Localeze + Bing versus Google + Yelp
I noticed an article from MediaPost this morning that talks about Microsoft signing a deeper relationship with Localeze recently for use in Bing’s local efforts. This is one of those fly under the radar types of news items that garners very little attention, unlike say the big fuss made over the potential Google – Yelp acquisition. It’s just another day to day type deal, so I suppose there is no reason for it to grab headlines but in my mind this type of deal between Microsoft and Localeze is much more interesting than Google and Yelp.
I love Yelp and use it frequently, and to a degree I get the rationale on why its a potentially attractive acquisition, particularly for someone like Google that is looking so aggressively at targeting the local brick and mortar businesses, and their advertising budget. Yelp has many of the right relationships with local advertisers and at the same time has a nice content creation tool and user base who rabidly create tons of local oriented content… all a very nice fit with what Google does and where they’re looking to grow.
But the deal between Microsoft and Localeze in my mind directly tries to fix something that is currently wrong when you search for local businesses. Read more
