YP has made a major push in the past week to become a bigger player in search and to do more to monetize its own search traffic on YP.com, as well as its mobile apps. In the past week the company has made two significant search related announcements.

Last week, YP unveiled ypSearch, a new search platform that is aimed at using YP’s sizable traffic, 80 million monthly visitors, in combination with major search engine traffic to deliver leads to small-business advertisers.

A unique feature of ypSearch will be its ability to fulfill and create search marketing campaigns across both major search engines as well as the core YP.com IYP portal, where ypSearch ad units will be displayed alongside relevant YP.com business listings.

By combining campaign fulfillment and management under a single search marketing platform, operated directly by YP, the company hopes to create greater efficiency in managing portfolio-wide cost-per-lead, as well as within high-traffic advertiser verticals. This will likely allow for margin increases in time, as third-party SEM vendor platforms are taken out of the process, and greater campaign transparency and control are brought in-house.

ypSearch will support campaigns across the major search engines initially (Google, Bing/Yahoo) — but may include other traffic and lead sources in the future.

This week, YP announced ypSearch Marketplace, which is a keyword-bidded local search marketplace that is aimed at pulling major brand messages into local markets. This announcement fits right into the national brands/local targeting theme of BIA/Kelsey’s National conference, taking place later this month in Dallas.

ypSearch Marketplace is the company’s biggest move into the emerging programmatic advertising space. The new platform allows agency and brand advertisers to directly purchase YP ad/search inventory in a similar fashion to other programmatic advertising.

Both announcements fit into some broader theme taking place at YP. One is the movement to own more of the technology that drives the business, and be less reliant on third parties to drive key businesses like search. The second is to make owned and operated traffic a bigger component of search, which of course means better margins for YP.

The company also argues that its owned and operated traffic is also good for advertisers. The company cited data from a study it conducted with comscore showing that people who initiate a search on YP are more influenced by advertising that those who begin a search elsewhere, with 66 percent making a purchase post search, and 61 percent searching for businesses that they saw in an ad.

In a briefing last week with BIA/Kelsey analysts, YP CTO Darren Clark discussed the larger context around these new announcements.

One key point was that YP is now generating much more of its traffic via organic means, rather than via paid search. The company used to be heavily reliant on paid search to bring users to its door.

“We have gotten a lot better at SEO,” Clark told us. “We are much less dependent on SEM.”

As YP launches new platforms to better monetize its own traffic, the company’s sales approach is evolving as well. The sales conversations are increasingly about getting found by ready to buy consumers and on targeting the right audience.

“We are tilting everything toward lead delivery,” Clark said.

BIA/Kelsey’s Abid Chaudhry contributed to this post.

The post YP Makes a Big Push in Search appeared first on BIA/Kelsey - Local Media Watch.

The holy grail of search — and some say the web’s next phase — is natural language search. It was Siri’s unfulfilled promise, Cortana’s ongoing goal, and Google Now’s (sort of) proposition. At its heart is a data science challenge, and that’s where Weotta comes in.

Known in the industry as having the best natural language chops, Weotta has applied it to the sticky, but potentially massive area of local search & discovery. This includes being able to search for “classy Friday night date” and get results in context… not listings with “Friday” in the title (TGI Friday’s… not so classy).

We discuss the ins and outs with Weotta founder and CEO Grant Wernick in the video below. We even get to see it in action with some real life local search comparisons through a live app demo (one of those search results got me out of the dog house later that night). Enjoy.

The post Search, au Naturale: Conference Interview with Weotta appeared first on BIA/Kelsey - Local Media Watch.

In the mobile era, listings are increasingly useless without context. Businesses need to be found via LAT/Long; and they need to shape their business identity using all the tools at their disposal. In recent years, it has gotten even more complex with the addition of social media, content marketing and other channels.

