So said IAC’s Barry Diller, as quoted in Kevin Newcomb’s ClickZ story following IAC’s earnings release:
A high-priority integration is underway to more tightly include Citysearch into Ask.com’s local search results. There should be significant progress made in the next four to six months, Diller said.
“There’s no question we have the best local content, in breadth and depth. Our quality puts everyone else to shame,” Diller said.
Citysearch has a reasonably strong product but there’s no way that this statement is accurate. Here’s what the earnings release said about the performance of Citysearch:
Media & Advertising results include IAC Search & Media, which increased revenue by 21% as compared to its prior year period. Citysearch delivered strong revenue growth and increased user traffic.
(But it’s Ask revenue that boosted growth in this unit by over 1000%.)
Indeed that unit includes Ask, whose local product is a somewhat stripped down version of Citysearch. Compare “plumbers, San Francisco” on Ask and Citysearch. Citysearch has helpful “best of” features, editorial roundups and community features (insider’s guides) that don’t currently show up in Ask.
All of Citysearch’s conent and functionality should be available in Ask, albeit differently formatted. But it makes sense to keep the units separate because the Citysearch brand is much stronger in local than Ask’s.
Citysearch has a modest local sales force, unlike most of its Internet-only competitors, and undoubtedly is promoting distribution on Ask.com and, potentially, on Google Maps (to whom Citysearch provides a general feed) as part of the value proposition to local merchants. Citysearch was one of the first local search sites (before SuperPages) to implement PPClick and PPCall.
If Diller is really serious about differentiating with local there are a range of steps he could take to make the Ask Local product better. (Tighter integration with Maps would also be advised.)
