TRY typing distinctly Singaporean terms such as 'Merlion' or 'char kway teow' into a search engine such as Google.

Chances are, thousands of links will pop up - some of them helpful, but many frustratingly useless.

This is why a 'Singaporeanised' search portal will be launched next year. Its promise: to provide highly relevant answers and Singapore-focused information to anyone anywhere in the world.

SPH Search will be the first locally focused search engine set up in Asia. It will narrow down search results by filtering out useless information as well as using content from a variety of different sources.

The new search engine will be similar to portals such as Amazon.com and Australia's Sensis.com.au, which are increasingly popular rivals to search engine big guns Google and Yahoo.

'There's an evolution of search from being just pure Web search to search within destination sites,' said Mr Zia Zaman, executive vice-president of global marketing of enterprise search company Fast Search & Transfer (Fast).

'These are honey-pot sites. They're sticky, and attract users because they understand a local or topical area better than anyone.'

Norway-based Fast is developing the technology for SPH Search. Fast has major clients such as computer giants Dell and IBM, as well as database engines LexisNexis and Factiva.

Mr Zaman said online users now prefer to gather content by simply clicking on a link, as opposed to typing in different combinations of keywords to get relevant results.

The search portal can take note of a customer's details, such as profile, locale, language and search histories. These details are then used to tailor search results to his needs.

For example, a search on where to locate the best nasi lemak stall in Jurong using the terms 'nasi lemak' and 'Jurong' in conventional search engines will return a list of hits that mention the terms in many irrelevant contexts.

On the other hand, SPH Search will filter the list and focus on food stores selling nasi lemak in Jurong, so that the user saves time scrolling through unnecessary online clutter.

The portal will be free, as it will get its revenue from advertisers.