Yahoo's New Look

[YahooMike]

We continue to work on new ways to make what you're looking for easier, and today we took another step in that direction, including making the search results quicker to scan and easier to read. Also, you'll notice the Search Views feature above the Search box, which should help folks focus their results from everything to image search to yellow pages.

We encourage the participants on this board to tell us what you think of our new look?

http://search.surveys.yahoo.com/searchfb

[flood6]

It looks good, Mike. Nice and simple. I hope the final version doesn't look too diffrent.

I noticed something (maybe you should post it in the site review forum, lol, I can see it now "Review Yahoo.com").

Anyway, the current design is a little broke in FireFox. Specifically where you ask users to "Test drive our beta design".

In IE6:


In FireFox 0.9:


You can barely see where the top of the link got cut off. It looks equally broke in Opera.

I have no idea if you'll ever see this, Mike, or if you could do anything about it anyway, I just thought I'd point it out.

edit: It looks fixed now.

[YahooMike]

Interesting, thanks flood6, we'll look into this.

[ronniethedodger]

Mike - the one link I like the most is the Shortcuts link. Nice touch. With all these new shortcuts coming out, making it handy is a time saver.

[YahooMike]

I’m curious to know what you folks think of the new “Also Try” feature, too. We’re finding that it’s really helping people refine their search queries. One example I’ve been using is doing a search for “Florence.” Simply type it in and automatically Also Try will suggest “Florence, Italy” then “Hotels in Florence, Italy.” Again, automatically, you’ll notice the Search Shortcut for hotels is triggered and right at the top of the results you’ll see the three most popular hotels in Florence, Italy with availability, pricing, etc.

The idea here is that by combining our Search Shortcuts with Also Try we’re helping users to explore – and more important, find -- exactly what they want faster. Anyway, check it out, I think you might find it helpful.

[lspence]

The “Also Try” feature only appears when making single word searches. Is that by design?

[YahooMike]

Ispence, your query will somewhat dictate your results, but this features is by no means limited to single words (e.g., Also Try works with searches like cell phone, movie times, summer Olympics, etc.).

[sudhani]

Originally Posted by YahooMike

I’m curious to know what you folks think of the new “Also Try” feature, too. We’re finding that it’s really helping people refine their search queries. One example I’ve been using is doing a search for “Florence.” Simply type it in and automatically Also Try will suggest “Florence, Italy” then “Hotels in Florence, Italy.” Again, automatically, you’ll notice the Search Shortcut for hotels is triggered and right at the top of the results you’ll see the three most popular hotels in Florence, Italy with availability, pricing, etc.

The idea here is that by combining our Search Shortcuts with Also Try we’re helping users to explore – and more important, find -- exactly what they want faster. Anyway, check it out, I think you might find it helpful.

First, thank you YahooMike for being a part of WPW community. And thanx to WPW Team too!!!

This is an excelent feature as far as the searcher's are concerned!!! Yahoo! reminds the right words to the searcher .... Another idea could be to give this "also try" option when the search results cross a certain number.

This new feature is going to give the webmasters a few sleepless nights definitely.

Here is my guess on how you are doing it:

1. You try to match the 'braod search' with most popular searches that includes that phrase
2. Another way of doing it is pick-up from the user behavior .. when someone searches for 'word1' and then goes on to search for 'word1+word2' include this in this 'also try' feature .... I doubt whether you are actually doing it. If not, think of adding another feature that says ... "people searching for word1 also search: ........"

Though its a bit of more work for webmasters, these two features will definitely help webmasters in identifying the most searched keywords and the variants ....

Shortcuts are interesting too!!! It might be a good idea to give a link to all the short-cuts (at least the most popular ones) at the top ...

When I am searching for area code ... I found something interesting as well Suggestion of "Related" searches.

http://search.yahoo.com/search?fr=sc...6p%3D408&p=408

Hope to see more interesting things from Yahoo in future!

[xmx]

I opened yahoo site after reading this post
and in my mozilla browser the image at the
top of the page is a broken image.

I tried also with konqueror and it works fine.

[leeds1]

Nice design

Just wish they didnt have all the sponsored links at the top !

On the right hand OK - top, no.

[ADAM Web Design]

I'm also going to make this comment via the form, but I want to make it here anyway, because it's something that's very slowly starting to bother me.

I've noticed that lately, Yahoo! and in their preview engine MSN have adopted the Google "look and feel" for their results, right down to the colours. While I do find the results on Yahoo! to be more relevant than that of Google's (the jury's still out on MSN since it's in beta), I do find it somewhat annoying that they "look" the same. Why not use some different colours (reds, lighter blues, oranges, anything as long as it's different). Personally, I've always been a big fan of the All the Web scheme. It's relatively non-standard, and it's still clean.

