Yahoo has unveiled Localworks, a product that will help small businesses in recapturing sales they may be losing because of outdated or incorrect online listings.

Yahoo Launches the Listing Management Tool Localworks!

Tom Byun, VP, Yahoo Small Business said, "Localworks is being launched in connection with Yext, a location software company. It will let companies easily update their online listings in more than 40 online platforms, which will reach 150 million local searchers".

Byun added, "We saw the need to provide an offering that helps small businesses easily provide the correct information for online listings, as this is a lost opportunity for them".

Referring to a study conducted in 2012 by analysts Greg Sterling and Andrew Shotland for Yext, Byun said that local merchants were losing $10.3 billion in sales every year because of inaccurate local listings. The study was carried out for 40,000 listings, out of which 43 percent local listings had missing or incorrect address. Moreover, wrong information led to negative consumer reaction. While 22 percent said that they won't trust the source again, 15 percent preferred looking for another merchant.

A Senior Product Manager at Yahoo, Virginia Hines said, "While Yext is offering set of its own listing management products, Localworks is targeted specifically to reach Yahoo's base of over 1 million small business subscribers. We added proprietary local data around performance of the listing on Yahoo Local and we do our own moderation to ensure listing quality".

Localworks integrates Yahoo Local, the feature that let business owners submit basic or enhanced listing data displayed in the Yahoo's local search results along with the location data provided by Yext. 

Apart from correcting the online listings, Localworks will also let businesses to monitor if their entry has been updated on a site or is still pending.

Other features of Localworks include:

  • Reputation management page that will let businesses follow reviews and blog ratings & respond to them
  • A page that will show listing performance with profile views, impressions data, and click-through rates of special offers
  • Companies can add photos, videos, and other content to their listings

Yahoo has introduced the service for $30 per month and is planning to bundle it with other services that will help small businesses to amplify their business information. Hines said, Localworks is the first product in the line of targeted advertising solutions that will be released later this year.

Author

Navneet Kaushal is the Editor-in-Chief of PageTraffic Buzz. A leading search strategist, Navneet helps clients maintain an edge in search engines and the online media. Navneet is also the CEO of SEO Services company PageTraffic which is one of the leading search marketing company in Asia.