Sensis has opened the door of www.yellow.com.au, the biggest local business database in the country, to search engines for the first time.

The strategic move enables search engines such as Google, Yahoo and Live Search to index the 2 million-plus listings on www.yellow.com.au and make them available to people using search engines to find local businesses.

For businesses listed in Yellow™ who do not have their own website, it means they now have an instant web address where their business details can be found by the millions of potential customers using search engines.

Sensis’ General Manager Online Search and Directories, Chris Smith, said optimising Yellow™ listings to be found on search engines was an evolutionary step in Sensis and Yellow’s strategy to help Australians find, buy and sell.

“Making our Yellow™ database searchable by search engines represents another key milestone in our strategy to increase the distribution of our content and the value for our advertisers.

“In much the same way we’ve made Yellow listings available across print, online, voice, mobile and satellite navigation devices, this initiative takes Yellow a giant step further by taking advantage of the popularity of search engines and using them as another channel through which Yellow listings can be found,” he said.

To optimise its content for indexing by search engines, Yellow has constructed a specially designed web page for every business listed in the online directory. Each web page has its own URL and contains information such as the business’ name, address, phone numbers and location on a map, as well as the capability for people to email the listing to a friend or send to their mobile phone.

This effectively provides a standalone page for each Yellow listing that can be served up in search engine results when a person conducts a search relevant to that business.

“Search engines point people to content so it’s a logical progression to make our Yellow content, content currently used by over 9 million people per month, even more accessible,” Mr Smith said.

“For our advertisers, their Yellow listing becomes more powerful as it has much greater reach than ever before. And for consumers using search engines to find local businesses, they now have access to Yellow’s comprehensive database of local businesses.”

Mr Smith said the popularity of the www.yellow.com.au website and the way it had been built meant the new individual pages created for Yellow businesses carry a heavy weighting in terms of where they appear in the organic results on search engines.

“Put simply, the fact www.yellow.com.au is well known and used has a big impact in determining how high businesses listed in Yellow may appear in results on search engines.

“It can take a lot of time and effort for a small business to try and get a high ranking for their website in search results. Now by advertising with Yellow, a lot of the hard work has already been done,” Mr Smith said.

About Sensis

Sensis is Telstra's advertising business and Australia's leading directories information resource, helping Australians find, buy and sell. Sensis delivers innovative and integrated local search and digital marketing solutions via print, online, voice and mobile channels to connect Australians 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Sensis' powerful, multi-channel portfolio provides an unparalleled local information source incorporating the White Pages® and Yellow Pages® directories; the MediaSmart digital advertising business; the Whereis® digital mapping business; the Citysearch® entertainment and lifestyle website; the sensis.com.au search engine; the 1234 operator-assisted, premium voice information service; and the accommodation website gostay.com.au. Sensis is also a partner in some of China's most popular websites including real estate and home furnishings website, SouFun.com; auto websites Autohome.com and Che168.com; and digital devices websites IT168.com and PCPop.com.cn.