Perhaps you could also use the newer Verdana or Tahoma as the default font, degrading backwards accordingly? This would again serve to distinguish your look and feel without throwing off the whole concept of search too much.

Here's something else from us Great White Northerners up in Canada:


http://search.yahoo.com/search?p=Tor...t&cop=mss&tab= <--- Yahoo.com search.

http://ca.search.yahoo.com/search/ca...nto+web+design <--- Yahoo.ca search.

Not only is the look and feel different (in IE6 anyway), but the results are as well (the jrgraphix.net one disappears for some reason in the .ca). I'm not sure if the latter is caused by them not having a listing somewhere in a Canadian section of the Yahoo! directory or not, however, so I'm not necessarily pointing out the latter as a flaw; it's just something I observed, and I really am trying to be constructive (I just don't do a very good job of it.)

As far as the shortcuts go: while they're nice, a lot of them are US-only, and it would be nice to see some of them (patent search, for example) extended to Canada at the very least. I'd suggest any of the other G7 countries would be good to put in as well.

[cooper]

Hi Mike,
My first impression is YaGoogle! Right down to the preferences page and image search. I thought Yahoo purchased Inktomi and was going to use the Inktomi results to feed the Yahoo! search results? Is this happening?

I find the one-upsmanship between Google and Yahoo! very interesting and so far it seems to be best for the users. And I like that.

Other things I like about the Yahoo! search:

• A link directly to my Yahoo! Mail.
  Numbered results
  a link to actually "Help us improve your search experience."

Who knows, I may even start to use it as much as I use Google. At least for now, it is a supplement to Google.

Keep up the great work!

[synergytheory]

Originally Posted by flood6

It looks good, Mike. Nice and simple. I hope the final version doesn't look too diffrent.

I noticed something (maybe you should post it in the site review forum, lol, I can see it now "Review Yahoo.com").

Anyway, the current design is a little broke in FireFox. Specifically where you ask users to "Test drive our beta design".

In IE6:


In FireFox 0.9:


You can barely see where the top of the link got cut off. It looks equally broke in Opera.

I have no idea if you'll ever see this, Mike, or if you could do anything about it anyway, I just thought I'd point it out.

edit: It looks fixed now.

Ah, I was wondering what was changed, I couldn't see it in FF 0.9 either and I still can't so it's not fixed.

It looks pretty messed up in FireFox...alignment probs.

But overall looks a little cleaner, it is very ala google.

[themidnightwill]

Originally Posted by synergytheory

Ah, I was wondering what was changed, I couldn't see it in FF 0.9 either and I still can't so it's not fixed.

It looks pretty messed up in FireFox...alignment probs.

But overall looks a little cleaner, it is very ala google.

Same problem in Safari 1.2.2 (v125.8).

-Will

[synergytheory]

In FireFox if you search for "media training" you won't see "Test drive our beta design" but if you search for "guitar" you will see it.

The problem is the "related:" feature is bumping the alignment down enough to see the "Test drive our beta design".

[flood6]

Originally Posted by synergytheory

Ah, I was wondering what was changed, I couldn't see it in FF 0.9 either and I still can't so it's not fixed.

It looks pretty messed up in FireFox...alignment probs.

Yeah, I thought that specific problem had been fixed, but I just looked at it a while ago and it was broke again.

Maybe the fix was all in my head...

[Peter Holland]

I think it looks good, and I like the bleu color

[jlknauff]

Your search results seem to fluctuate quite often. Why is that?

[rocos]

Does Y! index our pages first?

[amateurseoguy]

I have a question actually, If I may.

I notice that Yahoo comes and visits a lot of the websites I've worked on but the results take forever and a day to show up. One of our sites has had updates made to it for the last month or so and the results right down to the title and the description are old from before it was updated. I was just curious why the lag in the updates.

By the way, otherwise I do like the new look. I think the results are very relevant to the searches, though it does have the same feel as Google. I agree about MSN, since it is in beta, I'd like to give it some more time before I say they've improved, though I do like what I've seen there too (not to get off topic here). Anyway, it's a nice change.

Can we also comment on the site match here?

[vwlpaige]

Hi,

The yahoo page only partially displays the SPONSORED RESULTS words when viewed in IE6. See a grab of that part of the screen at
http://www.silversweetheart.com/images/yahoograb.gif

I like the clean look and the fast presentation!

Regards,
VA[/url]

[deadBird]

I have always liked the similar search terms display:

http://www.alltheweb.com/search?cat=...&_sb_lang=pref

I'm quite surprised that neither Yahoo or Google have implemented it. I find it extremely useful for finding more junk :)

[hommealone]

Nice but:

The Also Trys are not up to the quality of the Teoma Refine your choices feature. Most searches I tried didn't even give me any Also Trys.

