Yell.com gets all familiar - 18 August 2005
Formality is out and familiarity is in for Brits. According to new research by leading local search engine, Yell.com, 80 per cent of us prefer to keep it friendly when looking for well-known businesses and organisations on the Internet*.In response, Yell.com has today enhanced its company name search facility to recognise the numerous modern day names by which many high street businesses and companies are known. The intelligent thesaurus already allows for misspellings and differences in regional dialect.
Yell.com users can now take a shortcut search via ‘Woolies’ (Woolworths) for their favourite pic‘n’mix, or, for even faster food, search for ‘Maccy D’s’ (McDonalds) or ‘Pret’ (Pret a Manger) - just a few company nicknames now recognised by Yell.com’s new innovative search technology.
The new search facility reflects the way we talk so fashionistas can step ahead in the style stakes by looking for ‘Pradamark’ (Primark) or Dotty P’s (Dorothy Perkins).
It’s game on for footy fans too who can now find well known clubs using their nicknames. ‘Gunners’ (Arsenal), ‘Spurs’ (Tottenham Hotspurs), ‘Man U’ (Manchester United) and ‘Hibs’ (Hibernian) can all be searched for on Yell.com.
Eddie Cheng, president of Yell.com, said: “As a leading local search engine, Yell.com recognises that people increasingly use informal language and nicknames in their everyday life, particularly for well known companies, places or organisations. Our advanced company name search facility is part of an ongoing programme to ensure we follow consumer behaviour and continue to deliver local, accurate and relevant results.”
*Research was conducted by Tickbox.net for Yell and surveyed 1,250 UK internet users.
