Get ready for the "new" Yahoo Search, a revamped version of the old search that now offers blended results, improved analysis of search intent, and a new "Search Assist" tool. The improvements made to the world's second largest search engine are designed to make the site more interactive and better able to offer rich results. The company claims that these are the most significant changes since switching back to its core search technology from Google in 2004.Yahoo appears to be doing something right, which is good news for a company that many believe is destined to always play second fiddle to Google. Web analysis firm Compete recently published data on search queries between several of the top search engines and found that although Google still retains a substantial market share lead over the competition, Yahoo appears to trounce Google when it comes to search fulfillment. That is, more Yahoo queries result in a successful clickthrough to one of the results—75 percent of searches, in the month of August, compared to Google's 65 percent and Live Search's 59 percent. This data seems to indicate that Yahoo's results do a better job at presenting information that is useful to the user. Building on this success, Yahoo's new search enhancements look to improve further on the core search experience.
Read More