I'd love to see a search engine that let the user tweak the algorithms themselves for each search.
For example: give more (or less) priority to commercial sites; non-commercial sites; recent sites; sites that have high incidence/prominent placement of the search terms; site popularity; etc.

Anyway, keep up the good work. I've been using Yahoo as my default search engine over Google lately.

[Deep13]

i was expecting something like spell checker in new version..

it will be real helpful if you can add it..

Regards
Deep

[Jabber_uk]

I agree with several of the above posters:

1. Look and feel is Google (ish)

2. Fonts: Yes Verdana and Tahoma would be nice and slightly different colours too BUT I don't like point 12 in verdana must be 8 10 or 14.

3. Search results (All Engines) should be defined by the user - as suggested earlier you (Yahoo) could provide the searcher with the ability to refine his/her search by not showing corporate or e-commerce sites (or whatever).

4. On a personal note I am bothered by the engines seeing IT as the word 'it' My company name is Anything I.T. so when a friend or customer wants to find my website they search for Anything IT but Google at least ignores IT. Yahoo ignores IT but it finds me if you put I.T. Anyway my fault for having a silly business name eh?

Jabber
www.anything-it.org
"The Name Says It All"

[ronniethedodger]

Originally Posted by Jabber_uk

4. On a personal note I am bothered by the engines seeing IT as the word 'it' My company name is Anything I.T. so when a friend or customer wants to find my website they search for Anything IT but Google at least ignores IT. Yahoo ignores IT but it finds me if you put I.T. Anyway my fault for having a silly business name eh?

Hey Jabber, no pun intended ... but it sounds like we need another SE out there called Search-IT. What do you think? ;0)

[JCMnetmedia]

I like it. Yahoo is really bouncing back IMO. Looks great mike. I like the relevancy features

[ZenWarrior]

More than seeing Yahoo worry about new design, I would much prefer see their energies directed toward enforcing their message boards TOS and getting rid of the obvious racists and bigots who post there with apparent impunity. (Yahoo's boards are the worst on the Net in this regard.)

If their clearly stated TOS denouncing racism and derogatory language are not enforced, is inaction not tacit endorsement and approval of such behaviors? (Yes, it is. I'm just waiting for the lawsuit.)

[ADAM Web Design]

ZenWarrior: from Yahoo's point of view, the message boards wouldn't be their primary (if any) source of income. Their money is going to come from searches (sponsored ads) and directory listings. They also offer up the boards for free, and if you don't like something, you don't have to read it. There are plenty of other websites that are PG-13 or better out there.

Besides, the problem with "derogatory" or "racist" comments is in their interpretation. Different people find different things offensive, and it's very difficult to say which words are offensive and which aren't.

I guess the best example of this comes from a client of mine (note: the language used in this example is strictly for illustrative purposes only, and does not reflect my feelings toward any particular group of people. I assess everyone individually. If I like you, I like you and I don't care who or what you are.)

I have a client who is from Trinidad and Tobago (we'll call her Betty). She has a friend from Pakistan (who we'll call Sue). Betty has known Sue for many years, and has heard Sue refer to Pakistani people as "Pakis". Since Betty heard Sue use the reference repeatedly, Betty thought it was perfectly acceptable to do so.

Betty was talking to another woman (we'll call her Sally). Sally revealed that she was also from Pakistan. Betty said "Oh, you're a Paki like my friend Sue!" in a friendly and conversational manner.

Sally got incredibly offended and hasn't spoken to Betty since. Betty, being of Trinidadian descent, had heard many such racial slurs as a child and would never want to engage in kind, knowing of the pointless hurt it would cause. Sue had used the word around Betty so Betty thought it was harmless. Sally, on the other hand, clearly didn't agree, even though she was from the same part of the world as Sue.

As you can see, it's really easy to offend someone without realizing it. So how would Yahoo! be able to determine what is or isn't acceptable content? People have a right to say what they want, no matter how stupid or idiotic or offensive it may be.

The people who would post racist and derogatory things on a forum or a message board clearly don't have the courage to come out and say it publicly. And even if they did, let them. Sticks and stones and all that. It's not that difficult to visit another web page if something you see is offensive. Rather than try to get Yahoo! in the unenviable position of being stuck between two seven-year-olds with an ice cream cone, just go somewhere else.

[rhvo]

Does Yahoo! ever use real people for testing?
I think you're going to have to do some explanation to the everyday folks who use the web. Mainly: the difference between the WEB tab and the Directory tab. Because for MY keywords, the search results are VERY different. Now, if the average person spends less than 30 seconds on a page before they decide if it is useable to them, how much time do they spend on a search engine exploring all the functions? I'd wager about the same.

