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    Home Applications
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    Yahoo Local Moves Out of Test Mode

    By
    Matthew Hicks
    -
    October 4, 2004
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      Yahoo unveiled its local search service on Monday following a two-month beta test.

      Yahoo Inc. has started promoting Yahoo Local from its home page and includes a local option in its search query box. It also will tout the service over the next few months with an online and offline advertising and marketing campaign.

      The Sunnyvale, Calif., company has made “evolutionary changes based on feedback from consumers” during the beta of Yahoo Local that began in August, said Paul Levine, a Yahoo vice president and general manager of Yahoo Local. The most significant changes include updated relevancy algorithms and tweaks to the user interface, Levine said.

      Yahoo Local weighs results based on half a dozen or so factors, such as a type of restaurant or the geographic location being queried. For the full launch, the weight of various factors was rejiggered in the algorithms to better match what people typically are seeking, Levine said.

      One of the user-interface changes came in the way Yahoo Local can narrow search results. When certain local results are returned, such as for a restaurant, Yahoo Local displays a series of options for refining the results by specific categories, user ratings, price range and other factors.

      Along with the Web, Yahoo Local continues to draw in results from about half a dozen data sources, such as business directory providers including InfoUSA.com Inc.

      /zimages/4/28571.gifWill local search fulfill its promise? Click here to read more.

      Yahoo Local also displays search-based advertising alongside results from Yahoo subsidiary Overture Services. The ads come from Overtures Local Match service, which was launched in June as a way for advertisers to geographically target pay-per-click ads.

      Yahoos further embrace of local search follows increased competition in the space. Google has continued to tweak its beta local-search service, which also displays geographically targeted, sponsored links from its AdWords program.

      Also, traditional telephone directory publishers such as Verizon SuperPages.com have entered the space, as well as smaller search competitors such as Ask Jeeves Inc.

      /zimages/4/28571.gifCheck out eWEEK.coms Enterprise Applications Center at http://enterpriseapps.eweek.com for the latest news, reviews and analysis about productivity and business solutions.

      /zimages/4/77042.gif

      Be sure to add our eWEEK.com enterprise applications news feed to your RSS newsreader or My Yahoo page

      Matthew Hicks
      As an online reporter for eWEEK.com, Matt Hicks covers the fast-changing developments in Internet technologies. His coverage includes the growing field of Web conferencing software and services. With eight years as a business and technology journalist, Matt has gained insight into the market strategies of IT vendors as well as the needs of enterprise IT managers. He joined Ziff Davis in 1999 as a staff writer for the former Strategies section of eWEEK, where he wrote in-depth features about corporate strategies for e-business and enterprise software. In 2002, he moved to the News department at the magazine as a senior writer specializing in coverage of database software and enterprise networking. Later that year Matt started a yearlong fellowship in Washington, DC, after being awarded an American Political Science Association Congressional Fellowship for Journalist. As a fellow, he spent nine months working on policy issues, including technology policy, in for a Member of the U.S. House of Representatives. He rejoined Ziff Davis in August 2003 as a reporter dedicated to online coverage for eWEEK.com. Along with Web conferencing, he follows search engines, Web browsers, speech technology and the Internet domain-naming system.

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