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How Do the Yellow Pages Still Make Money?

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Re: How Do the Yellow Pages Still Make Money?

#31

Post by jakejake »

drewg123 wrote: post #20

I've tried and failed to get my house excluded from their distribution. They hire a bunch of low wage people to just toss one on the lawn/porch of every house, and don't seem to pay any attention to the houses that have asked to not get one. This irks me because, when I travel on business, having one of these sitting on my porch is a nice indication that I haven't been home all week, so please rob me. You can stop yo…

I live in a small condo building with 35 units. We have two separate yellow pages companies leave nearly a pallet full of books at our place. I'm talking like 200+ pounds of paper.

Nobody in our building wants them, they go straight in our recycle bin. We have tried many times to get off of their list. I would love to know how to report them for littering or something. I hate these companies!

Re: How Do the Yellow Pages Still Make Money?

#33

Post by Kluny »

michael_h wrote: post #25
wvenable wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Did you actually try this? I just searched for a Vancouver business, the name of which I'm not exactly sure of, to find the hours. The yellowpages site didn't find the business at all but it was the first result in Google with direct links to their website, a map, and the closing time was listed right in the search results. It turns out I did get the business name slightly wrong. Ironically, the 4th link on the page…

I've found the business metadata (hours of operation, address, etc) that Google puts into the search results extremely unhelpful. The hours of operation and phone number, in particular, are very rarely correct for me. Most of the time, the address will be correct, but not always (when I search for my doctor's practice, the address is listed as 'Blvd.'). ...but even with that, I'm still not going to yellopages.com. I'…

This info is usually self-reported by the business. If they don't have someone assigned to the job of making sure Google is up to date with their hours, it often won't happen. My company (a small web host that works with mostly local businesses) has a Google specialist whose job is about 70% keeping our client's metadata up to date with Google.

Re: How Do the Yellow Pages Still Make Money?

#34

Post by gbhn »

imglorp wrote: post #30
jonknee wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In a just world that would be considering littering, but somehow they get away with it.

I've wondered about filing a criminal complaint against them, if I could find out who is doing the delivery.

The article addresses this: some cities attempted laws against YP deliveries, but they were thrown out on free speech grounds.

Re: How Do the Yellow Pages Still Make Money?

#35

Post by kazinator »

michael_h wrote: post #25
wvenable wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Did you actually try this? I just searched for a Vancouver business, the name of which I'm not exactly sure of, to find the hours. The yellowpages site didn't find the business at all but it was the first result in Google with direct links to their website, a map, and the closing time was listed right in the search results. It turns out I did get the business name slightly wrong. Ironically, the 4th link on the page…

I've found the business metadata (hours of operation, address, etc) that Google puts into the search results extremely unhelpful. The hours of operation and phone number, in particular, are very rarely correct for me. Most of the time, the address will be correct, but not always (when I search for my doctor's practice, the address is listed as 'Blvd.'). ...but even with that, I'm still not going to yellopages.com. I'…

> I'll just search for it and get it directly from their website.

Ah, but not all businesses have a website though. Of those that do, not all have a website that is ranked on the first page of a Google result.

Ahead of the real thing are spam pages with junk info, many of which are deliberately designed to look as if they might be the official website.

Re: How Do the Yellow Pages Still Make Money?

#36

Post by Splines »

These days I use Google Maps scoped to my neighbourhood and do a search that way. Trying to do the same with web search is an exercise in frustration.

The one nice thing about the yellow pages is that it does provide a results filter, in that you're going to find local businesses willing to pay money to show up in a book.

Having a filter for "serious, local-only businesses" is a useful thing to have. IMO online yellow pages doesn't have that. Yelp and the like are sort of close but their UI and search-locality aren't as tight as they should be to serve this purpose.

Re: How Do the Yellow Pages Still Make Money?

#37

Post by jonknee »

gbhn wrote: post #34
imglorp wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've wondered about filing a criminal complaint against them, if I could find out who is doing the delivery.

The article addresses this: some cities attempted laws against YP deliveries, but they were thrown out on free speech grounds.

That would be a novel defense of littering... Free speech should not mean you can throw 1000 pages of ads on my stoop.

Re: How Do the Yellow Pages Still Make Money?

#38

Post by 27182818284 »

I've seen people use the Yellow Pages as a filter before. For example, a website doesn't take too long to get up these days with templates, but a two-page color ad in the yellow pages costs thousands of dollars. If you can afford the Yellow Pages ad, you're also likely insured, etc. I personally do not use them, and I recycle them when they're delivered.

Re: How Do the Yellow Pages Still Make Money?

#39

Post by gohrt »

kazinator wrote: post #12
jbob2000 wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What's funny about your comment is that yellow pages uses google search and maps to compile it's results. Why not skip the cruft and go right to the original source?

Which yellow pages where? Yellow pages isn't a specific company; it's a kind of floating trademark that exists in different ways in different countries and regions. My comment was specifically about yellowpages.ca that I have here in Canada. > Why not skip the cruft and go right to the original source? That depends on whether the compiling that you're skipping provides value. Why skip the gas station cruft and refine…

Aside, that's not true, in many jurisdictions. US tax authorities chase down and collect money from biodiesel users who don't pay the fueltax.
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