The Biz of Coding

Yahoo! Opens its Search Results Display

by Ujwal Tickoo on February 26th, 2008

Yahoo! is accelerating its efforts to further improve its Search results by providing 3rd Parties the ability to add more information over vanilla search results. The idea is that improved search results will draw more users or atleast retain the current loyal ones. The project is named Search Monkey.

The following explanation is from the Yahoo! Search Blog announcement:

The platform is open; it gives all Web site owners — big or small — an opportunity to present more useful information on the Yahoo! Search page as compared to what is presented on other search engines. Site owners will be able to provide all types of additional information about their site directly to Yahoo! Search. So instead of a simple title, abstract and URL…users will see rich results that incorporate…ratings and reviews, images, deep links, and all kinds of other useful data — directly on the Yahoo! Search results page.

For example, by sharing its database of restaurant reviews, location information and photos with Yahoo!, Yelp can develop a far more visually compelling and useful search result than was previously presented to users. Here is how it works: website owners like Yelp, WebMD, The New York Times, and anyone else can supply us with their data and our patented Machined Learned Ranking helps ensure these results are presented to users at the right time….

Before

After

Matt Cutts, of Google points to a similar feature on Google Search called Subscribed Links. It allows the following:

• Create search results specific to your product, service, or expertise.
• Design a basic version in minutes to see how it works.
• Build a dynamic version using XML, TSV, or RSS files or feeds.
• Include images in your Subscribed Links.
• Include Google Gadgets in your Subscribed Links…

The difference between Yahoo!'s and Google's efforts is that Y! will make much of its initiative the default behaviour for all people using its Search Engine , as explained by Chris Sherman.

POSTED IN: Yahoo