GenieKnows.com, a subsidiary of IT Interactive Services Inc., launched a local search engine to help users access information about specific areas of the United States based on the types of businesses or attractions sought.
The engine uses local business information listings in conjunction with Web results. Users also can pinpoint locations on a map and view telephone numbers, addresses, reviews, references and related Web sites.
“Having put a research and development team together, we had the technical ability to develop crawling and ranking technology — which is patent pending — that would produce a unique search engine database for local results,” said Mark Harper, vice president of strategic relations at GenieKnows, Halifax, Nova Scotia.
“When we analyzed the opportunities and coupled this with the technical development of our product, it made sense to add this to our search platform,” he said.
Users can sort search results alphabetically, by street or business name and then dig deep into relevant information.
The company will make the platform available to all of its existing publishers.
“The big three [Google, Yahoo and MSN] have been developing their own local search engines and putting considerable efforts into promotion and marketing,” Mr. Harper said. “The competitive market is strong, and other search engine companies are concentrating efforts in local search offerings.”
