No More Doorstops- Yellow Pages Optional

Reading today in the Toronto Globe and Mail Report on Business. Headline “Hanging Up on the Phone Book”

The front page story goes on to announce that the Yellow Pages Group would no longer distribute phone books to customers unless requested. This would includeToronto, Montreal, Calgary, Edmonton, Vancouver,Ottawa-Gatineau,and Quebec City. This includes the regular white pages also published by the group.

An interesting symbol of change in the marketplace and importance and growing use of online and personal directories on smartphones or cellular devices. A victory for the environment and greening and a tacit recognition of the move to digital. In the US the Kelsey Group predicts a decline of about 10% in readership. With a move to digital advertising like Adwords it is more important than ever for the business and professional community to be listed.

As I mentioned in my post yesterday there are the opportunities for free listing as well as paid pay per click advertising in local areas for extended reach, recognizing that the consumer now doesn’t reach for the phone book but Googles it.

While writing last night a post came into my RSS reader from David Mihm < a href="http://www.davidmihm.com/blog/google/local-search-ranking-factors/">2010- Local Search Ranking Factors Vol 3 It is a review orchestrated by David Mihm a popular Local SEO writer, from Portland, Oregon and includes collaborations from SEO thought leaders and practioners from all over.
This is a valuable contribution to the dialogue which should guide you in your Local Search Engine Optimization for the search engines.

Stumble! for WP