Local REsults Without Web Sites?

Bill Treloar · #1 (**permalink**) 03-03-2007, 02:46 PM

MSN seems to return local results that they gather from elsewhere than spidering the web.

A search for "attorneys Southaven MS" brings up local listings that don't have any web page links. In fact, of the top three local results they display on the first page of SERPs, only one has a link to a web site.

Where does MSN get these listings? And if these links aren't based on web sites, how can we improve rankings in them? They're not listed alphabetically or anything, so there must be some sort of ranking algorithm.

Thanks,
Bill

Dubbya · #2 (**permalink**) 03-05-2007, 03:44 PM

I'm not going to say this with absolute authority, but here in Canada, MSN and Sympatico seem to be closely tied to yellow pages telephone listings.

It's not surprising when you consider what businesses are spending on yellow page advertising. The yellow pages sites create high-dollar feature pages for their advertisers.

I'm certain that's where your results are coming from.

Bill Treloar · #3 (**permalink**) 03-05-2007, 08:06 PM

Thanks, Dubbya,

I found the answer, I think. MSN has partnered with Verizon SuperPages for their local results. Full news article here:
http://publications.mediapost.com/in...&art_aid=38470

Cheers!