Google, which claims "the largest index of websites available on the World Wide Web and the industry's most advanced search technology," has made it easier to retireive phone numbers and addresses from its database.

The search engine has added the availability of street address and phone number lookup information for residences and businesses to the results retrievable from its standard search box. Results are limited to published, United States phone listings.

To find listings for a business, users need only to type the business name, city and state into the Google search box. The business' zip code can be substituted for the city and state if the user knows it. Conversely, users can retrieve a complete listing for a business by entering only the area code and phone number.

To retrieve residential listings, users can type any of the following combinations into the Google search box:

• first name (or first initial), last name, city (state is optional)
• first name (or first initial), last name, state
• first name (or first initial), last name, area code
• first name (or first initial), last name, zip code
• phone number, including area code
• last name, city, state
• last name, zip code

Phone number and address results are displayed at the top of results pages. Residential results have a "house" icon to the left, while business results feature a "skyscraper" icon to their left.

Additionally, these searches will retrieve html or PDF documents on the web that also contain the keywords (names, cities, states, etc) included in the query.

Individuals can have their contact information removed from the Google database by filling in the form found by clicking here.