Yahoo Announces Improvements

Yahoo has announced some enhancements to their search engine. Besides the integration of Google results (which we already knew about) Yahoo's announcements include a most popular sites feature (most popular sites are listed first, after that the "cool sites" as chosen by Yahoo editors, then an alphabetical listing of the sites. Not all subdirectories have this listing; it looks like there has to be a certain numbers of sites in the category before the listing is organized this way.) Yahoo has also announced a reorganization of commercial listings -- there will be a "business to business" subcategory and a consumer-oriented "shopping and services" category (about time.)

Yahoo has also announced upgraded upgraded search technology. Certain types of searches provide additional information from within the Yahoo network. This works kinda like the Excite/Jango search technology, except all the special information comes from within the Yahoo properties themselves, and there may be different types of information that Jango provides.

Here's how it works. Go to Yahoo and enter Chicken Run (just the name, no quotes. With quotes it doesn't work.) You'll see at the top of the page of results you get links to a variety of information from inside Yahoo -- including movie links, showtimes, cast and credits, etc. Click on Showtimes and you'll be prompted for a zip code. Enter the zip code and you'll be given the locations of places showing Chicken Run with information about those places (hearing impaired, etc.) and when they're showing the movie. Yahoo saves your zip of choice to a cookie so if you don't have to enter your zip code again. Of course, you can change that location from the showtime information page.

Different information types yield different results. Entering a stock symbol provides a stock quote, links to company information, and financial news and discussion. Entering a major sports team (Panthers does not work; Carolina Panthers does) provides links to team and league information. A zodiac sign gives you a link to a daily horoscope.

Yahoo declined to give me a complete list of information types covered by this new technology, saying it was too big. However, you can try these and see how they work. I put working examples in the parentheses so you can try them out:

* Most Car Models (Mercury Cougar)
* Musicians (Jane Siberry)
* Celebrities (Jim Carrey)
* Major Cities (Paris)
* Diseases And Drug Names (aspirin, rabies)
* Dog Breeds (beagle)
* National Parks (Yosemite)

Posted to Search Engines-Yahoo