I had reviewed the local search engine market in India, and one of my biggest concern was that as an end user, Google is my de-facto search engine and I will never use 2 search engines [Google and any another local search engine] for the same purpose.
Unless and until the local search engine is very relevant.
While Guruji and others are adding cities to their search engine, the missing link for them is the content itself. In India, the content is not structured and getting access to the content itself is quite painful [even the Yellow pages aren't good enough].
And what if one of the biggest content owner jumps into the online search market space?
Today, JustDial, the telephone directory search company [i.e. 23333333] has launched its online avatar: JustDial.com, an online search engine that enables users access to city informtion.
JustDial has over few the past served as one-stop-shop [atleast in Bangalore] for all my queries on business services. But the painful point about the telephone service was that they will ask for your mobile number and email id [which of course means that they sell these details to interested vendors, and that translates into irritating calls from credit card/insurance companies].
The online avatar, hopefully will be stripped of these preconditions, as the revenue model seems to revolve around sponsored listings.
What’s great about the service is its’ relevant search result. I searched for housemaid [yeah! my family is looking for one!], and JustDial’s results are way better than Guruji’s [which didn't show up anything actually!].
JustDial carries forward the brand equity that they have developed over the past few years and that will help them compete with the likes of Guruji.
I had my wow moment with JustDial when I searched for “North Indian restaurant in Banneghatta road,Bangalore” and apart from relevant results, I also got
- Price range [i.e. meals for 2 below Rs. 250/500/1000 etc.], and
- Wider Area search results [i.e. beyond Bannerghatta Road].
Now that’s what I call RELEVANCY?
ContentSutra reports:
As per the release, JustDial intends to include menu cards, and in case of movie tickets – link to online ticketing services…..Just Dial’s search is powered by Ziva Software, which had recently launched a local mobile search service called Zook..
Finally the search market in India has evolved [and this is definitely a milestone].
Glad you liked the search. Its early days for Ziva, and there’s a lot more to come. Yeah, JustDial’s data is very very good and thats their strongest point.
Zook is not a local search engine per se, but intends to fill the ‘leisure’ niche – both on phone and off it, iwithcategories being added pretty much every week now). Zook also involves the users’ contacts and mimics the real life behaviour of asking your friends who you think may know (something more) about something you’re interested in.
Hey Sameer
Thanks for the comment. Yes, I really liked the JustDial search and must say that it’s a damn nifty thing, compared to uber Gurujis!
Glanced thru’ your profile and looks like you are located in Bangalore and an enthu bike rider!
Though I am not a rider per se, but I do dream of covering the entire India on my Enfield [someday!! someway!]!
Lets meet sometime.
Ashish,
Sure. Are you part of the bikenomads yahoo group – thats a good place if you want to meet more of the bike n travel inclined
Do send me feedback on Zook – we’re keen to make it more n more useful every week.
Ashish,
i would like to give another more “Indian Local Search Engine”( Ilaka.in)
We can Search Business places with Route Maps.
We can search through Mobile also.
EX:
Hyderabad Hotels, Hospitals, Banks, Movie Theaters, Schools, Shopping Malls, Real Estate, Automobiles..etc search and find details with Route Maps in ilaka.in site.
Indian Local Search Engine, Hyderabad, India Search Engine, Hyderabad Business Search
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Hey guys Just Dial has now also launched its Wap site. http://wap.justdial.com
So now you can access it from you mobile phone. It is really fast.
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just dial is certainly good…but recently i came across a local search engine called yepme.com……i feel out of ubar guruji’s and laila’s yepme is THE MOST DECENT in terms of the content, listing etc etc … do check it out!!
yepme also introduced Community this really a great feature…. where you can write and ask any thing….great…