Nacho
10-25-2004, 11:17 PM
I have done a few test with Yahoo! Local (http://local.yahoo.com/) and have found a few interesting things, but nothing is confirmed - just testing and thinking out loud:
1) Index. Needs a lot of work, but big enough to start, so I give it a B-. Some the data clolected for this index comes from InfoUSA, other from its crawler (imagine it's Slurp) and some of it from LocalMatch (http://www.content.overture.com/d/USm/ays/lm.jhtml) (Overture).
2) Relevancy. Right now it gets a B+. You get what you want, but if I'm looking for Pizza in La Jolla, CA I would like to have the top 10 be the actual top 10. I understand this is not possible today, but something we should all watch out for down the road as I explained before (http://forums.searchenginewatch.com/showthread.php?p=14916#post14916). Adding a rating (like shown here (http://local.yahoo.com/results;_ylt=AtMPthOaI844p2MM8hQ7NCGHNcIF;_ylu=X3o DMTBtbGZ2dXFpBF9zAzk2NjEzNzY3BHNlYwNzZWFyY2g-?stx=pizza&csz=La+Jolla%2C+CA+92037&fr=zerorp-local-srchweb) for a pizza query) seemed to boost a little bit of the ranking, but did not take it all the way to #1, when it used to be farther down in ranking. Specially when looking at #7 (Domino's Pizza) with 2 stars is not being bumped up. So don't try to spam it, because it will not do you any good. Please keep this clean for the good of all of us consumers.
3) Left Navigation and "Refine Results" gets an A+. Bravisimo! This was brilliantly thought out and it gives me options to start making decisions to further personalize my search.
4) Results. Visually, it's very appealing and easy to navigate give it an A.
5) Features. Stuff like View results on a Map (http://local.yahoo.com/mapview;_ylt=ArFLZUyPy5gxP6OGSeR2QoiHNcIF;_ylu=X3o DMTBxMjM0M2ZpBF9zAzk2NjEzNzk0BHNlYwNtYXByZXN1bHRz? stx=pizza&fr=zerorp-local-srchweb&city=La+Jolla&state=CA&zip=92037&uzip=92037&radius=5&dma=825&county=San+Diego&approxSpelling=&probability=10&fmap=65011160&csz=La+Jolla%2C+CA+92037&sortby=topresults&begin=1&n=10&ed=vN1qV6131Dx9n.i8HXElEOVJzXYdsxtuHLe1trHEG4j9yg--) and "Find Nearby" is OUTSTANDING!!! Give the guy who thought about that a raise. The "Search the Web for "Sammy's Woodfired Pizza in La Jolla, CA" as shown in the result tested was not exactly what I was hoping for. However, it would have been great if they could have added the "sammy s woodfired pizza near La Jolla CA", so that I could see another option with the same brand name or search query related. There are other features like Add to address Book, Print this Page, Send to a Friend, Driving Directions and Help that are good to have as well.
6) Information. The content provided is great, give it an A as well. This also includes the user reviews. Perhaps down the road they can combine this information with official 3rd party authority surveys, reservation modules (potential partnership opportunity with OpenTable.com (http://www.opentable.com/home.asp) or similar - heads up ;) ) waiting time and you name it..... for restaurants of course. For other businesses, it might be other relevant data that the consumer really needs to make decisions.
7) Areas for Improvement. I would imagine that a search for a phone number plus city + state in local.yahoo.com should bring back to me the right business I'm looking for. Well, a couple searches (example 1 (http://local.yahoo.com/results;_ylt=Apbu8KDz8qucL043DHPFRpyGNcIF;_ylu=X3o DMTBtbGZ2dXFpBF9zAzk2NjEzNzY3BHNlYwNzZWFyY2g-?stx=866+628+5543&csz=Houston%2C+TX) and example 2 (http://local.yahoo.com/results;_ylt=Apbu8KDz8qucL043DHPFRpyHNcIF;_ylu=X3o DMTBtbGZ2dXFpBF9zAzk2NjEzNzY3BHNlYwNzZWFyY2g-?stx=858+459-0577&csz=La+Jolla%2C+CA&fr=zerorp-local-srchweb)) is enough for me that this needs improvement, specially since a web search (http://search.yahoo.com/bin/search?p=858+459-0577+La+Jolla%2C+CA&fr=zerorp-local-srchweb) is able to do the trick.
