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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?

#21

Post by wilkenm »

at-fates-hands wrote: post #15
function_seven wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I just did two identical searches in google.com and yp.com, and the results I got on yp were entirely different than those on google, and more numerous. yp.com has a ton of listings directly submitted to them. They may use Google as one of many data sources, but they're by no means the original source.

This is one way YP.com is transitioning to more online marketing. They have started to bundle their yp.com offerings with their print offerings. If you buy a print ad, you can get a cut on the .com ad and placement depending on how much you're spending. I also noticed yp.com has the first 8-10 listings are paid ads, which go right below the fold. If you don't scroll down, you'd never notice the non-paid listings. It'…

That's actually the opposite direction of where they're moving. yp.com has little, if any, relation to the print business.

Re: How Do the Yellow Pages Still Make Money?

#22

Post by josephjrobison »

debacle wrote: post #13

I used to work in agency media and one of the reasons I got out was because these companies are starting to cannibalize that industry pretty heavily. They'll put a half-page ad up for $500 a month, but then also cover all of your digital media (advertising, website, making sure you're on Places and whatever then Bing equivalent is) for free. They're nailing down these companies who see the web work as a value add for…

Absolutely - one business I work with is essentially paying YP $900 a month to run a $300 a month AdWords campaign. They throw in a bunch of other "premium YP listing" but analytics shows no more than 12 referrals from YellowPages.

Re: How Do the Yellow Pages Still Make Money?

#23

Post by jonknee »

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…

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

Re: How Do the Yellow Pages Still Make Money?

#24

Post by wilkenm »

jbob2000 wrote: post #5
kazinator wrote: post #2

Try looking for some business with Google, and then a Yellow Pages search engine (like the Canadian one: yellowpages.ca). Dig through reams of spam, irrelevant references, review sites with misleading info, and non-local results? or scroll through nothing but business names and links? No contest. Just to find the opening hours of some business can be a hassle with a search engine.

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?

That might be an apt description of 3rd tier clickbait 'yellowpages' sites. But the more prominent ones spend large sums of money buying and aggregating data feeds.

Re: How Do the Yellow Pages Still Make Money?

#25

Post by michael_h »

wvenable wrote: post #17
kazinator wrote: post #2

Try looking for some business with Google, and then a Yellow Pages search engine (like the Canadian one: yellowpages.ca). Dig through reams of spam, irrelevant references, review sites with misleading info, and non-local results? or scroll through nothing but business names and links? No contest. Just to find the opening hours of some business can be a hassle with a search engine.

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

Re: How Do the Yellow Pages Still Make Money?

#28

Post by jandrese »

gk_brown wrote: post #6
kazinator wrote: post #2

Try looking for some business with Google, and then a Yellow Pages search engine (like the Canadian one: yellowpages.ca). Dig through reams of spam, irrelevant references, review sites with misleading info, and non-local results? or scroll through nothing but business names and links? No contest. Just to find the opening hours of some business can be a hassle with a search engine.

Things may have changed recently, but online YP searches have typically been just as frustrating. Most of the time, the top search results are paid promotions nowhere near me and sometimes not even relevant to my search.

I love when you do a search for a service (like a Plumber) "in your area" and the first result is some bozo who paid extra for higher listings but is 100 miles away. And of course the ad doesn't tell you where he is, so you get to call and find out that they aren't going to drive that far to fix a leak.

Re: How Do the Yellow Pages Still Make Money?

#29

Post by numair »

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…

Have you ever considered talking to your neighbors?

Re: How Do the Yellow Pages Still Make Money?

#30

Post by imglorp »

jonknee wrote: post #23
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…

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.
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