Add other player to the list of local search engine developers as AOL’s MapQuest, one of the pioneers in local search / address search advertising, has quietly (not sending out press releases all over the place) launched their own local search mechanism.
MapQuest’s Local Search offers:
* Directory information provided by InfoUsa.
* Search interface located on MapQuest home page or this url.
* Search by category or business name
* Each entry is linked to a map
* Sort results alphabetically or by distance (25 or 50 miles)
* Ads on results pages provided by Google (Google’s AdWords does now regionally target)
* Like other Mapquest products, maps can be downloaded to a pda
* AOL Yellow Pages is Also Linked from Mapquest site
Mapquest is competing in the local search arena as many search engines and portals are climbing all over each other for a piece of the local search pie, a sector predicted to generate $2.5 billion in advertising by 2008 (The Kelsey Group (TKG) and ConStat Inc.). Yahoo, Google and InfoSpace have recently made news with their own local search functions and acquisitions.
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