Once upon a time, BASF ran commercials that said, "we don’t make things, we make things better." While talking to Palore CEO Hanan Lifshitz, we were reminded of those TV spots.

Palore does for local search what BASF does for products. By accessing the wealth of information available from various sources, including such premium sources as Zagat and Wine Spectator in the example of restaurants, Palore complements existing business listings.

The complementary approach is powered by a simple lookup of a business phone number in Palore’s index. Additional information associated with the phone number appears in the form of icons next to the business listing on the search site, be it Google Maps, Yahoo Local, Ask City, or that of other providers.

Clicking an icon opens an Ajax-powered window, with the additional information displayed. Previously, Palore required web surfers to click the business phone number to bring up the extra details. The icons make for a more visually-friendly experience.

We asked Hanan about the usual security concern people will have with a plug-in: what information is being shared with Palore. He said aside from looking at general statistics, Palore isn’t grabbing any sort of personal information from browsing sessions.

Part of the business model for Palore would be a pay-for-placement concept. Paying sponsors would always have their icons appear when a relevant search has been conducted on a supported site.

Palore also supports free click-to-call from the browser to businesses. Each phone listing in the local search results becomes clickable. Also, each icon Palore displays next to a listing shows a "Call Now" in the window it opens.

We like the visual approach Palore brings to local search. There is a concern about having too many icons show up, which would be confusing, but if they limit the information they present to the most relevant and authoritative sources, a few icons become very valuable.