The current reality is, all of us who work in the online space depend tremendously on search engines, especially Google–it’s one of the main ways consumers find the information they’re looking for.

Whenever I need directions, my first stop is Google maps. When I needed a chicken cacciatore recipe last weekend, I searched the term on Google (thank you, Giada De Laurentiis–it was delicious). Whenever I’m debating the answer to a question with friends, we usually settle our score by saying, “Google it!”

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Today’s high-tech world has shifted the way people search for services. Today’s harsh economic conditions have limited the advertising funds business owners can afford to spend. The result: the likely extinction of the once golden, or should I say yellow, ticket to more business, the Yellow Pages. Once upon a time the Yellow Pages were all consumers had to find a landscaper, a new pizza place, or the number to the local hairdresser. Today there’s the internet. Yet, even online Yellow Pages are seeing their traffic diminish:

Print and online ad spending on yellow pages will plummet 6.3% next year, more than double the rate of decline expected for broadcast TV, according to forecasts by Wachovia analyst John Janedis. Within the next four years, ad spending will fall 39% in print directories alone — the steepest projected decline across all local-media categories, according to media-research firm Borrell Associates.

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