set up your marketplace. Can’t wait to see what else Yahoo has coming.
5 Responses to “Yahoo Local’s Got The Look”
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You say that Yahoo is the most trafficked website online. The way everyone talks Google is used in far greater numbers then Yahoo. Which is correct .
Good question Ralph. If you check Alexa you’ll find that Yahoo is ranked No. 1. Google is No. 3.
What’s going on is Google gets the lion’s share of the searches – well more than half. Yahoo is second in terms of search traffic. But most new computers come with Yahoo, AOL, or MSN loaded as the home page on their built-in browsers. New Internet users typically don’t change those settings and most of those users are using Yahoo services, games, IM, Groups, etc. That’s why Yahoo is the most trafficked website online while Google is used most often for searches, many of those by people who make multiple searches in one day.
I agree that yahoo MIGHT have more traffic overall, but would like to see proof of it.
I personally don’t believe google has 60% of the people who search. I believe they have 60% or better of the total number of searches done.
To explain that, here are a couple of questions;
Most web savvy surfers use google. Agree or Disgree?
New users and less technical people are less likely to reset their home page than web savvy surfers or those that own websites. Agree or Disgree?
Surfers that are web savvy or who use the Internet for hours each day, like researchers, those that work online, and those that own websites, do more searches than average users who just go online to make a purchase. Agree or Disgree?
There are more surfers out there who do not work online, own websites, or do research, than there are who do. Agree or Disgree?
If you agree to the statements above, then google cannot be used by more people than msn or yahoo or aol.
If the average surfer only searches once per day, (and I think it is likely even less than that), and the webmasters and other more technical surfers search 10 times per day, (and I think it is likely even more than that,)then google would have to have 10 times the number of searches done to equal the number of people who search at other search engines or directories to be equal to them, let alone have 60% of them.
If they have 60% of the searches that are done, and the 10 to 1 search ratio applies, would google then only have 6% of the people visiting their site?
lol. I’m not a mathametician obviously, but you get the point. Someone who is good at equations may be able to expand on this theory.
I think we need an algorithm to figure out Google searchers’ search patterns. lol
A good question is whether all those preloaded Yahoo URLs are skewing the results – i.e. Yahoo gets a hit every time some user who doesn’t know how to change their default page opens their browser. And by casual observance, there are a lot of those people out there. I mean, Google doesn’t get a hit every time some opens Firefox because the Google search bar is on the page!
In any case, the main point about Google catering to big businesses and Yahoo priming small businesses is interesting. Collectively small businesses have a bigger economic impact domestically and arguably more clout than large companies. So yes, Google will make good money, but after Google has been a round a few years, its sure to lose its luster. Unless it buys Yahoo or vice versa!