Local Search Comparison - Yahoo!, Google and MSN

I compared a couple of local queries across the three major search engines - Google, Yahoo! and the recently launched MSN local search. I focused on two major components: the quality of the search results and the user interface of the results.

Yahoo! was the best in terms of quality of search results and user interface. Google has the most readable maps. MSN fared the worst of the three.

I searched for

1. coffee shops around my home street address in San Francisco, an urban environment.

2. computer stores around 33486, a zip code in Boca Raton, Florida, a suburban environment.

I chose these queries because they are queries that I have actually done in the past, and I am familiar enough with the geographic areas to be able to provide (a biased) judgment about the results.

Quality of Results:

	Yahoo!	Google	MSN
Coffee Shop	9 of 10 nearest coffee shops	5 of 10 nearest coffee shops	2 of 10 nearest coffee shops Note: MSN only allows zip and City searches (and not by street address). This limitation seriously impaired results
Major Computer Stores returned (other results were not large retail computer stores)	Apple Note: also returned a closed Gateway store.	Office Depot Apple CompUSA	Only returns 10 results, no major stores

User Interface

	Yahoo!	Google	MSN
Pros	Mouseover on result highlights icon on map WiFi information for each result Clipping from a review available Search Nearby	Anti-aliasing, widest streets and consistent font usage makes G! maps the easiest to read. WiFi information for each result Results and map on same page Summary of Ratings	Mouseover on result highlights icon on map Good Default Zoom Level Results and map on same page
Cons	Separate page (and click) to access map	Worst default zoom level	Zip code, city only searches Only provides address and phone number, no additional information

Overall, the utility of Yahoo and Google are highest. The biggest area for future improvement is the actual results generated by the search engine, rather than the user interface. Improving the results probably needs to be addressed on a category by category basis.

The search for computer stores was particularly problematic. Larger stores such as CompUSA or Office Depot which would be more likely to have extensive selections of products were either not returned or hard to find because many small shops and consultants were returned.