The local space is heating up, with the number of hyperlocal news startups growing by the month and the big-three portals also doubling down. Given their big traffic numbers and financial might, it’s with the big portals that things could get interesting. AOL (NYSE: TWX), MSN and Yahoo (NSDQ: YHOO) have all talked loudly about wanting to attract a bigger share of local online advertising dollars—a market that is expected to grow 12 percent this year alone. But the big players are going about it in different ways. Microsoft (NSDQ: MSFT) and Yahoo are both building pages that customize aggregated information depending on a user’s location, while AOL is also going for original content.

Below, a look at what each company offers, what it is promising for the future, and where it could run into trouble.

MSN:

Approach: U.S. MSN Executive Producer Scott Moore tells us the local space is still too patchwork. “There (are) all kinds of local information and data (on the web), but it’s mostly in these vertical services, so Yelp for restaurant reviews, Zillow for real estate, MSN Movies for movie times,” he says. “The vision we had for local was really to take all this news and data—news, sports, weather—which is all across the network—pull it together in one integrated dashboard for your life.”

So, a new MSN ‘Local edition’ page—introduced with the MSN home page redesign earlier this month—lets users see local weather, traffic, news stories and restaurant reviews that match their ZIP codes on one page. (See screenshot above). The ‘Local edition’ replaces the more general city-wide sites that Microsoft reintroduced in May.

Future: Moore expects 10 million to 20 million users of the ‘Local edition’ once the new home page goes live to all MSN users early next year. “Once we have an audience like that for a local product … it will also allow us to weave in other types of content,” he says. One possibility, he says, is that Microsoft could integrate content from local bloggers.

Microsoft is also a part-owner of MSNBC.com and depends on that site as its main news provider. MSNBC.com recently purchased startup Everyblock, which aggregates information from a wide list of municipal sources (e.g. 911 dispatches and land-use records) as well as news sites related to specific areas. Everyblock content would seem to fit well with the ‘Local edition.’

Possible hitch: Because it’s all automated, it lacks the “voice” of other local products online.

AOL:

Approach: In a June memo, CEO Tim Armstrong said that of the five areas AOL was focusing on, local was the “largest white space” for the company. “Our vision isn’t just about optimizing what we have – it’s about overhauling how we approach this space, drawing on our legacy of connecting communities and our long history of organization through (open directory project) DMOZ. It’s about taking one of the most disaggregated experiences on the Web today and making it truly quick and easy for consumers to find the local information they need.”

AOL purchased hyperlocal news startup Patch and local event guide Going over the summer.

Future: Under AOL, Patch is in the midst of a big expansion that will almost double the size of its local network. The company announced in October that it would launch 17 additional sites in New England and even more sites are likely coming soon, since Patch has purchased domains for communities where it does not currently have operations. At the same time, AOL is reportedly trying to offload MapQuest, the mapping service that also features location-specific pages that link to local blogs, jobs and traffic.

Possible hitch: Local remains disaggregated for AOL itself—at least on AOL.com. It is one of the tabs on the top of the AOL home page. AOL’s Mapquest, meanwhile, is yet another link on the top. And on the left hand of the home page, there is a separate “Local events” link. As for Going and Patch, so far, they’re only linked to on the bottom of AOL Local. It’s also unclear if AOL would ever roll out Patch sites across the country. That would be costly—and take time.

Yahoo:

Approach: Of the three portals, Yahoo has been the quietest lately on the local front. During the company’s earnings call in July, however, CEO Carol Bartz said that “local relevance of both content and advertising is increasingly important to our users and capturing more of the local ad market is a big focus to us.” As evidence, she noted that the company had 13,000 local ad reps across the country because of its relationships with AT&T (NYSE: T) and local newspapers.

In September, after two years of testing, Yahoo rolled out a new service called “Neighbors,” which lets users ask others in their neighborhood questions. Yahoo gave the new feature lots of prominence on its local site, including it as one of the four main tabs that run across the top. Yahoo’s new home page also features local news headlines.

Future: Anthony Moor, who has overseen the Dallas Morning News’ new media strategy, is joining Yahoo to head up its local news efforts. On his Twitter account recently, he hinted that Yahoo wanted to improve the local headlines that show up on the front page, saying he had been tasked with building a “staff of editors around (the) U.S. who will improve the local news experience on (the Yahoo) frontpage.”

Possible hitch: Yahoo is reliant on partners for its content—making its local pages impersonal. And while the “Neighbors” effort adds a user-generated touch, user gen is only as good as the amount of content that is generated. (It’s early days, but in the entire city of Seattle, where I live, only eight questions have been asked so far.)

Related

• MSN Home-Page Overhaul Includes Big Push On Local
• Yahoo Hires Dallas Morning News Editor To Head Up Local News Effort
• Borrell: Local Online Ad Growth Peaking At 12 Percent In ‘09

Go to Source

Popularity: unranked [?]