Transcript INTERNET TECHNOLOGY

INTERNET
TECHNOLOGY
Innovations in Local Search
How people find local information online
Andrew Connery, Managing Director of Your Online Community Pty. Ltd.
Introduction
• Most locals use a global search engine
• Information is provided indirectly by a human
edited directory
• Local directory-type search queries are usually
only two keywords
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Domain Size
• Search engines index all web pages by matching
keywords
• A search engine creates a SERP comprising all
web pages indexed in descending order of
importance (PR)
SERP = Search Engine Results Page. Is the listing of web pages returned
by a search engine in response to a query.
PR = PageRank. The way that Google measures the relative importance
of a website. PR 0 - PR 1 is average, and PR 10 is the most important.
EXAMPLE
As at January 2009
• Google indexes 4,170,000 web pages with the
keyword ‘wollongong’
• Google indexes 443,000,000 web pages with the
keyword ‘golf’
• BUT only indexes 212,000 web pages with the
keywords ‘wollongong’ and ‘golf’
• AND indexes 211,000 web pages with the keywords
‘golf’ and ‘wollongong’
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Domain size
• When searching locally, the domain sizes involved are
relatively small – hundreds of thousands of web pages
versus tens or hundreds of millions
• Page ranking algorithms originally developed to
sift through millions of indexed web pages become
biased towards non-local websites
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Domain size
• Most locals try to access information about their area
using a global search engine (Google, Yahoo etc) first,
rather than a locally based web page or an online
directory / community portal
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The role of Directories
• Current local search is the dominated by
directory listings
• Nearly all the critical first page (usually 10 listings)
of Google Search Engine Results Pages (SERP)
observed show no standalone websites
TABLE A – Google SERP
Using keywords ‘abrasive blasting Parramatta’
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The role of Directories
• AussieWeb, Yellow Book ranking above
SMARTPAGES shows Google’s preference for
longer established and/or higher ranking directories,
despite lack of relevant content
TABLE B – AussieWeb
Note: Top position, 1 listing (PR5)
TABLE C – Yellow Book
Note: Second position, 1 listing (PR3)
TABLE D – SMARTPAGES.com.au
Note: Third position, 15 listings (No Rank)
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Role of Directories
• This domination of SERP results by large players
is a reflection of the ‘rich get richer’ factor so readily
observed in traditional media
• This is at odds with the supposed egalitarianism
of the internet:
“Uniquely democratic Google Technology official literature 2004”
TABLE E – Human edited directories, typicals PRs
International
PR 9
Wikipedia
National
PR 4-8
Business Directories
Local
PR 1-3
Business Directories
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TABLE F: Comparison of PageRanks
DO: DIRECTORY ONLY, DR: DIRECTORY AND REVIEW, CD: COMMUNITY PLUS DIRECTORY
#
DIRECTORY
PR
TYPE
AREA
1
Yellow Pages
8
DO
National
2
True Local
8
DO
National
3
Anzwers
7
DO
National
4
MyLocal nineMSN
6
DO
National
5
Hot Frog
5
DO
National
6
Start Local
6
DO
National
7
Community Guide
6
DO
National
8
Street-directory.com.au
6
DO
National
9
Aussie Web
5
DO
National
10
dLook
5
DO
National
11
BigRoo.com
5
DO
National
12
NiO
5
CD
Wollongong
13
Local.com.au
4
DO
National
14
ngd
4
DO
National
15
Our Patch
4
CD
National
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TABLE F: Comparison of PageRanks
DO: DIRECTORY ONLY, DR: DIRECTORY AND REVIEW, CD: COMMUNITY PLUS DIRECTORY
#
DIRECTORY
PR
TYPE
AREA
16
EnterpriseSearch
5
DO
National
17
Wollongong-exchange.com.au
4
DO
National
18
Local Business Guide
4
DO
National
19
WoMow.com.au
4
DO
National
20
atozpages
5
DO
National
21
Business Directories Australia – Nationwide
4
DO
National
22
Yellow Book
4
DO
National
23
Rave about it
2
DR
National
24
Yalwa
2
DO
National
25
SMARTPAGES.com.au
2
CD
Wollongong
26
Directory4U - Sutherland Shire
2
DO
Sutherland
27
TheGong.com.au
2
DO
Wollongong
28
LocalStore.com.au
1
DO
National
Limitations and biases
• Search engines index (compile) web pages in
a number of ways
• The most important factor is the use of keywords
in the URL and Title
• This factor virtually guarantees that directories appear
above standalone web pages
Search first page only
• Nearly 70% of all searchers do not go past the first
page of SERPs
• About 15% continue to the third page
• The order of keywords can also negatively impact the
quality of search finding (order in SERP)
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Location as second keyword
• A search engine would prefer to use a post or zip code
as a location reference for indexing purposes
• Users find these numbers non-intuitive
• Users do not limit their search to a small area and
much prefer to make their choices from a larger
selection, within easy driving distance
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Location as second keyword
• Directory advertisers want to reach the maximum
number of potential customers
• The critical minimum viable size of a local directory
is yet to be determined
• A number of approaches have been attempted in this
country, and the optimum solution has yet to emerge
• Community based directories do have some natural
advantages
PageRank (PR)
• A high PR web page will appear on the SERP above
a low ranking website with more relevant and/or
unique content
• A Wikipedia (PR9) related web page will nearly
always dominate a SERP
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Content issues
• The quality (comprehensiveness and freshness) and
number of relevant listings within a directory is not
currently used as a determinant of PageRank, when
indexed by Google and other search engines
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Content issues
• Internationally based directories with very small
numbers of relevant listings usually rank higher on
SERPs than more comprehensive local directories
• This factor is a major impediment to improving the
quality of local search, which currently does not match
the standard of global search
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Other factors
• Recent innovations in local search such as mapping,
Google ‘street scenes’ has:
1. increased the mix in favour of paid placement; and
2. reduced the area available for organic / natural
listings on the critical first page of SERPs
• Searchers hardly ever use advanced searching
options and almost never view more than one page
of results
TABLE G – Pew Life Project & others (2004)
SERP
Web searchers
All Page 1
51%
All Page 2
35%
All Page 3
15%
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Other factors
• Spelling mistakes and non-grammatical formulations
• Unless listings appear in the first three pages of
SERPs, they are virtually invisible
• 80% of searches use three keywords or fewer and the
average is only two
Local search bias
• High PR websites will jump lower ranked websites
with proper keyword domain names
• Using the default web search button ‘.com’ domains
also skew results unfavourably
• Wikipedia has a Page Rank of 9/10 (PR9) virtually
guaranteeing a top spot on single keyword search
and ranking very highly on most multiple keyword
local search queries
TABLE H – The URL Anomaly
Searching for keyword ‘tlc’ a local training organisation
• Wikipedia PR9 is the top link
www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TLC (the band).
Top listing plus Indent
• Discovery Channel is second using a sub-domain,
PR7 – www.tlc.discovery.com
• Third is Trinity Lutheran College, PR4 –
www.tlc.qld.edu.au/
• Tender Loving care homes, www.tlchomes.com.au
is fourth with a PR4
• Tlc (tender loving cuisine) is fifth with PR4,
www.tlc.org.au
• www.tlc.com.au PR2 is the second entry on second
page – on ‘the web’ radio button, ie the default
• www.tlc.com.au is a perfect keyword match and
should have been No.1 spot (using a PC with
Australian IP address)
• NOTE: www.tlc.com.au is second from bottom of
Page 1 when using ‘pages from Australia’ search
radio button