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July 12, 2007

Yahoo Launches Suggest Search Feature

Duncan Riley

34 comments »

Yahoo has launched a “suggest search” feature that automatically prompts users with suggested search queries as they type.

The feature is said by Yahoo to limit the number of words a user needs to type into a query. By presenting similar queries a user is supposed to have a shorter search time and get to what they’re looking for more quickly.

The feature is not entirely new; suggest search has previously been available to users of the Yahoo Firefox toolbar, although it is new to Yahoo.com. Notably at this stage the feature is not available on country specific Yahoo sites.

Yahoo previously launched a similar product, Instant Search, that prompted results in a similar way as suggest search prompts queries in September 2005, although that product never made it to Yahoo’s front page. Google offers an identical service to suggest search with Google Suggest.

yahoosearchthingy.jpg

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This entry was posted on Thursday, July 12th, 2007 at 12:20 am and is filed under Company & Product Profiles. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

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Comments

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  1. gettit

    July 12th, 2007 at 12:40 am

    I noticed that happening somewhere, I think in the toolbar probably, and I really did like it. Anyway, it worked nicely, didn’t throw off my typing, etc. Pretty cool I think.

  2. Search*Engines WEB

    July 12th, 2007 at 12:41 am

    They debuted this programming on AllTheWeb after SearchEnginesWeb persistently scolded them for not developing that ‘techie’ search engines after acquiring it.

  3. bdb

    July 12th, 2007 at 1:04 am

    Who first offered this feature? And when?

  4. Sergio

    July 12th, 2007 at 2:38 am

    Could be a good tool for disable persons with poor manual control.

  5. seoz87

    July 12th, 2007 at 3:22 am

    There is one thing that is missed by you. Take a look at that blog

    http://seoz.wordpress.com

  6. Simon

    July 12th, 2007 at 4:29 am

    Yahoo has added a great feature. Yahoo is getting better day by day.

  7. chall

    July 12th, 2007 at 5:46 am

    This feature could help some users but I hope it can be turned off because not everyone wants those suggestions.

  8. Jeremiah Owyang

    July 12th, 2007 at 6:24 am

    As a Yahoo shareholder, it’s sad that Yahoo always seems late to the party.

    Check out this clever “Personas of the top four web companies: Google, Yahoo, MSN, and AOL”

    http://www.web-strategist.com/.....companies/

  9. Rebecca

    July 12th, 2007 at 6:26 am

    A gimmick of the “monkey see, monkey do” variety. Zzzz….

  10. Concrete Stain

    July 12th, 2007 at 6:30 am

    This isn’t anything special -

    AS SEO; perhaps a way to find relavant keywords even better?

  11. Ravi

    July 12th, 2007 at 6:37 am

    oh finally!
    What took them so long?

  12. Russ Lang

    July 12th, 2007 at 6:43 am

    I remember when snap launched this back at the first Web 2.0 conference in 1994. It was like ooooh. Then Google copied it for the toolbar, then Yahoo on alltheweb. So this is nothing new.

    Amazing that this little feature rises to the leve of a TC post.

    Move along now.

  13. Rachel

    July 12th, 2007 at 6:50 am

    i know it’s supposed to help people search faster and more effectively, but honestly, it’s quite annoying. I know what i want to search for so stop trying to give me suggestions on what to search, dammit!

    Just my opinion anyway.

  14. Rob

    July 12th, 2007 at 6:51 am

    A little late, eh?

  15. Tom Chi

    July 12th, 2007 at 7:40 am

    The reason that this is news is that instead of being a demo at a conference or a special feature to turn on, it is now the default on the world’s biggest start page.

    When things are first invented it’s news — when they hit the mainstream it’s big news. Simple as that.

  16. bdb

    July 12th, 2007 at 7:42 am

    So it was snap, Russ? I wasn’t sure whose “innovation” this was but I’ve been using this for 3yrs.

  17. agnoster

    July 12th, 2007 at 8:56 am

    (Disclaimer: Yahoo! supplies me with tasty coffee, foosball, and a steady paycheck.)

    Yes, this feature has been in various labs (Google, Yahoo!, and I imagine MSN and Ask have experimented with live keyword suggestions), or on sub-sites. But of those four search engines, Yahoo! is the only one so far to have taken it from the lab and onto their front page - it might not be innovation in the strictest sense, but the devil’s in the details, and serving live suggestions on the front page is not an engineering achievement to brush off lightly - it takes a lot of tweaking and performance work beyond just showing it can be done.

    Don’t get me wrong, being the first to come up with something is very cool - but ultimately, getting stable products out for the masses ain’t easy, but it’s still why we work on technology in the long run. Not just for the nifty hacks (thought Yahoo! doesn’t skimp with those either - see Hack Day), but so that we can bring the new technology to everyone in a way they can rely on and will make their lives better.

  18. website copywriter

    July 12th, 2007 at 10:48 am

    Unknowingly, I’ve used this feature a few times. Discovered it by accident, as with gettit, and I thought it was really helpful.

  19. Corporate theives

    July 12th, 2007 at 10:49 am

    You know invented that feature?

    Someone did invent that feature. Corporation spend millions dollar stealing people’s hard drive without premission. They do this to increase marketshares.

    This is why startups put privacy policy.

  20. customer service

    July 12th, 2007 at 11:51 am

    But does this feature help you pick better adwords.

  21. Bill Hartzer

    July 12th, 2007 at 12:47 pm

    I’ve actually had some fun playing with this feature today, as I’ve been intrigued at the suggestions–which are totally way off base in certain cases.

  22. Steven

    July 12th, 2007 at 2:47 pm

    @agnoster:
    > But of those four search engines, Yahoo! is the only one so far to have taken it from the lab and onto their front page

    Have you looked at Ask.com lately?

    > Don’t get me wrong, being the first to come up with something is very cool…

    Sorry to spoil your party

  23. mikewarm

    July 12th, 2007 at 3:46 pm

    google.cn has alreadey offer this feature, you could check it out.

  24. Sze

    July 12th, 2007 at 9:17 pm

    This feature is available at Yahoo Hong Kong for a few months
    you can also check it out

  25. bdb

    July 12th, 2007 at 9:25 pm

    @steven, do you really think it was ask.com out of the gates first with this one?

    100% Wrong!

    I have used this for 3 yrs, and I never knew if it was part of customizegoogle add-on (unaffiliated) or what.

    My current understanding is that it was “snap” that was first. Anyone know for sure? Proof?

  26. iNuron

    July 13th, 2007 at 8:44 am

    Yes, there is a diable function (bottom right)

    When I use the searchbar in firefox for either google or yahoo search I get these ’suggestions’ too. I can’t remember when I first noticed them but it has been there for quite some time.

    It would be great to have a suggestion for alternative spelling when you mistype something. (like the ‘did you mean:’ feature after you search something in google.

  27. Tom McGovern

    July 13th, 2007 at 5:09 pm

    We do believe we were first to the market with this tool and we even put it on our “front page” ;-) What site is bdb from?

  28. Mia

    July 14th, 2007 at 8:56 pm

    Poor Yahoo!. Always a step behind these days.

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    July 29th, 2007 at 3:41 pm

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