Integration of Yahoo Local into Yahoo Search and Yahoo Front Page further Demonstrates Commitment to Providing the Best Search Experience on the Web.
Yahoo has launched Yahoo Local. Building on Yahoo’s position as the most popular local destination on the Internet, and consumer feedback gained through beta testing, the new Yahoo Local is now accessible on the Yahoo Front Page and Yahoo Search. Yahoo Local leverages Yahoo!’s leading search technology, comprehensive local listings, innovative mapping functionality, and user-generated content to deliver a more relevant and precise search experience for consumers looking for local information online.
“We’re very excited to fully integrate our local search product into the Yahoo search experience,” said Jeff Weiner, senior vice president of Yahoo Search and Marketplace. “Given that local is one of the most popular and valuable search categories for our users, Yahoo Local serves as yet another example of Yahoo’s ability to innovate in order to provide the highest quality search experience on the Internet. Furthermore, this launch continues to demonstrate Yahoo’s unique ability to extend search to key vertical areas such as local, shopping, travel, news and more.”
Yahoo Local offers comprehensive merchant listings and provides consumers with the tools necessary to pinpoint localized information and businesses in their hometown, or any other location in the United States. As a result of extensive feedback and usage from hundreds of thousands of users since the beta launch in August, Yahoo further enhanced its local search tools, including:
— Improved relevance algorithm to deliver more precise local results based on the type of search
— Increased comprehensiveness via additional data sources
— Streamlined rating and review system to enhance community involvement
— Improved integration of SmartView and driving directions from Yahoo Maps
— “Also try” search suggestions to help users quickly find what they’re looking for
— Improved interface for narrowing and sorting results by price, rating and distance
“The new Yahoo Local is a more powerful, precise and comprehensive product, affording users a higher quality search experience. Local searchers can now feel like an insider in the neighborhood they are exploring, whether it is knowing the best bakery, bookstore or tailor,” said Paul Levine, general manager, Yahoo Local. “We will continue to improve our local search product by aggregating deeper content, adding more innovative features and further integration within the Yahoo! network.”
Local search is an increasingly vital tool to connect consumers and businesses. Merchants can ensure placement on Yahoo! Local in the United States through Overture Local Match — a sponsored search product that allows advertisers to precisely target customers interested in a specific neighborhood and present customized offers and business details to them. Overture Services is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Yahoo. Additionally, the launch will provide a feedback form for merchants and consumers to submit additional information to Yahoo! about a business or service in their area. This feedback will be evaluated, checked for accuracy and incorporated into the product once confirmed.
Yahoo Local Marketing Campaign
Today, Yahoo Local also rolled out an extensive marketing campaign across the U.S., designed to showcase the unique, compelling and precise “finds” that Yahoo! Local can provide. The campaign, executed locally through an integrated online/offline advertising and “street team” buzz marketing campaign, underscores Yahoo!’s commitment to delivering local information when and where users need it.
Beginning today, consumers will be able to experience Yahoo! Local at the world’s first-ever interactive bus shelters. Situated in New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco, people can search for businesses in the surrounding neighborhoods, view them all on a single map and actually print the information at the bus shelter to take with them. Additionally, Yahoo! Local will offer consumers a chance to discover the “Local Finds” of their neighborhoods, through an online promotion that features special prizes from some of the most popular merchants and services in each area. People searching for information in Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Houston, Los Angeles, New York, Philadelphia, San Francisco and Washington D.C. will see an invitation at the top of the page to enter the contest for a chance to win prizes from local merchants, such as Scoop in New York City, City Lights Bookstore in San Francisco, Geno’s Steaks in Philadelphia, and much more.
Murdok | Breaking eBusiness News
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