Yahoo Australia launches local online business directory

[garyp]

Yahoo Australia launches local online business directory
ZDNet
http://www.zdnet.com.au/news/business/0,39023166,39155247,00.htm

In addition to launching their new local search beta (http://searchenginewatch.com/searchday/article.php/3389591)for the U.S...

The new search facility will be integrated into the Yahoo Australia's portal and sent live at 10 pm EST. The launch will mark the first time that Yahoo has provided its users with a means to find businesses and services in their local neighbourhood.

The new service is essentially a free public online business directory. To date only one search provider has been able to deliver such a directory on a similar scale.

You can check it out here. (http://localsearch.yahoo.com.au/index.do)

[garyp]

Some differences between the U.S. and Australian Local Search products are visible.

Yahoo! Launches Local Search Product For Australia In addition to launching a beta version of a new local search product (http://www.searchenginewatch.com/searchday/article.php/3389591) in the United States yesterday, Yahoo! also launched a local search product for the Australian market (http://localsearch.yahoo.com.au/index.do). and added a tab to the new product on the Yahoo Australia home page (http://au.yahoo.com/ ). Unlike the U.S. site, a beta label is not present on Yahoo! Local Australia. The Australian version also includes access to both a "guided" search interface (http://localsearch.yahoo.com.au/guidedSearch.do) where the searcher is empowered with a variety search boxes to complete depending based on what their information need might be. A traditional advanced interface" (http://localsearch.yahoo.com.au/advancedSearch.do) offering several fields is also available. A find in "surrounding suburbs" option is also available on the primary interface. These features are not found on the U.S. version at this time.

Result pages have the same general appearance but differences do exist.

U.S. Only Features
The U.S. version offers the option to save locations (My Locations) for future searches. The database will, in some cases, return a result if a spelling error is present. For example, searching for "doctorss" will automatically correct the spelling and return results for doctors (http://local.yahoo.com/results;_ylt=AvY5b7PgPkMOHXvmWlDDgc2GNcIF?stx=doct orrs&csz=Los+Angeles%2C+CA&fr=localhome-srchs) Finally, an option to map a result is available.

Australia Only Features
Yahoo! Local Australia offers the ability to refine a search directly from the result page with links identifying "similar areas" (geo locations) (http://localsearch.yahoo.com.au/search.do?term=restaurant&location=sydney%2C+nsw&type=keywords). A link to format the result page for printing is also available. Australian result pages also include tabs to quickly click to other Yahoo databases.

After conducting several searches on Yahoo! Local Australia, I was unable to find any sponsored links on result pages (http://localsearch.yahoo.com.au/search.do?term=cloths&location=Melbourne%2C+VIC&type=keywords).