A comparison of two local search engines: 411.ca and Weblocal.ca

1. 411.ca vs weblocal.ca – Is there a difference?
Using a local search company, either as a customer or business, can be a savvy move. As a customer,
instead of having to wade through pages and pages of search results that don’t fit your needs or are
located out of your area, a local search company that is optimized for Canadian businesses brings
companies that you would be truly interested in to your fingertips. For business owners, companies that
provide local search resultsprovide you another advertising tool to reach your customers in the most
efficient manner possible.
In central Canada, there are two choices when it comes to local online search companies: 411.ca and
weblocal.ca. Although both work in a similar manner, 411.ca is more user-friendly and alsooffersa more
valuable web search tool. Looking at both services and the features they offer, a distinct difference can
be noticed.
411.ca has a business review feature that weblocal.ca lacks. With the prevalence of sites dedicated to
product and service reviews, this feature creates a smoother and more practical internet search
experience. By avoiding the customer having to leave your site multiple times to check reviews and
ratings, 411.ca createsa streamlined process and a more customer-friendly service too.
Ongoing costs are a factor for every business, and with respect to this,411.ca also offers an added
convenience for businesses – that is,companies do not have to buy into long-term contracts when they
decide to choose 411.ca for their advertising needs. As a company’s business demands change, being
locked into a contract that doesn’t reflect their current strategy is simply wasted money. Weblocal.ca
requires a 3-month contract with no refund if the search engine doesn’t produce results. In comparison,
411.ca is designed to be used month-to-month with no long-term contract obligations.
411.ca also has other features and services that are not found elsewhere in the Canadian online search
market. For example, print ads on a company’s website are not mandatory, and if a business wants
them, they can be tailored to specific needs and business plans. Awebsite on 411.ca can also be
personalized to each and every company. As a business owner, you can finally take control of your white
page ads.
Ad tracking is built intoweblocal.ca and 411.ca. As a result, a business using either service has the ability
to track how many hits their ads receive and where the hits originate from. This gives companies the
unique ability to target their ad to specific markets. However, 411.ca also supplies the metrics to
determine the effectiveness of ads and thus alleviates the guesswork that’s been inherent in judging
marketing effectiveness. This is a feature weblocal.ca lacks.
To reach an even broader audience, 411.ca is Google-friendly and integrates smoothly into Google’s
search results. Again, this is a feature that weblocal.ca does not presently offer.
In addition to all of these advantages, name brand recognition is an important factor in choosing a local
web service. ‘411’ is recognized in both Canada and the United States as the phone number for

2. information. Name recognition is a huge advantage in marketing and linking your product to a company
that dominates in the local search field is just good business sense.
Although both 411.ca and weblocal.ca provide similar services, 411.ca dominates the market in price,
personalization, ad tracking and name recognition. Any of these factors could determine which company
was the better investment of your time and resources, but when they are all taken together, 411.ca
becomes the smart market choice for your business.