October 12, 2006

Here are comScore’s recent breakdown of Internet Yellow Pages share of the overall market:

Total Yellow Pages Search at 100.0 percent

Yahoo Sites — 23.9 percent
Verizon SuperPages — 20.1 percent
Google Sites –12.5 percent
YellowPages.com –12.0 percent
Time Warner Network –7.7 percent
Local.com –5.9 percent
InfoSpace Network –5.1 percent
DexOnline.com –4.1 percent

Overall, Hitwise or Nielsen might have different numbers at this time. We will know more soon.

comScore says that a little more than one third of the local search volume is coming through Internet Yellow Pages (IYP) sites, which are traditionally stronger leads, than the two-thirds that are coming from the major search engines.

Perhaps more interesting is that there’s apparently substantial overlap in the audiences doing searches on Google, Yahoo, MSN, AOL, Ask.com and those using IYP sites.

Overall, comScore says that about 63 percent of the U.S. market searching population conducted a local search in July 2006, or approx. 105 million users. That’s a combined audience of IYP and search engine users looking for local information, using comScore’s definition of “local search.”

comScore also reported that there were about 68 million IYP users in July, but that of those, only 13 million were not using search engines for local searches. There could be a research question here about why and when users differentiate.

comScore's data also shows that the typical IYP user base was increasing at a rate that is outpacing the overall search market, ie 46 percent when compared to 21 percent.

As a whole, local search is being used as a directory-assistance substitute by about 52 percent of users, who are simply looking for a business phone number or address.

However, about 59 percent of the category of usage in the second quarter was for attractions and entertainment: restaurants, bars, theaters, etc. Another large category was for services at approx. 41 percent of users, according to comScore.

Consistent with other research data, the majority of local search users either contacted a local merchant or paid a visit to that local business' actual physical store or location. However, about 37 percent did make an online contact, emailed or visited the respective Web site.

Source: Search Engine Journal