Where dooes Yahoo (http://yp.yahoo.com/) and Switchboard
(http://www.switchboard.com/bin/cgidir.dll?LNK=3:30&MEM=1) get the
content for their yellow pages?

I know that, at a minimum, the two directories have different
searching algorithms because I get different results from the two
services. However, my questions revolves around the pool of data the
two companies use: is it the same or is it different?

The answer has to definateively answer the question of whether the two
companies databases are the same or different. I will gladly tip if
you can identify exactly where the data comes from.

Hello inquisitivegeorge,

I was really intrigued by your question. I often find services I like,
and dig around to find out the real *power* behind the service. Here
is what I came up with for you:

Yahoo Yellow Pages
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Yahoo YP are from two distinct sources, BellSouth and InfoUSA. You
can verify this information by visiting the following webpage. It's
the page that that people click on to learn how to add a listing:

Yahoo Help - Submitting a site to the Yellow Pages
http://help.yahoo.com/help/us/yp/yp-18.html

Here are where they get their listings (data) from:

BellSouth Yellow Pages
http://yp.bellsouth.com/

infoUSA
http://www.infousa.com


SwitchBoard Yellow Pages
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Switchboard is one of my favorites. They use their own database
structure that they started in December of 1996, but their data is
supplied by none other than the infamous infoUSA. You can verify this
information here:

SwitchBoard Policies
http://www.switchboard.com/policies.htm

Excerpt
"The listings in Switchboard are licensed from infoUSA, Inc., a
leading compiler of name and demographic information."


Conclusion -

They both share some of the same information from infoUSA. Yahoo forks
out the extra money to have access to an additional resource with
BellSouth. As you noted the search algorithms are what make a world of
difference. We should also note that they certainly do not share the
same database structure, so this plays a role in the results served as
well.

To assist with this answer, I surfed around each site until I found
what we needed:-)

Thanks for the great question!
SgtCory

---

Clarification of Answer by sgtcory-ga on 13 Nov 2002 10:14 PST

I forgot to mention, if you need further clarification or information,
please ask before rating this answer as I would love to be of further
help.

Thanks again!
SgtCory

Exactly what I wanted to know. Quickly answered.