By now you should all know that local search provides a huge marketing opportunity for companies to list their business information and reap some quick rewards. We also know of the mainstream local search engines and internet yellow pages such as Google Maps, Yahoo! Local, YellowPages.com, SuperPages.com, etc. What you may not have heard about, however, is a new social local networking site called PlaceShout. Developed by Andre Lewis (Earthcode Studios) and Derek Haynes (Highgroove Studios), PlaceShout is a unique blend of Yelp, Twitter and Digg, but with a practical tie-in to local search. The goal for PlaceShout is to make it easier for you to find local destinations and read about it through user-submitted “shoutouts” (mini reviews). The reviews are purposely capped at 100 characters long (making them straight to the point) and include community-driven maps via a Google Maps application. Similar to digging a story on Digg.com, fellow contributors can agree or disagree with the post, which influences the strength of that review. According to PlaceShout, “If people agree, that ‘shoutout’ moves up...if they don't, the shoutout moves down and begins to disappear.” Looking for reviews and not interesting in posting? You can also search the site by locale, newest or hottest places, or by your fellow ‘shouters.’

Local search marketers are particularly interested in PlaceShout for a variety of reasons, including ways to give business owners another great way to increase their visibility while generating some buzz about their company, service, or restaurant. The site is certainly not without its flaws, but it is currently being indexed by major search engines and the reviews themselves are being dynamically pulled for title tags. All-in-all, with some fine tuning, such as dynamically created search-friendly URLs, direct linking to the business’ website, and integrating APIs and feeds, PlaceShout.com could be another great target for local search marketing.

By Dan Coe

Google announced plans to improve their offerings by providing consumers with resources to make smarter and better informed decisions about their health through a new platform titled Google Health. This program will be an online health information storage program. The program is currently in beta (only available to unspecified partners) and will be formally introduced in 2008.

Consumers will be able to more easily access and organize health-related information. One of the main features is a health profile which will contain personal information about medications, conditions, and immunizations as well as basic personal information and family history. Using this information, Google will create a personalized “health guide” which will contain relevant information about drug interactions, treatments and preventive measures.

Perhaps the most valuable (and controversial) application within Google Health is the storage of personal medical records. Most health records are controlled by doctors, hospitals, and insurers; personal requests can generally take up to 90 days. Additionally, if someone moves or experiences an emergency while traveling, their health information is difficult to access. Digitized health records would enable consumers to more easily access their information from anywhere. These records could be shared with appropriate family members and healthcare providers. This would enable physicians the ability to have comprehensive access to a patient’s health history. In addition, they would also have the opportunity to see more patients because they would spend less time deciphering patient records.

Privacy concerns are one of the biggest obstacles for Google Health. For the most part, consumers are anonymous when searching. Having health records stored in an online environment, while secure, could still make consumers feel vulnerable. Seeing as Google Health has no current plans to utilize advertising, the immediate effect on paid search should be minimal, if any. As personalized search grows it will be interesting to see how Google will blend these services together without making consumers feel like they are being watched.

Article by Megan Dallas

In an attempt to re-invent their advertising model, Yahoo! is focusing on adding high quality content sites rather than adding more mid size networks. Instead of Yahoo! only selling ads on their partnered network sites, those publishers can also sell ads on Yahoo! properties. This shared approach is something that few of Google's partners can do and provides flexibility for advertisers to not rely solely on the Yahoo! sales staff. This strategy was underscored by the announcement that Yahoo! is adding major content sites such as WebMd, Cars.com, Forbes.com and Ziff Davis Media (a group of technology sites) to their network.

Yahoo! will leverage these sites as examples of offering quality networks and a will allow them to extend their behavioral targeting reach. According to WebMD Chief Executive Officer Wayne Gattinella, “The ability to follow users and continue to show promotions when they leave WebMD and go to Yahoo’s network of sites factored into why they left Google.”

In addition to the display deal with WebMD, Yahoo! will also support sponsored search across the WebMD network of consumer sites, including WebMD Health, MedicineNet, eMedicine Health and RxList.

Time will tell if quality over quantity can win out in the race to build the best network of sites.

Article by Michelle Kircher

Who wants to marry a billionaire? Facebook is close to deciding between Google and Microsoft as a partner.

New Google PageRank update targets paid links. I wonder when Google will stop accepting advertising from Paid Link brokers?

Can’t get your head around Keyword Research? This picture should do the trick.