Chris Sherman over at SearchDay (SEW) gives Metrobot, a new kind of local search engine, a rave review today. From his piece: “Metrobot is one of the most useful specialized search services I’ve seen in a long while. It also shows how thinking outside of the (search) box can lead to a creative yet incredibly useful solution to the local search problem all of the major search engines are throwing a lot of resources at. Here’s hoping they all take a close look at what Metrobot has to offer.”
I tried the San Francisco search, and was not impressed – I searched by “type of business” and could not find a bike shop or a dry cleaner. New York was better populated. The service is very new and the CEO promises to add listings as fast as they can. I’m inclined to listen when Chris or others at SEW say nice things about a new approach to search, and the map feature is really cool (here’s an example here). It’s surprising, in a good way, to see local businesses in context of what else is on the street nearby.