No one has emphasized these realities more than UBL CEO Doyal Bryant. Hence UBL’s newly announced global partnership with MomentFeed, a provider of a digital marketing platform that connects brands and consumers at the local level for top brands ranging from 7-Eleven and Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf to JCPenney and The Home Depot.

Together, UBL and MomentFeed are seeking to establish a new mobile social anchor for business search and discovery. Besides the Enterprise customers both companies are working together on, they will be working with UBL’s SMB channels to integrate social media with its presence and profile management.

BIA/Kelsey talked this week with UBL CEO Doyal Bryant and MomentFeed CEO Robert Blatt to get their perspective on why this partnership will be compelling.

“When we began (several years ago), it was all about the website,” said Bryant, who noted he has already sent “thousands” of customers to MomentFeed. “You built a profile and focused on being found and having it all sync correctly. But it’s changed due to what is happening with social media and fragmentation.” The change has become “core to the business,” he said.

MomentFeed’s Blatt seconded the thought. “It is amazing how much we have moved from the search paradigm of 18-24 months ago,” noted Blatt. “Now search has moved to mobile devices. It has moved off the browser onto the App.”

“Your top priority is suddenly claiming your Google Plus page, and making sure the Facebook Local Page is running, and that there is a place page for each location on your website,” said Blatt. “And that there is accurate and engaging content and interaction for all three places between suppliers and retailers at both the national and local level. That’s the future of digital shop and marketing.”

Blatt feels that MomentFeed’s partnership with UBL allows businesses to get the best of both worlds. They can help businesses “do the job” on Facebook, Google, Foursquare, Instagram, Twitter, Yelp (and soon, Bing), as well as the multitude of listing networks that are often vertical market specific, such as restaurants and travel.

Looking forward, the focus will be on the engagement piece. MomentFeed has taken a lead in turning Instagram into media, for instance. “We let businesses do it, curate it, and then send a follow-up letter,” he said.

Tracking business results via analytics will also be key. It all leads to a linkage between marketing activity and business results, said Blatt. The company will correlate the marketing activity around a location with the revenue and foot traffic at that location.

The post UBL, MomentFeed Partner to Leverage ‘National Local’ appeared first on BIA/Kelsey - Local Media Watch.

In the mobile era, listings are increasingly useless without context. Businesses need to be found via LAT/Long; and they need to shape their business identity using all the tools at their disposal. In recent years, it has gotten even more complex with the addition of social media, content marketing and other channels.

No one has emphasized these realities more than UBL CEO Doyal Bryant. Hence UBL’s newly announced global partnership with MomentFeed, a provider of a digital marketing platform that connects brands and consumers at the local level for top brands ranging from 7-Eleven and Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf to JCPenney and The Home Depot.

Together, UBL and MomentFeed are seeking to establish a new mobile social anchor for business search and discovery. Besides the Enterprise customers both companies are working together on, they will be working with UBL’s SMB channels to integrate social media with its presence and profile management.

BIA/Kelsey talked this week with UBL CEO Doyal Bryant and MomentFeed CEO Robert Blatt to get their perspective on why this partnership will be compelling.

“When we began (several years ago), it was all about the website,” said Bryant, who noted he has already sent “thousands” of customers to MomentFeed. “You built a profile and focused on being found and having it all sync correctly. But it’s changed due to what is happening with social media and fragmentation.” The change has become “core to the business,” he said.

MomentFeed’s Blatt seconded the thought. “It is amazing how much we have moved from the search paradigm of 18-24 months ago,” noted Blatt. “Now search has moved to mobile devices. It has moved off the browser onto the App.”

“Your top priority is suddenly claiming your Google Plus page, and making sure the Facebook Local Page is running, and that there is a place page for each location on your website,” said Blatt. “And that there is accurate and engaging content and interaction for all three places between suppliers and retailers at both the national and local level. That’s the future of digital shop and marketing.”

