Yahoo Launches Beta of Local Search

Yahoo has announced a beta search of a new Yahoo Local, at http://local.yahoo.com . Instead of the stuff you might remember from Yahoo Get Local, this is a search that allows you to specify what you're looking for as well as a location.

I decided I needed a chiropractor in Portland, Oregon. So I searched for chiropractor and Portland, OR. I got 376 results. It looks like the default is to search within ten miles of your stated location (you can also search by zip code or specific address in addition to city and state) but you can extend that to fifty miles or narrow it down to one.

Search results include name of the business, phone number, address, and category in which it's located. Click on the name of the business and you'll get a map, an opportunity to rate the business, and some additional information/recommendations.

The searches I tried seemed to give me really relevant results, but there were a couple things I didn't like. It wasn't clear how the results were listed. Yahoo says that results are listed "according to how well the information we've gathered about the listing matches to your query while taking into account the distance from your search location." but that doesn't tell me anything. Furthermore, there's no way to sort results based on distance, or rating. Feh!

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