Yahoo! has come up with a new offering in Search Direct. The feature, according to Yahoo, “delivers answers and direct access to websites before you complete a query, hit the search button, or go to a search results page”.

Published: 24 Mar 2011

Yahoo! has come up with a new offering in Search Direct. The feature, according to Yahoo, “delivers answers and direct access to websites before you complete a query, hit the search button, or go to a search results page”.

This new feature, currently in beta, taps into Yahoo!’s opportunity to combine content and structured data and to provide a rich search experience.

The company stated that Search Direct predicts search results as fast as a person types, character by character, and presents those results dynamically, generating a fast, simple search experience that goes beyond a list of blue links. Search Direct rolls out in a public beta to Yahoo! users across the U.S. to start with and will be available in other Yahoo! products and markets later this year.

“With today’s launch, direct answers — not the search results page — is the primary focus. We are redefining the search process and prominently displaying direct answers where search decisions are being made,” said Shashi Seth, senior vice president, Yahoo! Search and Marketplaces.

With Search Direct, Yahoo! content is combined with information from the web to provide rich answers, not just links, and to give people the option to immediately engage or continue to a traditional search results page. In this beta release, coverage includes top trending searches, movies, TV, sports teams and players, weather, local, travel, stocks, and shopping categories now available at search.yahoo.com.

Highlights:

• Trending Searches — The moment the cursor hits the search box, top search trends appear and are updated every 10 minutes to display the latest and greatest search trends.

• Search Previews — Search Direct predicts the search term as you type, providing the 10 most likely searches. You can then easily scan each option to see the related top results and find the best match for your needs.

• Direct Answers — For many common searches, Search Direct provides instant answers before you click the Search button. Find an address or phone number, a three-day weather forecast, financial stock performance, the top trending stories at Yahoo! News, or when and where a movie is playing — all without going to a results page.

• Direct Results — When you scan the search options and find the site you need, Search Direct provides exactly that — direct access to the site. No more overwhelming pages of links.

• Rich Content — For all top searches about sports, top news stories, and finance, Search Direct displays rich content that only the world's largest digital media company can provide. For example, type “n” to get the Yahoo! News display, which always shows the top two trending stories.