Sneak Peek: Yahoo's New Algorithm

Garrett · #1 (**permalink**) 02-13-2004, 12:23 PM

Yahoo's official announcement last month that they planned to drop Google results in Q1 brought about a wave of speculation on when they would actually make the switch. Some wonder if they'll ever fully make the switch, since Yahoo is a part Google owner.

Proof now exists of Yahoo testing Inktomi. While this does not reveal an actual timeline for their switch, or the degree to which they'll renounce Google results, it does give a peak at the new Inktomi algorithm.

Andy Beal, of Websourced, Inc, posted these search urls in his blog recently:

Yahoo (with Google index):
http://search.yahoo.com/bin/search?p=widget

Google:
http://www.google.com/search?q=widget

Now take a look at the Yahoo results using Inktomi:
http://search.yahoo.com/bin/search?p=widget&tmpl=E088

What I didn't get was why the addition of the "&tmpl=E088" made Yahoo suddenly deliver their Inktomi test results. I wrote to several search experts to get some insight into the changes, as well as to unravel the mysterious "tmpl="

Dan Thies, of SEO Research Labs, did some research on the results and sent me his findings.

Quote:

This is Inktomi:
http://search.positiontech.com/Inkto...Search&adult=0

This is Google:
http://www.google.com/search?q=widget

Neither one is the same as whatever tmpl E088 is, but it's a LOT closer to Inktomi than Google.

I assume tmpl is a value that lets them mess with different templates for the results?

You can play with different values on tmpl, some give Googleish results, some give Intkomish results. Maybe there's one that gives Altavistish or AllTheWebbish results too.

Andy Beal said, "I think the "&tmpl=E088" is some kind of identifier for Inktomi. Probably works in the same way as Google's datacenters.

As far as his reaction to the test results themselves he said, "I'm still digesting the results. They appear to be very relevant, but who knows what will happen in the future."

On Andy's site I found some comments from Jason Dowdell, of GlobalPromoter.com. He backed up the findings, but added that Yahoo's testing Inktomi only during certain times.

"I just checked your query and the results are the same as Google. However, I've done my own testing for the past 3 nights and have found that at night, approx. 10 pm EST Yahoo is alternating the old results with the new results.

I think that during the day they're sticking with the old results more and at night they're running the tests."

So why don't you try some tests and tell me what you think of the Inktomi algorithm:
http://search.yahoo.com/bin/search?p=widget&tmpl=E088

(Replace the word "widget" with your search term.)