Beyond what Google, Yahoo, MSN, and Ask (I’m including CitySearch) offer, there are a lot of other local search/review websites. To name the notable:

  • InsiderPages Funded by IdeaLab, an incubation company whose previous successes include Overture
  • Zipingo (owned by Inuit, makers of Quicken)
  • Judy’s Book - VC funded, I am including them here because a large majority of their traffic/base is still based on adding reviews for local establishments
  • Yelp - VC funded, part of the ‘PayPal alumni creations’
  • TrueLocal - owned by GeoSign, a well established internet company
  • Local.com - publicly traded company

So we have six websites, all duking it out with the four big boys of the internet. And as almost always happens in a fragmented market, problems are starting to rear.

InsiderPages just went through some big layoffs. Zipingo really hasn’t made much of a splash, and with Google’s recent partnership with Inuit, may just be pushed aside. Judy’s Book was forced to change its plan to survive (but still has great value in its existing review-base). Yelp is the golden boy, chugging along, but has raised over $15 million. TrueLocal admittedly a different breed - it is actually sells its data. And local.com - well they seem to have already started the acquisition game, picking up soUno to build up its revenue stream.

The fact that none of them are profitable (except for TrueLocal) will lead to some casualties in the upcoming year. My prediction is that by the end of the year, only Yelp, TrueLocal, and Local.com will still exist. My prediction for the other three:

  • InsiderPages - the management at IdeaLabs cannot be happy. They are used to getting press - a lot of it. Yelp has stolen any thunder the site has, and I wouldn’t be surprised if Yelp comes in and acquires the site. It does have over $10 million laying around …
  • Zipingo - eliminated. As Google and Inuit’s partnership bears fruit, and Zipingo’s lackluster traction is considered, it will be axed.
  • Judy’s Book - won’t survive. All their goodwill, all their traffic, and all their SEO benefits have been from local reviews. Alexa already shows a steady decline in pageviews, and so people just are not sticking around. As the value of their reviews diminishes, I see the site drying up. Sorry Andy, I just don’t see it happening

Others are launching - ie Mojo Pages. I don’t see them surviving long either - their blog focuses a lot on accounting and usability, but absolutely none on actually reaching mass market (which is the problem IP and Yelp really suffered from). I predict a quick demise for them also.