• by Laurie Sullivan , Staff Writer @lauriesullivan, March 3, 2015

The first rule of search engine marketing is never say never. Indeed, many company executives do -- but Darren Clark, CTO at YP.com, isn't one of them. On Tuesday he announced the launch of ypSearch Marketplace, a keyword-bid local search marketplace that enables national brands to reach YP's 80 million monthly users across its network. The move turned a once old-time directory into a local, real-time marketplace.

When asked about integrating into platforms like Marin Software, and Kenshoo, Clark declined to respond, but it would make sense to have ypSearch Marketplace integrate into the dashboard of these companies to grow YP.com's search ad business. It makes sense because national brand marketers are looking for ways to expand their reach, increase their exposure in the local markets and drive lookups and ecommerce revenue. 

ypSearch Marketplace runs a real-time auction using the same standards and tools used to run campaigns across Google's and Bing's network. It's not open yet to all YP clients.

Following search standards like the biddable marketplace and the second-price auction brings familiarity to the platform, Clark said. "We're partnering to onboard some of our large customers like Home Depot to get them familiar with the platform, so over time they can manage the campaigns," he said.

The programmatic buzz across display ads became the push to figure out how to open up more inventory for brands and make the products better, Clark said. YP will spend the next three to six months educating media buyers, showing them the buying process is similar to other platforms.