Comments on: Yahoo! Refreshes, Redesigns Local http://gesterling.wordpress.com/2007/08/15/yahoo-refreshes-redesigns-local/ Greg Sterling's Thoughts on Online and Offline Media Fri, 25 Jul 2008 07:25:00 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=MU By: Dave Liu dot com / musings from the edge » Articles of the Day http://gesterling.wordpress.com/2007/08/15/yahoo-refreshes-redesigns-local/#comment-93251 Dave Liu dot com / musings from the edge » Articles of the Day Tue, 04 Sep 2007 18:59:48 +0000 http://gesterling.wordpress.com/2007/08/15/yahoo-refreshes-redesigns-local/#comment-93251 [...] Yahoo Refreshes Local Search - Despite its status as a pioneer of local search and early integrator of community and ratings/reviews, Yahoo has faced growing pressure — from Google and Microsoft in dynamic mapping — and then from new local and community sites such as Yelp. So Greg Sterling applauds the redesign of Yahoo Local, which launched last night. [...] [...] Yahoo Refreshes Local Search - Despite its status as a pioneer of local search and early integrator of community and ratings/reviews, Yahoo has faced growing pressure — from Google and Microsoft in dynamic mapping — and then from new local and community sites such as Yelp. So Greg Sterling applauds the redesign of Yahoo Local, which launched last night. [...]

]]> By: links for 2007-08-18 » eWhisper.net http://gesterling.wordpress.com/2007/08/15/yahoo-refreshes-redesigns-local/#comment-88326 links for 2007-08-18 » eWhisper.net Sat, 18 Aug 2007 00:43:13 +0000 http://gesterling.wordpress.com/2007/08/15/yahoo-refreshes-redesigns-local/#comment-88326 [...] Yahoo! Refreshes, Redesigns Local « Screenwerk Nice writeup by Greg on the new Y! Local redesign. (tags: yahoo+local) [...] [...] Yahoo! Refreshes, Redesigns Local « Screenwerk Nice writeup by Greg on the new Y! Local redesign. (tags: yahoo+local) [...]

]]> By: Yahoo! Local invests in redesign at Ghost of Midnight http://gesterling.wordpress.com/2007/08/15/yahoo-refreshes-redesigns-local/#comment-88085 Yahoo! Local invests in redesign at Ghost of Midnight Fri, 17 Aug 2007 02:38:27 +0000 http://gesterling.wordpress.com/2007/08/15/yahoo-refreshes-redesigns-local/#comment-88085 [...] Greg Sterling weighs in… interesting comments to his [...] [...] Greg Sterling weighs in… interesting comments to his [...]

]]> By: Yahoo! Local Redesign - Did you notice the ‘neighborhood’ info? « eNeighbors.com Blog http://gesterling.wordpress.com/2007/08/15/yahoo-refreshes-redesigns-local/#comment-87906 Yahoo! Local Redesign - Did you notice the ‘neighborhood’ info? « eNeighbors.com Blog Thu, 16 Aug 2007 15:57:20 +0000 http://gesterling.wordpress.com/2007/08/15/yahoo-refreshes-redesigns-local/#comment-87906 [...] are plenty of reviews (here and here) of the new site, so I won’t waste your time simply recapping what they’ve [...] [...] are plenty of reviews (here and here) of the new site, so I won’t waste your time simply recapping what they’ve [...]

]]> By: Michael Bauer http://gesterling.wordpress.com/2007/08/15/yahoo-refreshes-redesigns-local/#comment-87854 Michael Bauer Thu, 16 Aug 2007 09:49:17 +0000 http://gesterling.wordpress.com/2007/08/15/yahoo-refreshes-redesigns-local/#comment-87854 I don't think local personality and scalability are mutually exclusive Greg, particularly at city scale. I think you can have both at that level and think with the resources a company like Yahoo can bring to bear that we would see that. Yes, your point about bringing in video addresses the generic concerns but doesn't solve them (I love the turnhere videos). We used Flickr photos for localguides.com as a simple proxy for local personality. Those along with some original (and wikipedia content) gave a local personality at scale. I think we could have done a better job and I think a better job can still be done. I was hoping that Yahoo could have done that but I guess they are just too constrained by corporate realities to break out of the box. I don’t think local personality and scalability are mutually exclusive Greg, particularly at city scale. I think you can have both at that level and think with the resources a company like Yahoo can bring to bear that we would see that. Yes, your point about bringing in video addresses the generic concerns but doesn’t solve them (I love the turnhere videos). We used Flickr photos for localguides.com as a simple proxy for local personality. Those along with some original (and wikipedia content) gave a local personality at scale. I think we could have done a better job and I think a better job can still be done. I was hoping that Yahoo could have done that but I guess they are just too constrained by corporate realities to break out of the box.

]]> By: Top Posts « WordPress.com http://gesterling.wordpress.com/2007/08/15/yahoo-refreshes-redesigns-local/#comment-87746 Top Posts « WordPress.com Thu, 16 Aug 2007 00:00:45 +0000 http://gesterling.wordpress.com/2007/08/15/yahoo-refreshes-redesigns-local/#comment-87746 [...] Yahoo! Refreshes, Redesigns Local [image]Other than the yellow pages sites, Yahoo! is really one of the incumbents in local search. It pioneered […] [...] [...] Yahoo! Refreshes, Redesigns Local [image]Other than the yellow pages sites, Yahoo! is really one of the incumbents in local search. It pioneered […] [...]

