The Yellow Pages Association released the results of a study with comScore that supports the idea that despite lower traffic volumes, IYP users are more "ready to buy" and spend more than their Web search counterparts.
We haven't independently looked at the spending claims, but the findings confirm what we've been saying about the quality …

Modeled on BellSouth’s "Real Search Engine Solutions," which offers simplified search-engine marketing (SEM) to local businesses based on subscription pricing, SBC Yellow Pages and YellowPages.com are introducing the same product in their respective markets. Called "SBC Search Engine Solutions" and "YPclicks!" respectively, the search traffic packages are supported and facilitated by TrafficLeader technology. TrafficLeader …

Reading some of the recent Kelsey Group blogs reinforces this concern. Companies declare strong earnings but plummet because their guidance does not meet Wall Street expectations. Yahoo! and Google are offering evermore sophisticated search opportunities, and only industry experts can figure out how to take advantage of the new services. You wonder whether these behemoths …

eBay grows 44% and its stock sees a big decline. Huh?
Now InfoSpace, whose profits tripled and generally beat analysts' estimates, lost nearly 19% of its stock value. What?
Google and Yahoo! have performed so well over the past several quarters that their remarkable growth has become a kind of benchmark for other Internet stocks. …

Right on the heels of Google's My Search History, Yahoo! Launches a better, simplified version of its earlier Web search personalization tool "My Search" — now called My Web.
Here's the official release.
A considerable advance over Yahoo!'s previous "My Search," it's more "robust" (I hate using that term) than Google's simpler …

Speaking to the American Society of Newspaper Editors in Washington, Ruppert Murdoch faulted the industry for having been "remarkably, accountably complacent" about new technologies, including the Internet. In Frank Barnako's Internet Daily Report in MarketWatch, Murdoch is quoted as saying, "I suspect many of you in this room were quietly hoping this thing called the …

I got back late Saturday night from a week visiting family on the East Coast to discover I was on the eve of our Drilling Down event without enough shirts, etc. for the conference — I had neglected to take in my dry cleaning/laundry prior to leaving the previous week.
(This isn't gratuitous self-disclosure, there's …

Himmelstein reiterates his view of Internet Derived Yellow Pages (IDYP) and where he believes the broader local search space is headed. He underscores the social and technological drivers behind the momentum. It's a nice mix of technical and strategic information.
More on Himmelstein.
TKG Clients can read a recent interview that elaborates on some of …

At AD-TECH in San Francisco, I spoke with IMPAQT CEO Richard Hagerty, who demonstrated for me the company's "Intelligent Landing Page."
It can sit behind any paid search ad (both a strength and a weakness). When users click through, they go to this landing page, which can be loaded with rich media and other potential …

Yahoo! has established a partnership with Corel, the maker of MS Office Alternative WordPerfect. Yahoo! has added several pieces of functionality to the software and Corel will help Yahoo! market services (e.g., domain registration and Web hosting) to its SME customer base.
This is interesting as one more channel for Yahoo! into the small business …

At AD-TECH in San Francisco, I spoke with IMPAQT CEO Richard Hagerty, who demonstrated for me the company's "Intelligent Landing Page."
It can sit behind any paid search ad (both a strength and a weakness). When users click through, they go to this landing page, which can be loaded with rich media and other potential …

Last quarter, Google declared in its SEC 10-K filing that it was a "media company":
“We began as a technology company and have evolved into a software, technology, Internet, advertising and media company all rolled into one.”
Indeed. In launching Site Targeting, newly announced enhancements to its AdSense/AdWords programs (site selection, graphical ads, CPM pricing), it …

Google built out a massive traffic and advertising network in part by syndicating its search box to thousands of sites across the Internet. The emerging local search market is challenged by the need for critical mass — there's volume, but it's all fragmented and distributed to many many local sites.
Now comes local search syndication …

Google's early attempt at search personalization was a real dog. With "My Search History" the company is much closer to getting it right.
Lots and lots has already been written about it:

Search Engine Watch article
AP News Story
CNet Article
It's integrated into the Google search interface and results page (once you've registered/signed in) and it indicates your …

Yahoo! has partnered with U.S. retail giant Target to allow consumers later this year to manage/order prints online and pick them up at a local Target store. This closes the loop for Yahoo!'s photo site (Yahoo! just purchased Flickr) and extends it into the physical world.
That benefits Yahoo! in a couple of ways; it's …

At Drilling Down, Hearst's Lincoln Millstein mentioned a seminal article in his great keynote yesterday — a wired piece discussing the so-called "Long Tail."
In search, the tail is ultimately where the volume is. But it's also a long-term proposition and the most challenging area to address, from both a consumer and an SME-advertiser standpoint. …

I'm bogged down — I mean delightfully engaged — here at our conference and so have been unable to comment on the range of stories of interest that have come out over the past couple of days. But Yahoo!'s earnings were striking. I'll write more about this and other developments in the next 24 hours. …

In a move that surely represents the beginning of a broader, European expansion of Google's local strategy, Google Local UK has launched with results from Yell.com.
The look and feel are the same as Google Local in the U.S., except that Keyhole mapping is not part of the offering at this time. Eddie Cheng, eBusiness …

The NYPost reported that the Wall Street Journal's online edition was for the first time more profitable than its print edition — big news. What are the takeaways?
This development reflects the increasing trend/preference for getting news online vs. traditional print. But don't look for papers generally to be able to duplicate what WSJ Online …

It's smart for newspapers such as the Tribune Co.'s LA Times, the Denver Post and the UK's Guardian to set up branded RSS readers that allow their content to be read/received along with other news sources.
However, the strategy is essentially defensive, given that newspaper sites are in danger of being marginalized over time …