Yahoo Inc has started Search Direct – a feature that displays answers to queries as the user is typing it and long before he had pressed the “Enter key.”
The feature is many ways is quite similar to Google's Instant tool, predicting what users are searching for based on the characters entered thus far.
But unlike Google, Yahoo’s Direct Search suggestions will open in a pop-up toward the top of Yahoo's search results page. The company is planning to sell advertisements specifically for the new feature.
Blake Irving, Yahoo's chief product officer says, "Search is incredibly important. Search matters to customers and it matters to us."
Shashi Seth, Yahoo's SVP of search and marketplaces said the company as of now has rolled out this feature for 15 categories of queries (like sports, shopping and news) but soon it will expand to all other categories.
Seth says the feature has been developed with advertisers firmly in mind. “We've been thinking deeply about how we can engage with advertisers in this environment....These products don't exist as we speak but we've been testing with brands and agencies to figure out how to best implement them,” he said.
Presently, the feature is available on Yahoo site in the US but soon it will appear on the popular Yahoo.com homepage. However, users in other countries may have to wait for its launch.
Yahoo believes that Search Direct will attract the attention of users and boost usage of its search engine.
