Yahoo! Inc. has announced a partnership with more than 150 daily U.S. newspapers to deliver search, graphical and classified advertising.

Newspapers in the deal include Cox Newspapers Inc.; Hearst Newspapers; The E.W. Scripps Company; and other major media corporations.

One of the first partnered initiatives will focus on recruitment advertising; Yahoo! Hotjobs combined with the consortium of newspapers will bring a large online audience on the local level.

Terry Semel, chairman and chief executive officer, Yahoo says, "We believe the local segment is largely untapped and provides significant opportunities to expand audience engagement and subsequently grow local advertising. With our powerful reach, content, technology, local tools and advertising capabilities, Yahoo is uniquely positioned to seize these opportunities, especially as we continue to enhance our search monetization efforts and to extend our leadership position in graphical advertising."

According to the Kelsey Group, 35 percent of all online searches are local, with volume expected to increase from more than 20 billion searches in the next year to more than 30 billion searches by 2009.

In recent weeks Yahoo has increased its offerings and service in order to compete against rivals Google and MSN. Last week, Yahoo announced it has acquired social media site Bix.com, a site that allows advertisers and users to create and judge online contests.