• E-mail
• Print
• Comment
• Font Size
• Digg
• del.icio.us
• Discuss article

comScore Reports Growth in Internet Yellow Pages Searches

Posted on: Wednesday, 13 June 2007, 15:01 CDT

RESTON, Va., June 13 /PRNewswire/ -- comScore, a leader in measuring the digital world, today released its qSearch Internet Yellow Page (IYP) search rankings for Q1 2007, which revealed that Yellow Book Network was the fastest growing property with an 85-percent gain in searches versus Q1 2006, while Yahoo! Sites was the market leader, accounting for 22.4 percent of IYP searches.

IYP Search Market Growth Driven by Yellow Book Network

Growth in the overall IYP U.S. search market in Q1 2007 has been driven by an increasing number of searchers, with the total number of unique IYP searchers growing by 21 percent. However, the total number of IYP searches conducted rose by a modest 5-percent during that time-frame, indicating that lighter searchers have entered the market. Nonetheless, Yellow Book Network and Yellowpages Network both realized increases of at least 80 percent in the number of search queries conducted. The surge in search volume at Yellow Book Network can largely be attributed to a major national TV advertising campaign, as well as strategic partnerships. Yellowpages Network achieved growth primarily as the result of the inclusion of Switchboard.com traffic in December 2006 and did not contribute significantly to IYP search market growth.

Top National** IYP Properties by Number of IYP Search Queries Q1 2007 vs. Q1 2006 Total U.S. -- Home/Work/University Locations Source: comScore qSearch Top National IYP Search Queries (MM) Properties Q1 2006 Q1 2007 Percent Change Total Internet 771.6 808.6 5 % Yahoo! Sites 187.3 180.8 -3 % Idearc Media 174.1 158.2 -9 % Yellowpages Network* 79.7 143.8 80 % Google Sites 94.8 97.5 7 % Time Warner Network 55.9 59.7 7 % Local.com 35.0 41.4 18 % Yellow Book Network 20.8 38.5 85 % Microsoft Sites 29.2 34.2 17 % * Switchboard.com traffic assignment changed from Infospace.com to Yellowpages Network in December 2006, contributing to significant gains within the Yellowpages Network ** RHD/Dex Media is not included among the top national properties because it is primarily a 14-state regional provider Yahoo! Leads in IYP Search Share, while YellowPages Network Shows Gains

For the fifth consecutive quarter Yahoo! has led in IYP search share, accounting for 22.4 percent of IYP searches in Q1 2007. Idearc Media ranked second with a 19.6 percent share, followed by Yellowpages Network with 17.6 percent and Google Sites with 12.1 percent. Yellowpages Network posted the biggest share gain in Q1 2007 with an increase of 7.3 share points, followed by Yellow Book Network with a gain of 2.1 points.

Top National IYP Properties by Share of IYP Searches Q1 2007 vs. Q1 2006 Total U.S. - Home/Work/University Locations Source: comScore qSearch Top National IYP Share of IYP Searches Properties Q1 2006 Q1 2007 Point Change Total Internet 100.0 % 100.0% 0.0 Yahoo! Sites 24.3 % 22.4 % -1.9 Idearc Media 22.6 % 19.6 % -3.0 Yellowpages Network 10.3 % 17.6 % 7.3 Google Sites 12.3 % 12.1 % -0.2 Time Warner Network 7.2 % 7.4 % 0.2 Local.com 4.5 % 5.1 % 0.6 Yellow Book Network 2.7 % 4.8 % 2.1 Microsoft Sites 3.8 % 4.2 % 0.4 Idearc Media Leads in Search Engagement

Idearc Media led the competition in IYP search engagement, as measured by both searches per searcher (5.0) and result pages per searcher (9.7), driven primarily by activity on its Superpages.com site. Yahoo! Sites ranked second in searches per searcher with 4.6, followed by Yellowpages Network with 4.4. In terms of search results pages per searcher, Yellowpages Network ranked second with 9.4, while Yahoo! Sites rounded out the top three with 8.8.

Top National IYP Properties by Search Engagement Q1 2007 Total U.S. - Home/Work/University Locations Source: comScore qSearch Top National IYP Search Result Properties Searches Per Pages Per Searcher Searcher Total Internet 7.1 13.9 Idearc Media 5.0 9.7 Yahoo! Sites 4.6 8.8 Yellowpages Network 4.4 9.4 Yellow Book Network 3.2 5.7 Google Sites 2.9 4.9 Microsoft Sites 2.6 5.4 Time Warner Network 2.1 4.2 Local.com 1.7 3.1 About comScore

comScore, Inc. is a global leader in measuring the digital world. This capability is based on a massive, global cross-section of more than 2 million consumers who have given comScore permission to confidentially capture their browsing and transaction behavior, including online and offline purchasing. comScore panelists also participate in survey research that captures and integrates their attitudes and intentions. Through its proprietary technology, comScore measures what matters across a broad spectrum of behavior and attitudes. comScore analysts apply this deep knowledge of customers and competitors to help clients design powerful marketing strategies and tactics that deliver superior ROI. comScore services are used by more than 700 clients, including global leaders such as AOL, Microsoft, Yahoo!, Verizon, Best Buy, The Newspaper Association of America, Tribune Interactive, ESPN, Fox Sports, Nestle, MBNA, Universal McCann, the United States Postal Service, Merck and Expedia. For more information, please visit http://www.comscore.com/.

comScore, Inc.

CONTACT: Andrew Lipsman of comScore, Inc., +1-312-775-6510,press@comscore.com

Web site: http://www.comscore.com/

Source: PRNewswire

More News in this Category