• by Ross Fadner , June 28, 2004

Yahoo! subsidiary Overture Services, Inc. unveiled a new local search product that will offer small businesses further incentive to allocate their ad dollars online. Called Local Match, the new search product will allow advertisers to target consumers by radius, as opposed to using keywords, and will offer Local Match advertisers a free, hosted Web page containing their brand logos and business contact information.

The new product will enable targeting from a half mile to a 100-mile radius, depending on advertiser preference; it will also support any local targeting parameters--city, state, ZIP, address, or even IP address, according to Overture executives. Overture's local advertisers previously had to buy keywords that incorporated geographic information such as "Chicago Ford dealership."

Geoff Stevens, Overture Local's general manager, said that the Web page hosting feature will primarily benefit smaller businesses and advertisers that don't normally do much business online. He said that each contact page will be branded, and will be designed in accordance with the advertiser. It will include business name, address, phone numbers, payment options, company hours of operation, a Web site link, and a map. This feature comes at no extra charge to the advertiser.

Local Match will be available on Yahoo! Search, and Overture's other existing publishing partner sites: MSN, ESPN.com, MyCity, WebCrawler, MetaCrawler, Dogpile, Switchboard.com, and InfoSpace.com. Local Match is expected to be deployed across the Yahoo! network in the near future, including the Yellow Pages section and its SmartView local maps product.

According to Stevens, publishers will supply Overture with the data, and the targeting parameters. "We're working with our partners to determine the mix, site specifically," he said, adding that "search is not a one size fits all."

Overture, which competes with Google and interactive Yellow Pages providers such as Verizon SuperPages for local advertisers dollars, will work with each of its publishers to provide a customized sponsored listings solution. Overture spokeswoman Gaude Paez noted that rather than selling a product that customers have to adapt to, "[Local Match] is completely customizable; it's not one product," she said.

The Kelsey Group recently found that 25 percent of commercial searches by online consumers today are local in nature--a number that Kelsey program director Greg Sterling said will grow as search sophistication and technologies grow. By 2008, paid search will generate $2.5 billion domestically, according to The Kelsey Group.

Stevens said that Overture will begin marketing the Local Match product independently of its other services. It will use its direct sales force, as well as other marketing resources, to get the word out to local businesses. Stevens said marketing partnerships are a big part of Overture's plan for Local Match, while third parties--including online and print Yellow Pages and newspaper providers--are also being considered. "Our entire business model is based on partnerships," noted Stevens.