Seems Yahoo’s switch is now upon us, as most news outlets had been given an embargo of midnight EST last night (a reporter called me and told me as much), and Search Engine Watch is one of the first with a deeper take on the meaning of it all – the story is called “Birth of a New Machine”. In an email to me last night, Chris disagrees with my earlier post that “size matters” and I agree that in the end what matters most is relevance, but…perhaps I should have said “perception matters”. Expect the mainstream media to weigh in soon…
Chris’s take in one line:
Bottom line: I’m impressed with the quality of results that Yahoo is delivering. It’s a very viable alternative to Google and the other “last engine standing,” Ask Jeeves/Teoma.
Yahoo’s press release, issued 4 hours ago, is here.
Highlights:
Yahoo! Inc. (Nasdaq:YHOO), a leading global Internet company, today announced that it has created a more comprehensive and relevant search experience for users through the deployment of its own algorithmic search technology on Yahoo!(R) Search (http://search.yahoo.com). Starting today, the company will begin rolling out the new Yahoo! Search Technology (YST) and expects to continue the process on a worldwide basis over the next several weeks. With the completion of the deployment, Yahoo! Search Technology will power nearly half of all online searches in the U.S….
As part of the company’s next steps in customization and personalization, Yahoo! is introducing a new search service that integrates Yahoo! Search with My Yahoo! by adding links to XML/RSS site syndication content in search results. This service enables users to search for millions of sites that support this format and easily add them to their My Yahoo! personal homepage. Once added to their page, users will see instantly updated headlines and links from these sites, keeping them in touch with all of their important information from the Internet in a single place.
Additionally, Yahoo! Search has combined its own proprietary anti-spam technology with the talents of its team of editorial experts and Yahoo! Mail’s leading SpamGuard technology to help filter out irrelevant, redundant or low-quality URLs and links. Taking advantage of the synergies between Yahoo! Search and Yahoo! Mail, these two services will share data to reduce spam and further improve the user experience across Yahoo!.