People find Business Directories to be a complete business reference in a particular area while not every business is displayed in Search Engines
We've been using Yellow Pages directories since 1888 and everyone is familiar with the search categories 57% of all buyers used Internet Yellow Pages in the past year to locate local businesses to help them decide. Internet Yellow Pages are in the top 5 category of all Internet Searches.
The dividing line is though a business may be listed in a Search Engine, they may not be displayed as a result from a search depending on the keywords that were used by the person doing the search. Search Engines results are not necessarily relevant.
There are various industry advisories that pertain to "yellow pages" advertising issued by different Attorney General from different states, the combination of the words "yellow pages" and "General" in that order or different sequences are displayed from searches about the General Yellow Pages but they do not constitute any form of prejudice towards our firm.
Online business directories are known as IYP or Internet yellow pages. All providers of IYP offer online advertising.
According to several reports the search term "yellow pages" was in the top 5 highest revenue generator of all search terms in Google's AdWords program in 2010. Experian/Hitwise reported in January 2011 that the search term "yellow pages" was one of the top 50 search terms across all search engines and all search terms (millions of search terms). This makes "yellow pages" one of the most searched for things on the Internet. These facts indicate that people are using search engines such as Google, Bing, Yahoo, and others for local phone books.
The users of Internet yellow pages have the same intent as the users of print yellow pages. This produces a high quality lead, much like the print phone book, because the user is usually only deciding who to buy the product or service from, not whether or not to make a purchase.
The Local Search Association released an online search usage study in June 2011. In their study of US consumers on how they find local businesses. 57% had used an Internet yellow pages in the past year. 58% had used a newspaper and 74% used a print phone book and 76% used a search engine. This indicates that buyers use multiple sources to locate a local business.
In 2009, Burke, a media research organization released a "Local Media Tracking Survey". A couple of highlights of the study found that users of Internet yellow pages reported that 36% of the time they used an IYP they made a purchase (more than 1 out of 3 leads purchased something) and an additional 44% had intentions of making a purchase. This equates to 80% that are ready to buy.
Small businesses are finding as the Internet is evolving that Internet yellow pages (Phonebooks) are easier to understand than search engine advertising. Search engine advertising has many complications and is always subject to changing algorithms, which can cause frustration to small businesses. SEO professionals tend to like the constant changing of the way search engines return results, it is good for their business. Search engines, as of now have no loyalty or seniority placement programs available to their advertisers, unlike Internet yellow pages. Placement is based upon the highest bid on a daily basis in many cases. This requires a lot more attention than most small business owners have to spend on their advertising.
It takes many keywords and search terms to cover a small businesses' "category" or "heading" for search engines. Internet yellow pages allow a small business to advertise locally and target his audience with single self-explanatory categories that most people are familiar with such as "attorney" or "florist" or "plumbing".
It was reported by Borrell and Associates (a media research group) in March 2012 that online directories have a 12.6% share of the $19 billion local online advertising pie. This is one of the largest shares of the local online advertising revenue out of all options for small businesses.
IYP offers listings differently than standard search engines. Where search engines return results based on relevancy to the true search term, IYP returns results based on a geographic area.
Studies by independent companies such as Nielson and comScore have shown that Internet yellow pages have a smaller percentage of total Internet searches, 85% of all Internet searches, occur on the major search engines Google, Yahoo and Bing. These search engines also provide yellow page business listings as a part of their search results. Keeping in mind that when searches for celebrity's, sexual topics and any other topic that one can imagine are the largest search volume of all things across all search engines - it stands to reason that the results are skewed.
When people do search on IYP's, they appear ready to buy something locally.
Many Internet yellow pages are saved to favorites on PC's and Laptops or are accessed through mobile applications on tablet Computers or Smart Phones. If they were found on a search engine by an individual searching for "yellow pages" then, many times the user will save the site to their favorites and the user will never use the search engine again to visit the saved to favorites site. After they have saved them to their favorites, they will access the Internet yellow pages site as what is known as "direct navigation".
When a user performs a search for a local source of a product or a service from a search engine, the results will include results published by IYPs. Often, the results that are displayed by the search engine contains the necessary information such as addresses and phone numbers, even with mapped locations. Such that the user will not have the necessity to link to the Internet yellow pages publication that is providing the information. The publication is still used to influence a purchasing decision in a way intangible to measure.
Most users of the Internet navigate their own personal computers via "direct navigation"- using their favorites. This is why search engine usage is for research and Internet yellow pages are for local shopping and buying, much like their print counterparts.
Advertising on IYP is typically available with numerous a la carte choices. These choices become small "individual sales presentations" which makes it easier for sales reps to sell large advertising packages.
The new version of IYP is classified as a local search directory which provides content with the added ability to refine the search to find the needed service. The new search engine now prioritizes local businesses in its results rather than the results being dominated by regional or national companies. All services offer paid advertising options which typically offer preferred placement on search results pages.
People access the generalyellowpages.com to decide who to buy from - not whether or not to buy.Over 80% of people who access the generalyellowpages.com end up making a purchase - that is 36% right away and another 44% buy at a later time. Internet Yellow Pages are in the top 5 category of all Internet searches. People prefer Business Directories searches over Search Engines, not everyone can be found from the search line. The way Search Engines return results changes constantly, that's why marketing professionals still prefer Internet Yellow Pages. Did you know 57% of buyers used Internet Yellow Pages in the past year to locate local businesses? It takes many unfamiliar keywords to cover a business to be found in a search engine while everyone are familiar with the generalyellowpages.com categories. Search Engines return results based on relevancy to the search term while IYPs return results on geographic areas.