Ask Jeeves refines local searchPosted 03/08/2004
Emeryville-based search company Ask Jeeves has announced that it has licensed local business data from CitySearch in a bid to improve its regional search services.
Ask Jeeves plans to add Citysearch information to its search results over the next month, Jim Lanzone, the company's senior vice president of search properties, said. Under the multi-year partnership deal, Ask Jeeves will incorporate listings, editorial and user reviews, ratings, and other information on businesses into its local search service, in exchange for sharing revenue from search-based advertising.
The additional local data will appear in Ask Jeeves' Smart Search results that appear above links and on a new local search channel to be added to the company's existing search site.
"What we found was that people really needed more context in the results to their local queries for a business or service," Mr Lanzone said.
Citysearch has previously licensed its local content to portals for locally targeted sites, but the Ask Jeeves deal is the first time that its data will be incorporated into algorithmic search results.
Citysearch CEO Briggs Ferguson commented: "We have great depth of information around all these local businesses that allow users to make decisions. The content we have sort of naturally fits with the search product Ask Jeeves is developing for the local market."
Search engines are becoming increasingly interested in the potential of the multi-billion dollar local search market. Yahoo has launched a test version of a new local search engine this week. © DeHavilland Information Services plc
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