The new arrangement "marries our sales channel opportunities with Google's vast advertising network," he said in an interview after the session. "We play a key role in this whole ecosystem. We are the enablers to get this group (small merchants) online."

SuperPages.com already provides business profiles to Google so that some search results include links to more information about particular businesses on SuperPages.com, Chandler said.

Deals like this "are critical to move the local search market forward because these businesses would not go on their own to Google or Yahoo," said Greg Sterling, managing editor at The Kelsey Group.

"There is a lot of inertia in the small-business market, which relies on sales representatives to call them or visit," Sterling said.

Verizon SuperPages.com powers MSN's yellow pages and provides advertisers for MSN Local and MSN Virtual Earth, Chandler said. "As Microsoft's AdCenter launches this summer, there will be opportunities for us to work with them on a deeper level," he said.

The Google deal also gives Verizon SuperPages.com advertisers access to search results pages on America Online and Ask.com through their deals with Google, he said.