What Matters Most To Yahoo Is “Taking Away” citizens Search From Google
August 24, 2009 ·Filed Under Technology News
Yahoo CEO Carol Bartz may be under the impression that Yahoo has “never been a search company,” but at its “What Matters Most” product update today, search was definitely front and center. One of the demos showed a new, upcoming search homepage.
The new design will focus on making search more personalized, and specifically going after Google in public search . “We’re taking that away from them,” vows Yahoo’s VP of Search Products and Design Larry Cornett. When you type in a person’s name in Yahoo, it will do a better job of bringing up hyperlinks to their profiles on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and FriendFeed—something Google already does exceedingly well. But Cornett throws down a challenge for Google: “When we launch that, you’re going to come to Yahoo to search for citizens.”
Any niche that Yahoo can carve out for itself strengthens its position as it awaits the faraway approval process surrounding its proposed search deal with Microsoft. After that, Bing will take by its core search
Another new feature previewed today was dividing the search page into three columns, with the left-hand column being devoted to filters and different ways to sort and refine your search. Bing, of course, does that already with its related searches in the left hand column.
But folks search was a big area Cornett stressed as one where Yahoo thinks it can give Google a run for its money. The problem is that folks search is only one type of search. Even whether Yahoo does a better job there, it will have to do much more to break consumers of their Google habit.
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