Yahoo Powers Paid Search For Mobile Firm

Yahoo is partnering with mobile search firm go2 to add sponsored search listings to go2's search results.

The deal signals Yahoo's first significant move into mobile search in the United States, after delivering sponsored listings to wireless users in Britain and Japan over the last several years.

By hooking up with go2, Yahoo gains access to its more than 1 million U.S. users, who last year generated more than 210 million page views on go2's mobile directory of local business and movie information. Those consumers will now see sponsored links provided by Yahoo when performing searches through the go2 service, which is available from most of the major cell carriers.

"Yahoo has a phenomenal ad network in the paid search arena," said go2 CEO Lee Hancock. "This primarily gives us access to better information and content to pass on to end users." Yahoo's sponsored search listings typically include key information about local businesses such as hours of operation and payment methods.

"Consumers are using their mobile phones to search for local information everywhere they go, so delivering our listings to go2s broad mobile user base just makes sense," Michael Bayle, senior director, business development, Yahoo Search Marketing, said in a statement.

The relationship between Yahoo and go2 is likely to grow as go2 plans to expand from 11 to 50 different mobile search categories by year's end, according to Hancock. "This relationship with Yahoo will help us to build out that mobile content network," he said. He added that new categories would cover areas such as sports, dining, news, and trivia.

The integration of Yahoo's paid listings with go2's mobile search service is expected to take effect within the next two weeks.

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