In local search news, AT&T Interactive has rebranding its popular YellowPages.com to YP.com. AT&T’s Jamie Carracher tells WebProNews, "YP.com will replace YellowPages.com as its flagship web property and brand."

This was actually revealed last summer, but is now being implemented.

About the change, Carracher says:

– Predictive text search technology that automatically suggests potential search terms as a user enters a business name or category.

– Search results, supported by YP.COM’s database of over 21 million business listings, allow users to filter results by neighborhood, Video Profiles and business coupons.

– While in beta testing, advertisers averaged a 28% increase in calls and clicks per search as a result of placement on YP.COM

"Our new direction with YP.COM reflects our investment in developing local search technology that helps create stronger engagement between consumers and the businesses they are seeking to discover, find, and connect with," says David Krantz, president and CEO of AT&T Interactive. "With the help of our users and 5,000+ local market sales experts, we have a tremendous opportunity to keep helping our advertisers grow their business, while delivering a search experience that brings together richer content and transactional capabilities."

Users can filter results by neighborhood, Video Profiles and business coupons.

AT&T is also currently tinkering with Buzz.com, a social local search tool that draws from the same database as YP.com. Read our recent interview with AT&T for more details about that.