Long Tail Theory - Valid For Local Search?
By Anna Johnson on July 23rd, 2008Despite rumblings over the validity of Chris Anderson’s long tail theory (Is The Long Tail Just a Bunch of B.S.?), there are those who swear that it’s live and kicking in local search engine marketing.
Brian Wool, for example, points out that data from a comScore report shows that only 36 percent of Internet users spend time on the top 20 sites, which represents a 4 percent decline in one year. Meanwhile, more people are using local directories rather than the major search engines.
According to Mr Wool, 18 months ago 90 percent of searchers used the major search engines and directories, such as Google, Yahoo, Live, Yellow Pages, etc; nowadays that percentage has declined to 82 percent.
If true, this is good news for Internet marketers focused on building local directories or portals. It also highlights the growing benefit of being listed in local directories and portals in addition to the major search engines and directories.
Source: Brian Wool, “Has the Long-Tail Theory Been Disproved?”, The ClickZ Network, Jul 17, 2008
Tags: Benefit, Chris Anderson, Clickz Network, Decline, Google, Internet Marketers, Internet Users, Local Search, Major Search Engines, People Directories, Portals, Rumblings, Search Directories, Search Engine Marketing, Search Engines And Directories, Validity, Yahoo, Yellow Pages
