Conventionally, consumers seeking information about the location and contact information for local businesses turn to the local yellow pages. Though industry experts on the Yellow Pages directories across the United States note that traditional print Local Yellow Pages directories received 13.4 billion references in 2007, this number has been steadily declining since the middle of the 1990′s. A number of factors have been attributed to this drop, including the proliferation of cellular phones, various directory offerings by cell phone companies, and the most noticeable factor, the advent of the today’s internet.

To keep up with the trends in consumer tastes, the Local Yellow Pages companies have turned to the internet as another method of providing their local business directories to the public. Thousands of these websites will then offer search boxes for users to track down a local business in a given industry in a method that is similar to that of traditional print Local Yellow Pages. Online Yellow Pages, as a collective whole, obtained about 3.8 billion searches in 2007, which was about a 13% rise from the previous year.

The nature of the internet, however, presents a multitude of problems for companies wishing to advertise in Online Yellow Pages profitably. This occurs largely because online references to the whole collection of Local Yellow Pages companies and their websites on the internet was just over 3.8 billion, whereas the total number of searches within the top three major search engine was around 42 billion in 2007.

Alone these statistics prove irrelevant; however, the fact of the matter is that almost every hit arriving as one of the 3.8 billion Online Yellow Pages views emanated from a user first typing a search query into one of the major search engines. Local Yellow Pages have not succumbed to irrelevancy from the internet, but rather, to the major search engine’s easy access and indexing of websites online according to their relevancy to specific keywords typed into their search query box.

For example, when entering in these search terms, the user will type something like “x in y” with “x” being a good, product, business, or service and “y” being a geographic location. The results from the search engines will then return in a lengthy list of applicable websites that display multitudes of information on businesses in the given location that are in the industry that the search engine user was hunting for.

The Local Yellow Pages websites can appear with these search engine indexes results. Such Yellow Pages results are then an option, or link, that consumers can click to view more information on the Local Yellow Pages Online website.

At this juncture, knowledge of typical internet user and searcher behavior is necessary. Studies and personal experience may help researchers note that the results, which rank higher in the search engines receive the most clicks. In fact, the figures prove that about 95 percent of all internet traffic is derived from the first three search results of a given term. This strategy of wishing to rank highly in the search engines for a specific search term is much like wanting to be placed first in a Yellow Pages directory, but can actually be much less expensive, if done properly.

By constructing a website that is optimized to rank within the major search engines for the businesses local or regional keywords, companies can drive traffic and capitalize on their consumers’ business with marketing on the internet. The usage of Local Yellow Pages, though effective prior to the invention of the internet and search engines, is no longer a necessary step to being number one in the go-to spot for consumer references, when it comes to finding goods, businesses, or services.

Conventionally, consumers seeking information about the location and contact information for local businesses turn to the local yellow pages. Though industry experts on the Yellow Pages directories across the United States note that traditional print Local Yellow Pages directories received 13.4 billion references in 2007, this number has been steadily declining since the middle of the 1990′s. A number of factors have been attributed to this drop, including the proliferation of cellular phones, various directory offerings by cell phone companies, and the most noticeable factor, the advent of the today’s internet.

To keep up with the trends in consumer tastes, the Local Yellow Pages companies have turned to the internet as another method of providing their local business directories to the public. Thousands of these websites will then offer search boxes for users to track down a local business in a given industry in a method that is similar to that of traditional print Local Yellow Pages. Online Yellow Pages, as a collective whole, obtained about 3.8 billion searches in 2007, which was about a 13% rise from the previous year.

The nature of the internet, however, presents some problems for companies wishing to advertise in Online Yellow Pages successfully, however. First, while online references to the entire collection of Local Yellow Pages companies and their websites on the internet was 3.8 billion, the total number of searches in the top three major search engine tallied around 42 billion in 2007.

Alone, such statistics prove irrelevant; however, the fact remains that nearly every hit arriving as one of 3.8 billion Online Yellow Pages views originated from a user first typing a search query into a major search engines. Local Yellow Pages have not fallen into irrelevancy because of the internet, but rather, because of the major search engines’ easy approach and indexing of websites online, according to their relevancy to the given keywords.

When a user types in these search terms, for example, he or she will type something similar to “x in y,” with “x” being a product, business or service and “y” being the geographic location. The results given by the search engines then return a long list of pertinent websites and listings, which display information on businesses in the given location, within the industry that the person was looking for in the search engine.

The Local Yellow Pages websites can appear with these search engine indexes results. Such Yellow Pages results are then an option, or link, that consumers can click to view more information on the Local Yellow Pages Online website.

At this point, knowledge about the typical internet user and searcher’s behavior is necessary. First, researchers perform studies and use personal experience to note that results ranking higher in the search engines get more clicks. In fact, the figures show that over 95 percent of all of the traffic on the internet is derived from the first three results of any searched term. The strategy of wanting to rank higher up in the search engines for a search term is just like asking to be placed first in a Yellow Pages directory, but, if done properly, can be much less expensive.

By building a website, in which the businesses local or regional keywords are designed to rank within the major search engines, companies are able drive traffic and capitalize on consumer business with advertising on the internet. Although it was effective prior to the advent of the internet and search engines, the Local Yellow Pages are no longer a necessary step to be number one for the consumer references go-to spot, in regards to finding goods, businesses and services.