Mayer: Yahoo Not Planning To Invest In Local Search Right Now

Search is a “core priority” at Yahoo, but the company isn’t planning any significant investments in local search in the near future.

That’s some of what new CEO Marissa Mayer revealed today in her first earnings call since she joined the company this summer.

Mayer spoke several times about Yahoo and search in general, saying it’s one of the “core daily habits” of Yahoo users — a fact that makes search one of her core priorities as CEO. But that future focus on search won’t apparently include Yahoo’s local search products.

Why? Because local search is, proverbially speaking, a tough nut to crack.

“I really do love [local], but it requires a deep investment, a lot of energy and time to build terrific listings. We already have some products in this area. They’re good at the moment, but it’s hard to take that next step. We don’t expect to make changes in the short term. It’s not an area where we’re going to make significant investments right now.”

Many years ago, Yahoo was a leader in local search and mapping, but its products have been ignored over the years. Google — led in part, of course, by Mayer herself — has invested very heavily in maps and local search and continues to do so today. There are also companies like Yelp and Foursquare that have focused and invested more in local search than Yahoo has in recent years, and are also ahead of Yahoo Local/Maps when it comes to awareness (especially on mobile).

For more on Mayer’s search and mobile comments from today’s earnings call, as well as Yahoo’s financials, see our articles on Marketing Land:

• Marissa Mayer Outlines Her Goals At Yahoo, Gives Frank Assessment Of Where Company Is Today
• Yahoo Beats The Street For CEO Marissa Mayer’s First Earnings Report

Mayer’s comments about the challenges of doing local well may sound familiar. Google’s Eric Schmidt said “maps are really hard” when recently asked about Apple’s iOS mapping troubles.