Local Search Update: Yelp up 91%, Insider Pages up 34% in Past Six Months
This week Insider Pages was acquired by the Citysearch division of IAC. Hitwise data shows that the market share of US visits to Insider Pages was up 34% in the past 6 months (August 2006 vs. February 2007).
Context & Ripple Effects
Two data points define this moment in local search. Hitwise's confirmed measurements put Yelp's share of US visits up 91% over the six months from August 2006 to February 2007, with Insider Pages up 34% over the same window — evidence that consumer-written local reviews were pulling traffic faster than established directory players could build it themselves.
IAC's answer on the Citysearch side was to buy rather than build: the completed acquisition of Insider Pages folds one of the fastest-growing independent review sites into IAC's existing local directory business. With no syndicated pickup or public reaction recorded around the announcement, Hitwise's traffic-share numbers stand as the main public justification — and the yardstick rivals will be measured against.
First-order effects
- IAC's Citysearch division immediately gains Insider Pages' review content and its 34% six-month visit growth, converting an independent challenger into owned inventory inside IAC's local portfolio.
- Yelp remains the category's traffic leader on momentum — up 91% per Hitwise — and is now the clear unconsolidated asset both IAC and any rival portal would have to bid against.
Second-order effects
- Local merchants and advertisers lose one more independent review destination to buy against, concentrating pricing power in fewer hands — IAC's combined Citysearch–Insider Pages operation and fast-growing Yelp.
- Hitwise's role hardens: when a 34% traffic gain is enough to trigger an exit, traffic-share measurement itself becomes the currency that sets valuations across the local search market.
Third-order effects
- If Hitwise's growth curves hold, independent review sites keep consolidating into diversified portal groups rather than surviving standalone, structuring local search around a few traffic-measured platforms.
- The shift points local advertising spend away from legacy directories toward user-review destinations, forcing every incumbent with a local product to either acquire growth or defend share against Yelp.
The trend: Consumer-review local search is scaling fast enough that portal holding companies like IAC are buying growth through consolidation instead of building competing review products.