Just wrapped up my panel at SMXWest on Local Search and Blended results. It’s bittersweet. I know I could’ve done better, and provided some more meat to general search marketers — but I was nervous to say the least. Hopefully that didn’t translate through though.

Tip of the hat to Barry Schwartz who, in typical SER fashion — is live blogging like no one else. He’s got a recap of my panel available already online.

To condense his notes:

…Eric Lander, Associate Editor, Search Engine Journal is next up.

He shows a Google OneBox example for Santa Clara Sushi. He then shows how local results are blended into a search result, the Google Local plus/minus box. Yahoo is a bit more traditional, Yahoo one ups Google by showing a rating by users there. Live Search is very traditional but was a bit more disappointed.

Verified Listings:
– Manually verified feed via Google Local, Yahoo Local and Windows Live.
– Feed Based Solution to submit for businesses with many locations, such as ReachLocal, Localez and infoUSA.com.

Who are Trusted Sources?
– Internet Yellow Pages: SuperPages, YellowPages, YellowBook
– FeedProviders: InfoUSA, Localeze
– Social, Review & Niche Sites: Yelp, CitySearch, Automotive.com, etc.

Tips:
– Cross link your contact pages to MapQuest or other mapping service
– Verify your unverified listings, multiple data sources can lead to troubles
– Free Tools: Localeze’s merchant profile manager lets you update your business profiles for free
– Search categories and users: Local search is very much social, user reviews, etc.