YellowPages.com, Marchex to offer local search services

Look for another solution for local search endeavors. This week, YellowPages.com and Marchex, a local ad provider, announced plans for a multi-year partnership to offer local search services to advertisers.

by Kristina Knight

"This new agreement with Marchex extends our ability to offer our customers best-in-class search marketing solutions," said Charles Stubbs, President and Chief Executive Officer of YellowPages.com.

The agreement will allow YellowPages.com to utilize Marchex's local ad services for the YPclicks! Search Engine Solutions packages sold across the United States. The ads will be created under the Marchex platform and allows advertisers to target and manage ads through placements with the major search engines and the Marchex local content network.

According to a recent forecast from the Kelsey Group, directory assistance revenue will increase by more than 60% over the next five years. The forecast indicates that 4-1-1 revenue will jump from about $14 million in 2007 to more than $460 million in 2012. Much of the growth will be due to new audio ads offered by directory assistance websites, however, local search revenue will also help boost the revenue numbers.

Local searches which use some form of online directory assistance are growing 40% faster than typical online searches. Local search accounts for about 80 million monthly searches but by 2009 local search is expected to account for 30 billion monthly searches.