Yahoo: The Smarter Search Engine
posted by: Vlad Akilov
Believe it or not, Yahoo is adding some top of the line features to its search engine. The reason for this, you may ask? Well, first off they want to make things easier on users. And of course, they want to add these major features in order to be able to better compete with Google. This may sound like a tall task, but Yahoo is taking a shot!
So what features has Yahoo added in order to make for a better search experience? For one, videos and images are now available from the main results page. Yahoo did a great job by offering this benefit without cluttering the main page. The music that can be played from this page is available from Yahoo Music.
Moving on, try to search for a hotel or other establishment that is local to your area. By doing this, you will receive results direct from Yahoo Local. This includes reviews, user ratings, maps, links to important information, and much more.
Perhaps the most important upgrade is the assistance box that appears if you are struggling to find the appropriate keyword. This feature will give you suggestions based on the letters or words that you have already typed into the search box. If you type in “basketball” the smarter Yahoo search engine will suggest “NCAA basketball” and “fantasy basketball” among many others. For users who are not exactly sure of what they want, this is a great feature.
Yahoo is dead on with all of the new features that they added. The only possible downfall is that all these features are someway associated with the Yahoo network; such as Yahoo Music and Yahoo Local. But with that being said, the information made available from Yahoo has always been among the best.
Even though these features may not help Yahoo to beat out Google in the search engine department, they will definitely put them on the right track.
October 4th, 2007 at 7:25 pm
Hi Vlad,
I just noticed your concluding sentence “these features may not help Yahoo to beat out Google.” I just wrote an article about what comes after Google. Would love to hear your thoughts on it.
Cheers,
Toufique
October 24th, 2007 at 2:51 pm
I think yahoo are taking the more social approach compared to Google. More web 2.0 if you like that term (I don’t).
November 29th, 2007 at 6:42 am
Hi Vlad,
Well, I generally use Google Search Engine, I feel it is more handy that yahoo, but now I think its because I never used other search engine because of no need. Whatever I wanted, I got, I think now its time to change, as you said, if there are going to have changes then why not to use yahoo. I am sure that will help me in the future. Thanks for the information though, really helpful.
January 14th, 2008 at 12:15 pm
I think yahoo are taking the more social approach compared to Google. More web 2.0 if you like that term (I don’t).
You r right that yahoo has more social approach rather than Google. Web 2.0 is a very strong concept. Yahoo has a lots of visitors than Google. Social Media is currently a very strong source of getting friends and make their business a brand among fans. Yahoo is really a strong search engine. Yahoo always keep changing their features.
Good Luck!!!
February 18th, 2008 at 1:49 pm
Firefox comes with a searchbar in the upper right preloaded so you can select Google,Yahoo,Amazon,Answers,Creative Commons, del.icio.us,eBay and Technorati from a dropdown menu. I’ve never done it, but believe others can be added.
March 11th, 2008 at 8:44 pm
I love the assistance/suggestion box! It makes finding things much easier. As a related question, do they actually take the most searched for terms and use them as the suggestions?
March 15th, 2008 at 12:02 am
I entered your site as a Google user, any other search engine is really going to struggle to get my attention unless they come up with something truly amazing. Or alternatively, Google screws up.
March 18th, 2008 at 9:39 am
Considering if Microsoft will buy Yahoo, all can turn out
March 29th, 2008 at 12:01 pm
“I entered your site as a Google user, any other search engine is really going to struggle to get my attention unless they come up with something truly amazing. Or alternatively, Google screws up.”
An elgoog fan boy. Pleasure to meet you, not.
So tell me, how do you like your sorry excuse of a mail feature, Gmail? I mean come on, you can’t even compare it to Yahoo! Mail. Yahoo is user friendly, it makes a users life simpler, everything ranging from the well designed well structured home page to the search interface is tailored to meet every users search need. You can’t beat that!
I’ll be honest, Yahoo! actually care about their users and what their users have to say, unlike elgoog where spokes people and the likes are shoved in the light to act like saints and have people assume elgoog cares about what the general web public has to say.
I love yahoo, it’s true, call me a fan boy even, but at least I’ve chosen the search engine that gives a shit about it’s users and makes my life simpler
May 26th, 2008 at 11:46 am
Yahoo has so much clutter on their search-pahe they will never be able to compete with google. They shouls split their service: Searching and all the rest.
May 27th, 2008 at 2:44 am
Maybe Yahoo is not as big as Google. But, this company always make good improvement. I believe Yahoo can compete well, even without Microsoft…
October 21st, 2008 at 12:23 am
Google remains and will remain the king in the land of the search engines. Google is a household name in searching. In my opinion Yahoo don’t have a chance on bumping Google at the top spot of search engines even if Microsoft buy’s Yahoo.
November 8th, 2008 at 6:44 pm
Yahoo isn’t bad. I use it for some SEO work, but habit is hard to break.
I’ve become used to and a little spoiled by Google’s simplicity and speed. I also think the results are generally more relevent.
Google focuses on search, Yahoo also does content websites and about a million other things.