Can Yahoo close the Google search gap?

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Can Yahoo close the Google search gap?

By Larry Dignan July 25, 2007, 5:34 AM PDT

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Plain search? Me too.

Yahoo’s search delivers a solid experience, but not enough to gain share back from Google.

The opening Yahoo search screen looks vaguely familiar. It’s Google-ish, which may make it easier for folks trying to live without Google. The problem with that approach is that Yahoo has to do a little more than me-too when it comes to gaining search market share.

Popularity contest

The image search suggested tips–which seem to play off what folks find popular on Yahoo–are a nice touch. Overall though the image search is on par with other sites.

Suggested images

A look at the suggested image search du jour.

Video search handy

The bright spot of Yahoo is the video search, which is pretty handy for browsing.

Local mishap

But where the Yahoo experience was less than stellar were local searches. I had gotten into the habit of using Google as a phone book. This screen brought back nothing for me.

What I was looking for: Elsewhere

That same search on Google got me what I was looking for–a number.

Close but off the mark

Now if I click on that same search–“jiffy lube hamilton new jersey”–in Yahoo’s local search I get closer to the mark. But not close enough. The other item: Yahoo Local doesn’t seem integrated as well with Yahoo Search. Yahoo appears to be putting me in a different bucket of content. I’d rather just get the info.

Integration counts

This disjointed feeling continues as I hope around to other sections. Yahoo Answers is a different site to me. Answers results didn’t turn up in any searches. Ditto for Yahoo Shopping. From a user interface perspective these properties should be integrated better via search. Bottom line: You could do worse than Yahoo search, but there’s nothing to indicate that it can regain market share from Google.

By Larry Dignan

Larry Dignan is Editor in Chief at Celonis. He was most recently Vice President, Editorial and Editor in Chief at ZDNet. Prior to that he was executive news editor at eWeek and news editor at Baseline. He also served as the East Coast news editor and

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