[smakyyy]

it looks good - but i would like to see less sponsor results ont he top - i got 5 on top before i copuld see the web results. google gives 2 ont he top max - so five is like kinda too much. does resemble google with ads ont he right. but that is fine - but if you can cut ad's ont eh top it will be good.

[ronniethedodger]

There is additional "padding" in those sponsor boxes on Yahoo, while MSN and Google is fairly tight around the margins and does not lose too much vertical space.

I have noticed also that other's sponsor ads rarely have more than one line in the descriptions. All of this adds up in vertical space loss.

The font size seems larger too.

[Milkshake]

I'm not a computer wizard, I don't even know html! I'm just your average Jane who love using the internet provided everything is completely user-friendly. Therefore my reply is not very technical and due to my lack of experience and knowledge could be totally off the mark, but...here goes I think the new design of Yahoo is funky, hip & cool - I kindasorta thought that it was designed specifically to target young women & men, the under 25 years old group. Yet regardless of age,it is good and very user-friendly - yay!!! Searches are incredibly fast, A1 in fact. Yahoo Australia page is so easy to use and to find however, only one small problem, there appears to be an empty text box on it, second small text box on the right hand side. I hope my comments aren't too lame. :-)

[ADAM Web Design]

Originally Posted by rhvo

Does Yahoo! ever use real people for testing?

I think that's kind of the point of this thread. The last time I checked, I wasn't Pinocchio and I don't think any of the rest of us are either.

[compumonster]

Hi, the looks are nice but I prefer results over looks. Some time ago, even if I knew the results were provided by Google, I still used Yahoo as my main search engine because I liked the style and goodies of the site. Afterwards I switched since I began to disagree with the relevance of the results found. I'm sorry, Juan Neuman.

[MekhongKurt]

I agree with the various positive comments posted so far here, but since they've been stated already, I won't go through them all again here.

But what I like best has nothing to do with any of the new stuff, actually. Having long been frustrated at trying to contact a real, live person at Yahoo!, I think it's GREAT to have Mike here responding to us -- and good on WPW for having him.

Mike -- regarding the Bulk Folder, how in the *world* can I get something I want to go to my Inbox??? Several newsletters to which I subscribe keep showing up in my Bulk Folder despite my repeatedly going through the "This is not spam" process. To give just one example, I've subscribed quite awhile to a currency exchange rate newsletter put out by the folks at http://www.xe.com. It's about the most innocuous newsletter imaginable, as it contains nothing more than a list of currencies, their exchange rates with the U.S. dollar, and their copyright notice and the like. For the life of me, I can't figure out what in the world it contains that triggers Yahoo's spam filters.

This isn't all that major an issue, since I can scan the Bulk Folder reasonably quickly -- IF I stay on top of my e-mail. [My e-mail runs 300-500/day, with about 90% of it spam, usually infected. So I *have* to stay on top of it.]

On a related matter, is there any particular reason to limit the number of things we can list as being spam? I'm not a techie, so there may be issues here of which I'm simply unaware. It's a nice feature -- but I used up my quota in short order!

Special congratulations for expanding the mailbox -- that ought to give Yahoo some leverage against Gmail (which I haven't tried anyway).

Kep up the good work.

[ronniethedodger]

Originally Posted by MekhongKurt

Mike -- regarding the Bulk Folder, how in the *world* can I get something I want to go to my Inbox???

Try adding the newsletter address to your contacts. That should do it. More info see this report.

[Mac 5]

"If you can't beat 'em, join them" or in this case "if you can't beat them (Google), break your affiliation with them and copy them."

I liked how the now defunct go2net.com had a buttons below the search box with "as a phrase, all of the words or any of the words." I don't think many average people use the advanced search button or understand boolean phrases.

People like the clean look, free of flashing banner ads. Now if CNN could just get rid of the scrolling ticker on the bottom. The clean look appears free of advertising, although the sponsored results generate lots of money for the search engines.

Are the results going to change or is the new Yahoo a cosmetic change?

[Artyom]

Just want to give my hand with the FireFox issue solve. It's definitely because of 'Related:....' apperance. When you make search at FireFox with k/w Fast car you can't see "Test drive our beta version" but when you do search with k/w CD and the engine gives you a chance to pick up some related items under 'Related:...' you Can see "Test..."

Hope it'll help.

[thestriker10]

I love the changes that Yahoo has made! I do have one complaint, its about SpamGuard Plus. It works pretty good except for my WebProWorld newsletter always get caught by it. i mark them as not spam every day but they still keep going into my bulk folder.

sorry if this isn't what your looking for in this thread, i'm @ work and have to type quick.....

TheStriker10