Marchex Acquires Open List Assets

In an attempt to beef up its direct navigation Web sites, Marchex has acquired key assets of local business search engine Open List, including the technology that powers a system for aggregating user-generated content. Marchex paid $6 million cash and $7 million in stock for the technology; in addition, Open List's former chief technology officer will join Marchex.

Greg Sterling, principal analyst of Sterling Marketing Intelligence, said the acquisition will bolster Marchex's direct navigation properties--sites with URLs that derive from keywords rather than brand names, such as www.lasvegasvacations.com, www.90210.com, www.newyorkdining.com, www.frenchrestaurants.com, and www.chicagoluxuryhotels.com. "It's more interesting than it may appear, because Open List has a methodology to local search that's very sophisticated," he said. "It really puts the meat on the bone to those direct navigation sites that Marchex has--which are, otherwise, just a bunch of advertisers and not much else."

Founded in 2003, Open List collects user reviews from around the Web and aggregates them into Zagats-like hybrid reviews.

Sterling added that Marchex potentially can beef up its sites with Open List's reviews. "What this does immediately is--it gives them some real content to put on those sites, and it gives them some other things to offer their partners," Sterling said. "Instantly, a newspaper or a Yellow Pages company who might want to work with Marchex and want some user-generated content might get that content delivered to them as part of the deal."

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