This Dow Jones story and a news release alert us to the fact that Google has just signed a content deal with Omaha-based InfoUSA to license their business database for use with Google Local.
Financial terms were not disclosed.
InfoUSA is a well-known and respected player in the business info marketplace. They provide a variety of databases to marketers, libraries, and others. They also offer a free online telephone lookups (white and yellow pages) for people and businesses.
Yahoo Local has been using data from InfoUSA for a long time. For example, note the “some business information provided by InfoUSA” at the bottom of this Yahoo Local results page.
In addition to compiling business listings, InfoUSA spends time verifying and updating each listing in their database.