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Posted by on December 25, 2007, 10:49 pm
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On Dec 24, 9:56=A0pm, Wesr...@aol.com wrote:
> =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0There are other search =A0issues, too. =A0Several month=
s ago, using
> yellowpages.com, I was looking to =A0see if a hotel or motel (name known) =
still
> existed in a small place. =A0It =A0returned 183 listings, many of them 800=
numbers and
> many others 100 miles or =A0more away.
So true. Search engines have weird quirks. The above is a common
problem. By design, many merchants label or tag their listings so as
to appear in as many searches as possible in the hopes of drawing in
more customers. Sometimes the opposite happens--you search the wrong
town name and you DON'T get listings from places very close by because
they're under another town name.
I was searching on Google, using a particular phrase. I put it in
quotes since I only wanted that exact phrase. But Google added
synonyms I did not want, flooding me with unwanted 'matches'.
Also, sometimes you want the word 'and' used in the search, not as a
Boolean operator.
> =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 An =A0additional point is that the printed directories=
must be widely
> used or they =A0would not be so profitable as to encourage several publish=
ers
> to produce them =A0for the same area, and for all of them to advertise the=
m
> widely on television =A0and in newspapers.. =A0The directories, as is the =
case of many
> productions, =A0are supported by advertising revenue.
The old Bell System Yellow Pages was very profitable. But AFAIK, that
was never regulated and anyone could put out a "yellow pages" and
charge whatever they wanted for ads. You are correct that if multiple
Yellow Pages (or even White Pages) are published the utlity will
greatly diminish.
But I must admit I'm not a fan of the Yellow Pages since it got
tacky. Maybe my town was late, but I don't like ads for "massage
parlors", nor double page color ads by lawyers "WE WILL GET MONEY FOR
YOU!".
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