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 people 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 links 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 this, you’re going to come to Yahoo to search for people.”
Any niche that Yahoo can carve out for itself strengthens its position as it awaits the long approval process surrounding its proposed search deal with Microsoft. After that, Bing will take over its core search results, but it will still focus on the user interface front-end on Yahoo search itself. Already, that is moving in a more Bing-like direction.
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 this already with its related searches in the left hand column. But Yahoo combines this with people search so that along the side are tab-like filters which bring up recent Tweets, Facebook results, Friendfeed comments, Pandora profile information, and more of the person you are trying to find out about.
But people 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 people search is only one type of search. Even if Yahoo does a better job there, it will have to do much more to break consumers of their Google habit.
Carol Bartz needs to be fired for not knowing what Yahoo does this far into her tenure. She couldn’t be any less consistent than she has been on search. They want desperately to be a search company but just keep failing. Add them to the deadpool!
And I think adding Microsoft to the mix will only make things more confusing at Yahoo search.
I agree… I would never use yahoo now… it seems like a joke of a company….
yahoo mail sucks still. especially if net connection is intermittent. it shows back network error to me than to retry by itself like gmail, and even facebook is robust in this case. yahoo need to get priorities right.
seems like a smart strategy considering the direction that the web is going. However, i’m not sure how this fits into their Bing deal. I was under the impression that all search will be powered by Bing.
Challenging competition between Yahoo and Google..It looks like Yahoo and Bing have joined hands to break users off Google habit. Good Luck guys!!!
Your headline is ridiculous again…
What’s the point of trying to manipulate perception with False information? It’s actually hard to believe that you can sign this bad job with your name Erick… seriously…
so they expect all the google users to simply go to yahoo.com whenever they need to search for a person? yahhhh…good luck with that
Mistake after mistake. I used to be impressed by Yahoo’s speedy pageloads, but lately that’s all they have going for them.
From the opposite perspective, my wife swears by Yahoo mail. My many attempts to convert her to Gmail have failed. The loyal ones aren’t going anywhere.
However, the same applies for Google fans. Boys, show these Yahoo clowns the door.
http://www.goog...=1&tbs=ww:1
lol
Better
http://www.goog...earch&tbo=1
Despite of so much negativity around Yahoo, I kinda like their SearchPad integration. Looks neat and productive so far!
@sriray
http://www.arktan.com
This is MBA bla-bla. YAHOO needs tech innovation, not “strategic” pitches. But the tech guys already left the sinking boat.
yup.
agreed
Another freaking redesign? How many does that make now, are they trying to set a redesign record?
so the big idea is people search?
so what’s the best monetized people search system around now? LinkedIn? I remember hearing that they’re running at $100M in revenue.
Now I may be off on the rev, but chasing after a rev oppty somewhere around $100M is plain stupid.
Yawn. Are Yahoo still around?
lol yeah they are microsoft newest pet
yahoo is so 90s
“But Cornett throws down a challenge for Google: “When we launch this, you’re going to come to Yahoo to search for people.””
so I suppose when I need to find out someone’s twitter address going forward instead of just typing their name and twitter in the little box with the G on it in my firefox browser, instead I’ll have to type out yahoo.com into my address bar and then type their name and twitter so that I can get it from yahoo instead? Seems like more work to me, but maybe I just don’t get it.
They just may be on to something here.
PeopleSearches.com – Tops – Google, Yahoo, Bing, and Ask.coms
So their belief is that users will use one search engine for all searches except for people search, which they will use a different search engine for?
That is not a winning strategy especially since social contact aggregation is growing like wildfire and there’s little need to go to any search engine to find people you want information on, much less two separate search engines.
It’s further validation that not working for them anymore was the right move!
but Carol Bartz told us ALL that Yahoo is NOT a search company so why they are sooooooo determined to be first in People Search?
Seriously? Are you saying that the reason people go to Google is to do vanity searches. Thus the solution to nip Google in the bud is to leverage 3rd party APIs because Yahoo’s search engine is incapable of indexing the world wide web?
The problem is that Google indexes the web quicker, and in much more breadth and depth than Yahoo. As a frustrated webmaster, getting content into Yahoo takes so much longer than Google. Makes me wonder why I should spend money on ads on Yahoo.
Thing is if I wanted to search on a person, I go to straight to the source, Facebook or Linkedin. The information is much more fresher than via normal search channels.
more muddled non-strategy, but what do you expect from the collection of third-rate suits they’ve assembled? carol bartz talks a tough game but underneath all the bluster, she has no freaking clue what is happening online. anyone can serve pink slips, i have no idea why people have been getting so ecstatic over her simplistic cut/sell strategy
The new design will focus on making search more personalized, and specifically going after Google in people search and 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..
>>>>>> Yahoo efforts to take away Google users for creating a way to move to the top most place in qsearch area is appreciable, competition is good. But Yahoo new services in search areas are branded in Google and Bing already. Seems Yahoo is more like Bing.
People’s search and refinement of search results is not a new one. Eager to see how far Yahoo’s efforts hits and diverts Google users to Yahoo!!!
The new design will focus on making search more personalized, and specifically going after Google in people search and 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..
>>>>>> Yahoo efforts to take away Google users for creating a way to move to the top most place in qsearch area is appreciable, competition is good. But Yahoo new services in search areas are branded in Google and Bing already. Seems Yahoo is more like Bing.
People’s search and refinement of search results is not a new one. Eager to see how far Yahoo’s efforts hits and diverts Google users to Yahoo!!!
P.S. – Sorry, forgot to tell you great post!
I thought Yahoo couldn’t get any worse than when Terry Semel was running it. Then Jerry Yang took over and proved me wrong. Then I thought there is no way this company could be run any worse. Then Carol Bartz took over and proved me wrong.
On a side note, has anyone noticed that since Microsoft’s recent coup against Yahoo, that all these subordinates have been talking about various search niches that Yahoo’s engaged in. Nothing from Bartz since she really stepped in it by saying Yahoo was never a search company.
So has the board decided on when it’s going to ax Bartz yet? Yahoo is on the precipice of being irretrievably lost.