Citysearch Revisited

Citysearch

In November 2004, I wrote on how search engines and Internet yellow pages (IYPs) were really starting to work well with each other. Included was a chunk on Citysearch and how their listings were constantly visible in Google search results (also noted in a blog post a couple months back). In fact, the three examples given are still prevalent in Google (and often Yahoo) today:

pizza joints in Seattle
day spa Miami
martini bar Minneapolis

Martini Blu has been a pretty constant result the whole time, which can probably contribute to the over 40 mixed user reviews dating back to October, 2002.

Citysearch hasn’t always been the buzz regarding user-generated media, but they’ve been visible the whole time. The Local Onliner’s Peter Krasilovsky talks with new EVP Scott Morrow about what’s in store for the future.

In a nutshell, we can look forward to a more local look, ramped up editorial efforts, new third party content providers, and a renewed focus on user-generated content.

My nickel is on Citysearch having a very good 2007. They already have the content and visibility. There’s a reason that IAC chairman and CEO Barry Diller says their (content) quality puts everyone else to shame. It’s not because of ask.com.

This entry was posted on October 15, 2006 at 12:48 am and is filed under Citysearch, Local Search, User-Generated Media. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

3 Responses to “Citysearch Revisited”

  1. Chris Dohman Says:
    October 15, 2006 at 3:40 am

    Ask.com may not be on the level of google yet but they are working on some interesting stuff and going in the right direction. I think the main problem of “national” local sites like citysearch is they just don’t quite have a real local feel. The reviews are nice but i don’t get a sense of community or any personality. I guess that still leaves a void in the local market.

  2. Citysearch and Mobile Search « LocalMN Blog Says:
    October 18, 2006 at 12:20 am

    [...] This didn’t take long, although they were already putting the finishing touches on it. Since a recent Citysearch post about an upcoming re-branding effort, they have now launched a new SMS-based mobile search feature. Just text a search term.zipcode (pizza.55401), and send it to CS411 (27411). I just figured they always had something like this. [...]

  3. Insider Pages to be Acquired by Citysearch « LocalMN Blog Says:
    March 1, 2007 at 7:05 pm

    [...] has been very strong in user reviews long before it became popular in search marketing, and is keeping busy so far in 2007 with a new, [...]

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