Local Search, The Clock is Ticking - Part 2

I posted about the challenges in local search with respect to fresh data in an earlier post. Now, not two weeks after the original restaurant closed, a new tenant is already operational: Harissa. Currently, the blogosphere, courtesy of the Ravenna Blog, is the only evidence online of this restaurant. (Actually, it is the only source online indexed by a major search engine, to be precise).

There are a couple of hypotheses to entertain here (and they are not mutually exclusive). Firstly, that sites powered by community, such as Yelp, are going to be early in finding changes in state of businesses (especially by category). Secondly, that bloggers are going to be similarly early. My feeling is that dedicated hyperlocal bloggers, where present, are going to be more reliable as they are an online voice specific to the location. The Yelp path, while still pretty effective, requires that a Yelp contributor intersect with the specific new restaurant.

 

Comments

[RavennaBlog]

Being the unofficial homepage of a new restaurant is great for site traffic, by the way. :)