When deciding whether to spend advertising dollars on the Internet Yellow Pages (IYP) or on Search Engine Marketing you might want to consider the pros and cons along with these four main factors:

1. Ease of Use
Some of the challenges of SEM is the learning curve. This factor is especially relevant for small to medium enterprises (SMEs). Many SMEs find SEM confusing, but are too busy running their businesses to spend valuable resources trying to learn about it.
The Yellow Pages have a huge local sales force that can work personally with advertisers, who often find it easier to buy a full Yellow Pages online/print package than to invest time and money in learning search marketing.

For those who do venture into SEM, the upkeep can be overwhelming. You have to continue to monitor keywords to ensure good placement among paid listings and this can be a lot of work. Again, it is small to medium businesses that suffer most in this area – they generally do not often have the resources to manage an SEM campaign, especially if it has a pay per click (PPC) component.

2. Cost
Arguments about cost can be made for and against both methods. Without careful planning and vigilance, a PPC campaign can become quite expensive. Costs are generally static in IYP but can fluctuate with PPC, depending on the number of clicks.
The flip side of this argument is that PPC is more appealing because businesses only pay when their ad is clicked, unlike a flat-rate (and often expensive) Yellow Pages ad, which an advertiser pays for regardless of how many people actually see it.

3. Ad Content and Local Search
SEM is weak in the area of local search. For this reason businesses tend to choose the Yellow Pages because it has brand recognition among consumers looking for local companies. Also Yellow Pages online sites are destination sites for business searches and this also enhances their appeal to business owners.

Another advantage of the Internet Yellow Pages is the content of the listing itself. IYP listings contain more information from the advertiser than a search engine listing, and that information is presented in a way that is familiar to users. These copy points include hours of operation, location, brands carried and payment methods accepted.
On the downside, the online Yellow Pages are often behind the search engines in the area of innovation and in what marketers call non-advertisercopy points. I mean including things like integrated maps, user reviews, and ratings with their business listings.

4. Search Options
IYP is limited in the search options they offer compared to search engines which allow for broad keyword searches. While there has been improvement from the very first online directory models many IYP directories only allow for a category and business name search. The better IYP directories have added keyword searching but still, the results are not always relevant. Look for the IYP to improve in this area so they can compete with search engines. Also, several Yellow Pages publishers have included the packaging of Google Ad Words in their enhanced service listings.

Search is measurable and an integrated approach that recognizes that both a strong IYP and SEMM program delivers sales leads means this is the optimal way to go.