That's it for me. Feel welcome to give your first test drive.
Saludos!
1) Index. Needs a lot of work, but big enough to start, so I give it a B-. Some the data clolected for this index comes from InfoUSA, other from its crawler (imagine it's Slurp) and some of it from LocalMatch (http://www.content.overture.com/d/USm/ays/lm.jhtml) (Overture).
2) Relevancy. Right now it gets a B+. You get what you want, but if I'm looking for Pizza in La Jolla, CA I would like to have the top 10 be the actual top 10. I understand this is not possible today, but something we should all watch out for down the road as I explained before (http://forums.searchenginewatch.com/showthread.php?p=14916#post14916). Adding a rating (like shown here (http://local.yahoo.com/results;_ylt=AtMPthOaI844p2MM8hQ7NCGHNcIF;_ylu=X3o DMTBtbGZ2dXFpBF9zAzk2NjEzNzY3BHNlYwNzZWFyY2g-?stx=pizza&csz=La+Jolla%2C+CA+92037&fr=zerorp-local-srchweb) for a pizza query) seemed to boost a little bit of the ranking, but did not take it all the way to #1, when it used to be farther down in ranking. Specially when looking at #7 (Domino's Pizza) with 2 stars is not being bumped up. So don't try to spam it, because it will not do you any good. Please keep this clean for the good of all of us consumers.
3) Left Navigation and "Refine Results" gets an A+. Bravisimo! This was brilliantly thought out and it gives me options to start making decisions to further personalize my search.
4) Results. Visually, it's very appealing and easy to navigate give it an A.
5) Features. Stuff like View results on a Map (http://local.yahoo.com/mapview;_ylt=ArFLZUyPy5gxP6OGSeR2QoiHNcIF;_ylu=X3o DMTBxMjM0M2ZpBF9zAzk2NjEzNzk0BHNlYwNtYXByZXN1bHRz? stx=pizza&fr=zerorp-local-srchweb&city=La+Jolla&state=CA&zip=92037&uzip=92037&radius=5&dma=825&county=San+Diego&approxSpelling=&probability=10&fmap=65011160&csz=La+Jolla%2C+CA+92037&sortby=topresults&begin=1&n=10&ed=vN1qV6131Dx9n.i8HXElEOVJzXYdsxtuHLe1trHEG4j9yg--) and "Find Nearby" is OUTSTANDING!!! Give the guy who thought about that a raise. The "Search the Web for "Sammy's Woodfired Pizza in La Jolla, CA" as shown in the result tested was not exactly what I was hoping for. However, it would have been great if they could have added the "sammy s woodfired pizza near La Jolla CA", so that I could see another option with the same brand name or search query related. There are other features like Add to address Book, Print this Page, Send to a Friend, Driving Directions and Help that are good to have as well.
6) Information. The content provided is great, give it an A as well. This also includes the user reviews. Perhaps down the road they can combine this information with official 3rd party authority surveys, reservation modules (potential partnership opportunity with OpenTable.com (http://www.opentable.com/home.asp) or similar - heads up ;) ) waiting time and you name it..... for restaurants of course. For other businesses, it might be other relevant data that the consumer really needs to make decisions.
7) Areas for Improvement. I would imagine that a search for a phone number plus city + state in local.yahoo.com should bring back to me the right business I'm looking for. Well, a couple searches (example 1 (http://local.yahoo.com/results;_ylt=Apbu8KDz8qucL043DHPFRpyGNcIF;_ylu=X3o DMTBtbGZ2dXFpBF9zAzk2NjEzNzY3BHNlYwNzZWFyY2g-?stx=866+628+5543&csz=Houston%2C+TX) and example 2 (http://local.yahoo.com/results;_ylt=Apbu8KDz8qucL043DHPFRpyHNcIF;_ylu=X3o DMTBtbGZ2dXFpBF9zAzk2NjEzNzY3BHNlYwNzZWFyY2g-?stx=858+459-0577&csz=La+Jolla%2C+CA&fr=zerorp-local-srchweb)) is enough for me that this needs improvement, specially since a web search (http://search.yahoo.com/bin/search?p=858+459-0577+La+Jolla%2C+CA&fr=zerorp-local-srchweb) is able to do the trick.
That's it for me. Feel welcome to give your first test drive.
Saludos!