From the Printing Press to Google Places

Please join us at our History of Local Search webinar to learn more about how technology has contributed to the evolution of local search. We'll also share tips and tricks for getting found on WhitePages, Google Places, and many more.

People have always needed ways to discover local businesses and their goods and services. Before the invention of the internet there were a number of methods businesses could use to get found by new customers.

One of the most popular and still commonly used methods was through word of mouth. If you needed to find a barber in a new city you might ask your friend who had recently gotten an excellent haircut. You might ask your doctor friend if he could recommend a good specialist. Or you might even ask someone you passed on the street if they could recommend a good bakery in the area.

All of a sudden, with the invention of the printing press, people had an entirely new avenue for discovering local businesses. The first yellow pages directory was published in 1886 and, to this day, they are still distributed yearly to nearly every residence and business in the United States.

Now, with a few clicks of the mouse, a searcher has a wealth of local information at their fingertips. Store hours, phone numbers, and business descriptions all allow people to make more informed decisions about what businesses they visit before they leave the house. It's now the business owners responsibility to make sure their information is correct on MapQuest, Google Places and dozens of other online properties.

If you don't know how your business information appears online then you could be missing out on a lot of potential business. You can check your free local search scorecard to see just how your business appears to searchers. If you are interested in a more in-depth look at how we got from advertising on barn door walls to the local search landscape that we have today please join us for our History of Local Search webinar on Wednesday, February 15th at 1pm EST.