Grayboxx mixes up local search and user reviews

Earlier this week, local search website Grayboxx concluded its national trial period and launched their enhanced service nationwide, including all major U.S. cities.

by Helen Leggatt

Grayboxx mixes up local search with data compiled from various online sources, including user reviews, online bookings and online content. Instead of presenting just the regular business data such as contact information and maps, Grayboxx also scours the Internet for any other relevant references and obvious patronage by locals.

For instance, doing a search for ‘seafood restaurant + San Diego’ brought up a list headed by a few entries labeled as having “neighbor recommendations”. Clicking the business name then allows you to read user-reviews gathered from various sites, in this particular case mostly InsiderPages.com reviews. User-reviews can not yet be added via Grayboxx.

Another need that Grayboxx fulfils is that it provides user-reviews outside of the popular and over-crowded categories such as restaurants, accommodation and stores. Their system will allow users to find recommended dentists, plumbers or even pet-groomers.

"I tried [grayboxx] out for cities as large as New York and Chicago, and even my birthplace of Kalamazoo. For towns large and small, the search results were consistently better than Google, Yahoo and even Yelp," said Kristen Nicole, Mashable.com, who tried out the service last year.