Yandex Starts Local Search App
July 16, 2014
Russia’s answer to Google is Yandex. Yandex is continuously searching for ways to boost its product offerings beyond basic search and now they created their own version of Yelp. TechCrunch says in the article “Yandex’s New Local Search App, Yandex.City, Goes Where No Yelp Has Gone Before” that Yandex wants to tap into the growing middle class who own smartphones. Popular US based local search apps have limited or zero presence in Russia and the local competition is very small. Yandex could easily have the monopoly on local app search for Russia, but they aim to take it to Ukraine, Turkey, Kazakhstan, and Belarus.
What will Yandex’s new app do?
“Yandex.City will link up with Yandex’s extensive mapping operation, which includes not just maps but navigation features to get you there, to provide results based on a user’s specified location. Just as it is with Google, advertising is very much the bread and butter of Yandex’s business, and from what we understand it will use Yandex.City to push geo-targeted and search-related ads to users.”
Yandex.City will mostly likely use technology from the geolocation startup KitLocate the Russian search engine purchases earlier in 2014.
This is a strategic business move for Yandex to compete with Google and other search engines, add more services, and increase its advertising business. If Yandex offers a better product than its foreign competitors then it will beat everyone out. People tend to trust a product that speaks their own language over foreign blasts.
Whitney Grace, July 16, 2014
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
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