]]> By: paisley http://gesterling.wordpress.com/2007/08/15/yahoo-refreshes-redesigns-local/#comment-87687 paisley Wed, 15 Aug 2007 20:04:53 +0000 http://gesterling.wordpress.com/2007/08/15/yahoo-refreshes-redesigns-local/#comment-87687 Mr. Sterling, i like looking at sushi rest. across a whole city before i go there and before i book a hotel... Good article :) Mr. Sterling,
i like looking at sushi rest. across a whole city before i go there and before i book a hotel…

Good article

:)

]]> By: Greg Sterling http://gesterling.wordpress.com/2007/08/15/yahoo-refreshes-redesigns-local/#comment-87624 Greg Sterling Wed, 15 Aug 2007 13:06:27 +0000 http://gesterling.wordpress.com/2007/08/15/yahoo-refreshes-redesigns-local/#comment-87624 Interesting take Michael. One of the dilemmas is local personality vs. scalability. One question: I would assume that you think Yelp does a better job of conveying the local flavor of a place or Citysearch (now with TurnHere video). On that last point, do you think video would overcome the "generic" qualities you cite? Interesting take Michael. One of the dilemmas is local personality vs. scalability. One question: I would assume that you think Yelp does a better job of conveying the local flavor of a place or Citysearch (now with TurnHere video). On that last point, do you think video would overcome the “generic” qualities you cite?

]]> By: Michael Bauer http://gesterling.wordpress.com/2007/08/15/yahoo-refreshes-redesigns-local/#comment-87605 Michael Bauer Wed, 15 Aug 2007 11:14:15 +0000 http://gesterling.wordpress.com/2007/08/15/yahoo-refreshes-redesigns-local/#comment-87605 So, here's two cents. It's going to be based on what you've put in your post Greg. Heaven knows I'm not going to actually do any work and look at the site myself. :) It's got that nice clean magazine layout. Lots of whitespace. Good color palette. Nice combination of serif and sans-serif fonts. Simple labeling and sectioning. Good use of photography for brand effect. Great. I'm sure any junior college design professor would give the student a solid B+/A-. So what? What's new here? What new FUNCTIONALITY have they given me? They caught on and took out refinements. Bravo. I know they have that siren call to you, Greg but they are generally lost on the general public as innumerable studies and anecdotal experiences have shown. I imagine taking something out is some kind of innovation. Of course, they put in a tag cloud instead. Ohhh-kayyy. That cleared that up. Want a burger while you're watching the color purple on your way to Fry's electronics? And the continuous addiction to YP categories remains. Would you like to narrow your choices for Sushi Restaurants? How does giving me more GENERAL categories - Japanese, Asian, just any damn Restaurant in general in any way NARROW what I'm looking for? At least they have neighborhoods in there. I think the only people that really want to look for Sushi Restaurants across an entire damn city are those of us looking to compare and contrast IYP sites in their ability to find Sushi Restaurants. How about something RELATED (probably in there, just haven't looked at it). I don't get any sense of SAN FRANCISCO here. Just a list of generic categories that are a combination of consumer-searched and business-bought that's going to be replicated across any major metropolitan area regardless of the city (let's toss out some Home and Garden and pepper it with a little Restaurant lookup). That should cement our ability to maintain 20 million uniques. No erosion from Google there. So, here’s two cents. It’s going to be based on what you’ve put in your post Greg. Heaven knows I’m not going to actually do any work and look at the site myself. :)

It’s got that nice clean magazine layout. Lots of whitespace. Good color palette. Nice combination of serif and sans-serif fonts. Simple labeling and sectioning. Good use of photography for brand effect. Great. I’m sure any junior college design professor would give the student a solid B+/A-.

So what? What’s new here? What new FUNCTIONALITY have they given me? They caught on and took out refinements. Bravo. I know they have that siren call to you, Greg but they are generally lost on the general public as innumerable studies and anecdotal experiences have shown. I imagine taking something out is some kind of innovation. Of course, they put in a tag cloud instead. Ohhh-kayyy. That cleared that up. Want a burger while you’re watching the color purple on your way to Fry’s electronics?

And the continuous addiction to YP categories remains. Would you like to narrow your choices for Sushi Restaurants? How does giving me more GENERAL categories - Japanese, Asian, just any damn Restaurant in general in any way NARROW what I’m looking for? At least they have neighborhoods in there. I think the only people that really want to look for Sushi Restaurants across an entire damn city are those of us looking to compare and contrast IYP sites in their ability to find Sushi Restaurants. How about something RELATED (probably in there, just haven’t looked at it).

I don’t get any sense of SAN FRANCISCO here. Just a list of generic categories that are a combination of consumer-searched and business-bought that’s going to be replicated across any major metropolitan area regardless of the city (let’s toss out some Home and Garden and pepper it with a little Restaurant lookup). That should cement our ability to maintain 20 million uniques. No erosion from Google there.

]]> By: The brand new Yahoo! Local – Hidden Features http://gesterling.wordpress.com/2007/08/15/yahoo-refreshes-redesigns-local/#comment-87574 The brand new Yahoo! Local – Hidden Features Wed, 15 Aug 2007 08:52:49 +0000 http://gesterling.wordpress.com/2007/08/15/yahoo-refreshes-redesigns-local/#comment-87574 [...] Now Greg Sterling has a less biased and more insightful take on the new design go have a read. Yahoo! Refreshes, Redesigns Local [...] [...] Now Greg Sterling has a less biased and more insightful take on the new design go have a read. Yahoo! Refreshes, Redesigns Local [...]

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