Verizon Transforms Local Search With Launch of New SuperPages.com Web Site

DALLAS - Verizon SuperPages.com today became the first online directory to offer national and local businesses pay-per-click advertising options, the latest advance in Internet advertising.

With the new site (www.superpages.com), consumers can quickly find specific local products and services without wading through overwhelming amounts of general information typically provided by generic search engines.

With geographically targeted pay-per-click advertising, businesses pay only when consumers click through to their content. Advertisers bid on placement, setting their own price for what each click is worth, with higher bidders receiving top placement. Pay-per-click advertisers can adjust bids as often as they want - to promote a seasonal sale, respond to competition or target specific geographies.

With the Verizon brand and a nationally deployed local sales force, Verizon is the only company with the resources and experience to offer pay-per-click advertising to businesses trying to reach local customers. Verizon continues to offer fixed-fee ad placements on the new site for advertisers who prefer this option.

Lester Chu, vice president of strategic planning and marketing, said the rich content on local services found in the company's robust print yellow pages has transformed SuperPages.com into the Internet's most comprehensive online directory.

"Our research shows that, on average, 80 percent of consumers who visit SuperPages.com contact a business," Chu said. "Among those, 53 percent make a purchase. Web surfers go to the generic search engines for research. People go to SuperPages.com to buy."

Verizon SuperPages.com racked up more than 11.4 million unique visitors in January 2004. With SuperPages.com, consumers can take control of their Internet searches and eliminate the clutter from generic search engines. The reinvented site expands the amount of searchable shopping content. Consumers can search by geography, products, specific brands or specialties. Buying decisions will be facilitated with richer information such as hours of operation, payment options, emergency services and links to businesses' Web sites.

"By making its site more user-friendly and embracing pay-per-click functionality for its advertisers, Verizon is taking bold steps to transform itself from a traditional online directory into a true local search utility," said Greg Sterling, a research analyst with The Kelsey Group.

Chu said, "Technology has changed the communications landscape, and the role of traditional yellow pages also is changing. Advertisers are going online to generate leads, and consumers are searching for local services on the Internet."

In addition to SuperPages.com, (www.superpages.com) consumers with Verizon Wireless Get It Now-enabled phones can download SuperPages On The Go and get access to nationwide white and yellow pages listings. Consumers can search by name, phone number or type of business. Users on-the-go also can download maps and driving directions.

"We have created a broader, more balanced portfolio of products and services. Consumers can tap into local search wherever they are, making their buying decisions more efficient and rewarding. We are wherever consumers need us to be," Chu said.

As one of the largest print directories in the nation, Verizon yellow pages offers consumers quick, offline information. Verizon yellow pages covers more than three quarters of the top markets and almost half of the small businesses in the U.S. Verizon has expanded its national footprint by entering into 31 markets as an independent publisher since 2001, offering a broad set of product features, such as Hispanic directories and special-interest sections.

About Verizon SuperPages and SuperPages.com

Based in the Dallas area, Verizon Information Services is a content provider for communications products and services, with approximately $4.1 billion in revenues. The company produces Verizon SuperPages, the nation's leading yellow pages, and Verizon SuperPages.com (www.superpages.com), the nation's number 1 Internet directory and shopping resource. SuperPages On The Go is the only nationwide yellow and white pages directory offered on Get It Now services through Verizon Wireless. The company also is the largest publisher of Hispanic directories in the U.S. and the first to provide a Hispanic online shopping resource, SuperPages.com en Espanol (www.superpages.com/espanol). Verizon Information Services is a unit of Verizon Communications Inc. (www.verizon.com)

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