Blatt feels that MomentFeed’s partnership with UBL allows businesses to get the best of both worlds. They can help businesses “do the job” on Facebook, Google, Foursquare, Instagram, Twitter, Yelp (and soon, Bing), as well as the multitude of listing networks that are often vertical market specific, such as restaurants and travel.

Looking forward, the focus will be on the engagement piece. MomentFeed has taken a lead in turning Instagram into media, for instance. “We let businesses do it, curate it, and then send a follow-up letter,” he said.

Tracking business results via analytics will also be key. It all leads to a linkage between marketing activity and business results, said Blatt. The company will correlate the marketing activity around a location with the revenue and foot traffic at that location.

The post UBL, MomentFeed Partner to Leverage 'National Local' appeared first on BIA/Kelsey - Local Media Watch.

Mobile devices are becoming vital to Canadian consumers when they are searching for local businesses. Brick and mortar foot traffic is increased as a result with 65% of consumers who search on mobile devices going directly to a brick and mortar locations to complete their purchases. Maps are also a key factor for mobile search with 85% of smartphone users finding local map inclusion in search results at least somewhat important. When consumers actually perform a search, 94% of searchers prefer to use mobile browsers over mobile apps.

Social media is key for reviews and recommendations of products and local businesses. Eighty-six percent of respondents reported that ratings and reviews were an important factor for them when making a purchase decision. Consumers not only like to see what other people have to say about products they have used or businesses they have visited, but they also like to provide their own reviews. Thirty-seven percent of respondents said that they were likely to post about a purchase they have made to their social media network.

Here are some other key findings from the Annual Kantar Consumer Search Behavior Study:

— Consumers continue to show greater confidence in “organic search” results over pay for click

— Consumers prefer mobile browsing compatibility over mobile app availability (by a factor of 9)

— 60% of Canadians search for local business information at least once a week (27% at least a few times a week)

— 48% are conducting searches directly through search engines like Bing, Yahoo and FireFox or Google (opposed to searches within company websites or directory listings)

The post Social and Mobile Search Increasingly Important to Canadian Users According to DAC Group appeared first on BIA/Kelsey - Local Media Watch.

Today I had the chance to catch up with GetFugu, a mobile tool applying some of the voice and visual search technologies we’ve examined here over the past few months.

The app, currently in beta for iPhone, BlackBerry and Android, allows users to speak or take pictures of search inputs (video demos here). But unlike the broader search of Google voice and visual (Goggles) search, this is built mostly around brands.

This allows the company to have a more focused user experience, and one that taps into greater commercial intent. It also differs from general search in that it directly feeds users the brand information in its database, instead of landing them on a “10 blue links” results page.

According to VP and cofounder Rich Jenkins, this brand information can range from the company’s corporate Web site to a more varied and dedicated bundle of promotions, video, or localized content. The latter payload is usually reserved for paying advertisers — the basis of its business model.

The company also has an eye on the local space. In addition to reaching brand advertisers, it sees the mobile device’s location capabilities as a natural fit for SMB advertisers. This could include direct sales resources (both internal and via partners) to tackle this massive but elusive segment.

Next steps also include streamlining the clock speed of voice and visual search results, and to integrate a UGC feature for users to add brand logos it doesn’t have. It will also continue to build the app for every major smartphone platform (including the new Windows Phone 7) and J2me.

The proof will be in the usability but the company claims 95 percent accuracy matching photographed logos to correct brands. This could appeal to advertisers that want to reach users when they effectively raise their hand with explicit brand interest. Usage over time is likewise hoped to arm GetFugu with analytics to show advertisers both reach and one-on-one engagement.

But the real question is whether there is a “use case” out there for people to want to raise their hand for brand information. There will have to be a value exchange or motivation to search for a brand. In other words, actionable and/or local offers.

That’s exactly where the company is headed, says Jenkins. Stay tuned for the full product release across mobile platforms over the the next couple of months.

The post GetFugu Brings Eyes and Ears to Mobile Search appeared first on BIA/Kelsey - Local Media Watch.