BellSouth will become the first yellow pages publisher authorized to sell advertising through Google AdWords to small and medium-sized local businesses.
Under the multi-year agreement, BellSouth will include Google AdWords as an integral part of its RealSearch offering, a patent-pending search engine marketing service designed for small and medium-sized local businesses. By aligning with the BellSouth sales force, Google can now reach more small and medium-sized local businesses in the Southeast with Google AdWords.
With AdWords, Google's performance-based search advertising program, advertisers present marketing messages to potential customers at the precise moment they are looking for information related to the products and services the advertiser offers. Google AdWords enables select RealSearch customers to generate leads across the Google Network, which reaches more than 80 percent of U.S. Internet users.
"Helping our advertisers grow their businesses is at the core of our success," said Elmer Smith of BellSouth. "We believe this partnership will allow RealSearch customers to take advantage of the extensive reach of the Google Network, which will aid them in attracting more and more customers."
"Our relationship with BellSouth enables Google to leverage an established, market-leading sales force to reach small and medium-sized local businesses across the Southeast," said Sukhinder Singh, general manager of Google Local and Third Party Sales. "Google is excited to add a new way to reach prospective advertisers, while continuing to provide users with relevant local information and advertisements."
Google currently provides advertisers with the ability to reach customers in local markets through a variety of AdWords targeting options including regional and city level, as well as through an address-based radius feature or by specifying latitude and longitude points.
With RealSearch Engine Solutions from BellSouth, advertisers reach potential customers when consumers are actively looking for information about products and services online. BellSouth offers a full-service solution that sends a guaranteed number of targeted visitors from search engines directly to a customer's website.
Smith said by managing the local search solution for advertisers, BellSouth is saving its customers time and money and allowing them to benefit from search engine marketing while maintaining focus on their day-to-day business operations.
"The phenomenal growth of local search, combined with BellSouth's one-of- a-kind RealSearch product incorporating Google's AdWords, positions BellSouth as a primary partner for our online advertisers," Smith said.
According to The Kelsey Group, provider of strategic research, analysis, data and competitive metrics on yellow pages, electronic directories and local media, the local paid search advertising market generated $45 million in 2003 and is expected to reach as high as $2.5 billion by 2008 in advertising revenue.