Yahoo to test local business search engine

[intelliot]

Yahoo! Inc. (Nasdaq: YHOO) will start testing on a search engine that will allow consumers to search on-line for more information about local businesses, the Sunnyvale, Calif.-based Internet company said Tuesday.

The service will compete with a feature that Google Inc. began testing in March.

The site will compile information from other Yahoo sites, including maps, local guides and restaurant reveiws.

As ad sales from national advertisers slows, Internet companies, including Google and Yahoo!, have begun developing services to help local businesses target consumers. While providing an additional service for its members, the new on-line business search service could help Yahoo! sell more advertising, company officials said.

IAC/InterActiveCorp's Citysearch group of web sites has formed a partnership to provide reviews and other information about local businesses to the search engine Ask Jeeves Inc. and Ask Jeeves expects to provide Citysearch information beginning next month.

The web address for Yahoo's new site is local.yahoo.com