Yahoo rolled out new search upgrades on Tuesday--giving users the option to refine queries on the fly with the Search Assist feature, as well as bundle images, video and other rich media content into
the organic search results.
It's this latter feature that has caught the eye of many search pros--as it means that all the major engines now feature blended search results, and
strengthens the reality of video, audio and other multimedia ads moving into paid search.
The Web giant recently commissioned Harris Interactive to study the "state of the Web," finding that
while 99% of adults looking for information online use a search engine, only 15% of users actually find what they're looking for with their first search. In fact, most consumers needed to search three
or four times to get the desired results.
So Yahoo rolled out Search Assist to combat "Web search fatigue"--or the idea that users grow tired of having to conduct multiple searches to get at the
results they're seeking.
Search Assist is designed to help users refine their query from the start, reducing the number of times they need to tweak their phrase to get the right results. Yahoo's
engine senses when users hesitate while entering a search term and offers spelling suggestions, refinements and related topics in a colored window that opens underneath the search box. If users
prefer, they can turn off the feature (and shut the window).
Some analysts note that refined, more relevant searches mean less volume--and a possible drag instead of a boost to Yahoo's search
market share. But according to Dan Brough, vice president and search director, DraftFCB, future gains could outweigh a temporary dip for Yahoo. "Is this going to significantly skew market share? I
don't think so. But it will enhance the user experience," said Brough. "It may decrease search volume on the surface, but relevance is what users care about. With word of mouth and users talking about
which engines return the best results--if it's Yahoo, then this is definitely beneficial in the long run."
Meanwhile, the inclusion of video, audio and images into organic search results means
that search marketers have "more content to optimize on a continual basis," said Steve Jacoby, president of SendTraffic. Getting clients to think about their content in terms of more than just the
written word is also a challenge, as it may require a revamp of landing pages or even entire sites to include embedded images and assets such as digitized TV spots.
"And in a tight labor market,
the extra optimization and site development work creates voids that search companies need to fill," said Jacoby.
"It's a big thing, because there's a higher demand for site owners to create
content with elasticity," said David Kidder, CEO of paid search automation firm, Clickable. "Companies have so much valuable content but it's just dormant. The more relevant companies will take
advantage of adding video and images--but it means that search marketers need to have better indexing abilities than they've had before."
As for in-search video and audio ads--the Web giant is
moving in the direction of the entire market, according to Tim Mayer, Yahoo's vice president of product management for Search.
"Broadly speaking, the advertising experience will have to evolve
just at the mainline search experience does," said Mayer. "The ads have to be as engaging to users as the other search content for them to be relevant. So if there are videos included in results, then
the ads need to move along in parallel."
"Video is the next evolution of the search product," said Brough. "Any engine that wants market share needs to play the game. It's where search is
going--maybe not in the next 6-12 months, but 12 months out, the engines and their ads will have to adapt outside of text links."
Brough added: "It's happening now. Look at Google and what
they're doing with video searches on YouTube. There are video ads that users can scroll through and choose to opt out of--so there's no question that they're getting into it."