Compare Yahoo and Google Results

Wondering EXACTLY what the difference is between Yahoo and Google's results? Well, I can't help you there but I can give you a pointer. The pointer's to Yahgoohoogle, a site that lets you compare Yahoo and Google's search results. You can check it out at http://yagoohoogle.com/ .

Just put the query in the search box, and you'll get a split results page with Yahoo results on the left and Google results on the right. I did a search for synthroid.

The first thing that caught my eye was the results count -- 671,000 for Yahoo vs. 1,040,000 for Google. Second thing was the useful bits of information Yahoo added -- suggested searches, a medications shortcut. On the other hand this was a bit offset by the big annoying block of blue ads at the top of the results.

I don't want to jump to conclusions just looking at the first ten results for the search, but Google's results looked a little less spammy than Yahoo's.

I did another search, this time for a query that lends itself less to spamminess: "bone conduction" headphones . This time there were more results on Yahoo (1,240 vs 909), Google had more ads (though none on top) and both sets of the first ten results were fairly useful and non-spammy. The one thing that stood out for me in the results is that Google's top ten results had a result from the Google Directory, while Yahoo's didn't (yeah, I know, how strange.)

The big difference in result counts for both queries brings it home -- do not rely on a single search engine to bring you everything. Indexes between search engines are a lot different, and now that the search wars are back in full swing (yay!) it behooves you to make a habit of using different search engines.

Posted to Search Engines-Google , Search Engines-Yahoo | TrackBack