Summary
A complete overhaul of their local network service keeps Yahoo up to speed, including more comprehensive local search features.
Original source:
http://news.com.com/Yahoo+expands+local+features/2100-1038_3-5836581.html
Details
As previously reported, Yahoo's efforts come as competition for local search, and the potential $3.4 billion market it brings, heats up with Google and America Online.
With its latest offerings, Yahoo Local is adding features such as user recommendations and the ability to search for restaurants, movies and events within a neighborhood, rather than having to cull through listings for an entire city.
Users may access their My Yahoo accounts to read updated user recommendations for local restaurants and events, but also can receive the updates via RSS (Really Simple Syndication) feeds.
"The future of local search lies not only in offering highly comprehensive and relevant local search results, but in combining those results with community-generated content," Paul Levine, Yahoo Local general manager, said in a statement.
The service also includes real-time updates on local event information and, based on a person's search history, will offer recommendations relevant to local community listings.
Competitors, meanwhile, have been hard at work developing their own local search services.
Earlier this year, Google launched features such as editorial reviews of local businesses that included their hours of operation and Wi-Fi accessibility.
AOL touted the capability to buy movie tickets and make dinner reservations at local restaurants, and it plans to offer a local search tool accessible via mobile phone later this year.
Delving deep into the local search scene has not always been lucrative.
The battle for local search users harks back to the late 1990s and the fight between Citysearch and the former MSN Sidewalk from Microsoft.
MSN sold its Sidewalk search service to competitor Ticketmaster Online-CitySearch in 1999, after finding it difficult to generate revenue from local searches for
restaurants and events.
About the author: Mike Adams is a natural health author and award-winning journalist with a strong interest in personal health, the environment and the power of nature to help us all heal He is a prolific writer and has published thousands of articles, interviews, reports and consumer guides, and he has created several downloadable courses on survival and preparedness, including his widely-downloaded course on personal safety and self-defense. Adams is an independent journalist with strong ethics who does not get paid to write articles about any product or company. In mid 2010, Adams produced TV.NaturalNews.com, a natural health video sharing website offering user-generated videos on nutrition, green living, fitness and more. He also founded an environmentally-friendly online retailer called BetterLifeGoods.com that uses retail profits to help support consumer advocacy programs. He's also a noted pioneer in the email marketing software industry, having been the first to launch an HTML email newsletter technology that has grown to become a standard in the industry. Adams also serves as the executive director of the Consumer Wellness Center, a non-profit consumer protection group, and practices nature photography, Capoeira, martial arts and organic gardening. Known as the 'Health Ranger,' Adams' personal health statistics and mission statements are located at www.HealthRanger.org
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Friday, August 26, 2005
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