Yahoo Moves to Boost Traffic with New Features

November 29, 2011

From the Too Little, Too Late Department: Rob D. Young at Search Engine Watch reveals Yahoo’s new scheme in “Yahoo Adds Recipe, Shopping, Entertainment Search Features.” Just what’s needed to boost search traffic: recipes! We learned from the article:

When users enter a query that is clearly related to recipes, they will now see rich results at the top of the page. Those results provide mouth-watering images, the average star rating of dishes, the recipe source, and a quick link to details such as required ingredients and preparation time. Users will also have the option to navigate to tabs that filter the recipes into popular categories.

There’s also the ability to share results straight to Facebook. Oh, goody.

Yahoo is also joining the popular search engine ploy to embellish shopping searches, just in time for the holidays. The enhancements include product comparisons, savings finders, and buying guides. Oh, and this one has a Facebook- linking feature, as well.

Then there’s the entertainment widget, which streamlines access to the latest information on a given celebrity (ooh!) At least with this one, the company is playing to one of its existing strengths; it’s already known for entertainment “news.”

Will these features really help Yahoo’s dwindling bottom line? Will Microsoft nab this once hot outfit?

Cynthia Murrell, November 29, 2011

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Stephen E. Arnold monitors search, content processing, text mining and related topics from his high-tech nerve center in rural Kentucky. He tries to winnow the goose feathers from the giblets. He works with colleagues worldwide to make this Web log useful to those who want to go "beyond search". Contact him at sa [at] arnoldit.com. His Web site with additional information about search is arnoldit.com.