RH Donnelley Means Business.com: Google Feeling Vertical Search Heat
As Google plows ahead in its Universal Search manifest destiny, dedicated vertical search competitors are upping the vertical ante by upping their dedicated investments online:
R.H. Donnelley Corporation one of the nation’s leading Yellow Pages and online local commercial search companies, today announced that it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Business.com, a leading business search engine and directory and pay-per-click advertising network.
“With this transaction R.H. Donnelley takes another significant step forward in the online local commercial search marketplace,” said David C. Swanson, chairman and CEO of R.H. Donnelley Corporation.
The Business.com vertical search value proposition leverages the advertiser appeal of a qualified audience of business searchers:
With Business.com and the Business.com Advertising Network, you reach business buyers actively looking for products, services and solutions for their businesses. This concentrated B2B audience means highly qualified leads and high conversion rates for your pay-per-click advertising initiatives.
Compared with the general online population, Business.com users are:
- 40% more likely to be a business purchase influencer or decision maker
- 80% more likely to have made a B2B purchase online in the last 6 months
- Twice as likely to be a part of their company’s Senior Management team
Bottom vertical search line, according to Business.com? In 2006, the top search at Business.com was for “starting a small business”; at Yahoo and Google, Britney Spears and Bebo ruled, in not such a business like fashion.
Where does a serious business marketer go then to reach serious business prospects? “Business begins here,” is the Business.com pitch.
Highly targeted business search is but the latest vertical in which generic Google is feeling specialized search heat.
Healthline vertical healthcare search play, case in big point.
I spoke last week with CEO West Shell. “The search box is bad for your health,” Shell told me! READ my report why Google Health at Risk: Healthline Medical Search Snags Power Partners, and Money.
Google.com believes it can be all things to all people and to all advertisers. Both consumers and marketers, however, are often voting with their clicks and ad dollars for qualified, targeted information, over seemingly random Web links.
Google is also falling short in the enterprise search space, as I reported earlier today, SEE Autonomy vs. Google Search Appliance? No Contest: Google Enterprise Gets Defensive.
ALSO, My exclusive interview with the deal maker of the latest hyperlocal search investment: How Pegasus News Fuels Local Media Business Model for Fisher Communications
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