I’ve written several times about Yext PowerListings and its real-time data update capability. Universal Business Listing had been trying to develop a competing product that would allow real-time updates to major directories and search engines. Indeed, UBL had been talking about this for several years, before Yext PowerListings showed up.
The two were competitive. But now they’ve decided to join forces and are “strategic partners.”
Both decided that the other’s assets were complementary and that a relationship made sense. So today they’ve announced a deal that enables UBL services buyers to gain access to the Yext PowerListings distribution network and real-time updates.
The Yext offering is included in “UBL Express,” which is a new product at $599 per year. By comparison the Yext product was $499 per year. The UBL Express offering is much more complete.
Yext CEO Howard Lerman told me that Yext PowerListings now has 43,000 locations and is experiencing great growth. I wonder about how the deal with UBL will impact PowerListings in the future. Howard appears confident that it won’t cannibalize Yext’s product and growth potential.
The word “express,” which is often associated with simplification (e.g., “AdWords Express”), here is designed to convey speed in reference to the real-time update capability of Yext PowerListings.
Yext on its own didn’t offer Google Places, which was the major hole in the PowerListings product. However UBL offers Google Places claiming.
Local marketers will want to take a hard look at this product because it now appears to be comprehensive. It’s not clear however that SMBs themselves will understand the value of “Express” vs. “Premium” for example.
I’m interested in your thoughts and whether this new combined package seems compelling to you.
March 26th, 2012 at 1:58 pm
Shows how UBL is getting their butt’s kicked by Yext. Yext gets more merchants into their system (they’re already selling through other sales channels such as mapquest) and UBL concedes that their vision (that they had before Yext) was just a pipe dream.
March 26th, 2012 at 1:59 pm
The question is why would someone go to Yext directly now. Brands with multiple locations I can see but SMBs would get a more comprehensive product for $100 more per year.
March 26th, 2012 at 5:29 pm
What’s the value of either one for an already established business (with stable hours, phone, address, etc) that has gone in and manually claimed all of the listings over the past couple of years?
March 26th, 2012 at 6:00 pm
If you’ve claimed all these listings then none. Most SMBs will not have done so however.
March 26th, 2012 at 9:19 pm
[...] will also add Google Places to the roster of syndicated services — a feature that remains, as Greg Sterling pointed out, one of the few holes in Yext’s lineup. The absence of Google Places in Yext’s product is not [...]
March 26th, 2012 at 10:50 pm
Regarding the first comment, I don’t think it’s that simple. While UBL’s user interfaces haven’t been as slick as Yext’s, it’s obvious that Yext perceives some benefit from UBL’s client base and channel, or else they wouldn’t have made the deal. Also, UBL’s vision wasn’t “just a pipe dream” — it’s a concept that makes sense for any SMB that has attempted to start the arduous process of establishing their online presence — it’s immediately obvious to anyone who has started down that road that it would make sense and be easier for SMBs to be able to go to a single location to make their data available and consistent universally. Unfortunately, the first challenge to that coming to fruition is that SMBs do not know where to begin in the fractured online local world — so, the splintered nature of it is likely to continue.
But, the identification of the actual business need for such a solution remains, and it continues to create viability for some sort of business model around it. Quite a few companies share this particular dream, whether they are overt in expressing it or not.
March 26th, 2012 at 11:15 pm
Never suggested it was a “pipe dream.” And yes competition and fragmentation — and a lack of “transparency” from the SMB POW — make it challenging for anyone seeking to do what UBL is trying to do to acquire customers. UBL of course has resellers too.
March 27th, 2012 at 1:54 am
Weird, I was just comparing the two of them yesterday, before this new change. But I’m confused about this tiered offering from UBL. The UBL express does not appear to include the Premium services, video and social media profile creation. Or am I reading it wrong?
From the beginning, UBL has always had a disjointed website, and a big communication problem.
March 27th, 2012 at 12:48 pm
I can’t give you the full list of things that it includes. I would assume it includes everything the other packages do but you’ll need to talk to them to get the fully storey. I agree the site is incomplete.
It’s mostly set up as a lead-gen vechicle for telephone in-bound telesales I think.
March 28th, 2012 at 4:39 pm
I’m glad that they combined services. It’s one less step that I have to take care of.
My concern is with claiming Google Places at the same time that the citations are being added. If the quick claims take 14-21 and 60-90 for the rest of the citations. Wouldn’t you want to claim the Google Places page after the all the citations have been established?
March 28th, 2012 at 5:31 pm
I cannot answer that question unfortunately.
March 28th, 2012 at 5:31 pm
Somebody like @silvery or @davidmihm or @localseoguide could
March 28th, 2012 at 6:54 pm
Thanks Greg.