Yahoo Search Direct is Launched!

Posted on May 11, 2011 in Search Engine Optimization, SEO, Yahoo

For a while now, Google has been leading the way with speedy search result tools, namely Google Instant. Now Yahoo has launched Yahoo Search Direct, which is very similar to Google Instant. Yahoo in no way wants to follow in Google’s footsteps, as they’d prefer to lead the way in search updates, so they made it clear that they had previously launched something similar to Yahoo Search Direct and Google Instant back in 2005. However, the update was removed and is now perfected and live via Yahoo Search Direct.

Yahoo Search Direct is similar to Google Instant, in that it shows suggested search results as you begin typing your search term or phrase. However, it also nicely displays a box of three or more suggested links to the right of each suggested search result.

The features increase user friendliness as well as search speed and accuracy, which is the goal of every search engine. So far, Yahoo users seem pleased with the update.

As I discussed before, very minimal SEO changes will be necessary, if any. This feature is a bonus for businesses who are practicing SEO, as potential clients and customers will be able to find your website(s) more easily and quickly. Not only that, but as suggested keyword/key phrase results are listed below, when users click on your keyword, those users will now be a much more targeted audience since they’re able to find specifically what they’re looking for (hopefully your website) with a little bit of guidance from Yahoo Search Direct. Also, if your site ranks highly enough for a given keyword, you may even land a spot in the three suggested links to the right, which should prove to be a highly valuable location in Yahoo searches. The only thing SEOers may want to consider is the use of lengthy key phrases. Google Instant and Yahoo Search begin showing suggested results after a single letter or two, so the odds of a user typing in your entire key phrase are slim. A lengthy key phrase may not even show up in the suggested list either, so test out your keywords and key phrases and make the necessary changes from there.

Sara Beaudoin is the Marketing Communications Manager for SearchPro Systems