AltaVista Canada Site Enhanced, Expanded

AltaVista
Canada unveiled a new look this week, focusing on direct and easy
bilingual paths to relevant Canadian and global sites.

The new cleaner, less graphic site offers quicker response, easier
navigation, and provides users with one-click access to search results based
on six specialty searches: Canada-only, world, news, government,
agriculture, and health.

In the past 12 months, the AltaVista Canada index has grown by more than
25 percent to include an additional five million new Canadian pages,
bringing the total number of pages in the Canadian index to more than 25
million.

According to AltaVista Canada, this represents between 50 and 90 percent
more Canadian Web pages than any other search engine in the world.

“We are raising the search technology bar in terms of Canadian-specific
index size, relevancy of results and index freshness,” said Sandro
Berardocco, AltaVista Canada manager.

Among the new features enhancing the site are continually updated Canadian
Press national and international news stories, “hot searches” providing
access access to the day’s top searches, and a classified directory of
Canadian and global Web sites organized by categories, including
specifically Canadian ones.

“We are continuously updating our site to ensure that it is not only the
most comprehensive in terms of Canadian information,” said Berardocco, “but
also that it offers the features and services that Canadian users need
most.”