Buyers don’t rely on the Yellow Pages like they used to. Customers’ buying behavior has changed – for good. Traditionally, people headed to the Yellow Pages precisely when they were ready to buy, but new research by The Kelsey Group in March, 2005 found that 70% of US households now use the Internet as an information source when they are ready to buy. And this is often when they are shopping locally for products and services. These buyers aren’t going to the Internet for online purchases, nor to find distant providers. They intend to spend their money in their own community.

The Kelsey Group also found that interviewed individuals felt the search engines were a “better source of purchasing information than the Yellow Pages, newspapers and magazines.” The trend is being driven entirely by Internet users. Related data from other sources show that consumers who search online for purchases spend more than those using the printed directory.

The Yellow Page industry is a fifteen billion dollar industry in the US. While there are more choices of printed Yellow Page directories than ever, the buying habits of the public have moved away from using them. Computer-savvy buyers know the easiest way to find the information they want is through search engines (and since May, they can do searches on the run, on their cell phones). But many small or local businesses aren’t even listed online.

The Kelsey Group’s data is consistent with other statistics showing that the Internet has overtaken the newspaper for cars and real estate (major purchases). And it’s becoming the “go-to” place for information. A study by Imedia Connection found the Internet is “second only to spouses for finding referrals.”
To stay competitive, small and mid-sized businesses will be compelled to make sure they’re included in search engine databases. Enterprises that can’t be found by online searchers risk losing sales to businesses they find instead.

Improving search engine rankings is a specialty of ours at Nexxite. We stay on top of the research in this constantly changing field. So if you or someone you know has a website that needs help getting a better search engine presence, by all means, get in touch with us.