This week Keniston & Company has, in part, been listing one of our local clients on Local Search Engines. I guess it’s been a while since we’ve gone through this exercise, because Local Search Engines have really picked up their game.

Of the most impressive is Yellowbooks.com (owned by AT & T). Not only has Yellowbooks.com initiated a video listing option (with free video production) they also offer “Pay Per Click” packages. These packages guarantee distribution on the major search engine such as Google, Yahoo, MSN etc..etc..etc ..in any pre-specified markets across the country.

According to the rep we spoke with Yellowpages.com has many packages. The end result is that Yellowbooks ads distributed on Google, Yahoo, MSN, etc. cost $2.25 per click on average. This is a fantastic price per click for most industries (auto, travel, lawyers) where clicks can cost as much as $10.

According, to our rep Yellowpages.com purchases large blocks of the most desirable keywords (travel, used cars, car dealers, lawyers, etc) from the big search engines as a discount rate and then resells them to their clients.

This reminds of me of the old days when advertising agencies would buy radio and tv ads from stations in bulk at cut rates and then resell them to their clients. This can be risky if no one wants the spots, but the risk/reward ratio usually favors the bulk media buyer.

The question remains, how and when do the Yellowpages ads turn up in a Google search? Keniston & Company is actually testing Yellowpages Pay Per Click package as an alternative to an independent Google Adwords Campaign.

We’ll keep you posted as to how it works out.

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