Tue, 16 Oct 2007 17:41:24 by Matt Hopkins
Momentum for local search services is growing and one of the major players in the US market has recently opened a UK office and sub-site which can be found at http://uk.local.com/.
From an initial review, it looks like they have purchased some data to get them started here as there is actually no way to add a UK based business to their site via the "free basic listing" mechanism that they promote.
If you perform a search and then notice that you (or your client) is not listed and proceed to click on the "Advertise your business on UK.Local.com!" link, you are ultimately taken to a form that demands the US state in which your business is located.. uh, isn't this suppose to be a "local" search engine?
Local search is hot and many believe that combined with mobile search, a new "killer app" will emerge.... but despite the numbers and the potential, its always disappointing to see companies trying to expand their reach overseas without making the necessary localisations to their platform. Local.com should have waited to get this right before launching here in the UK. Let's hope that they remedy this issue shortly.
Matt Hopkins
Managing Director |
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