Yahoo Launches Search Pad

Yahoo has announced the launch of a new note-taking feature for its search engine. Dubbed Search Pad, it will roll out today and its aim is to provide users with a simple tool to remember and organize their searches so they can go back to them at a later date. The feature was first announced in February but it won't be available to the public until later today.

“[Search Pad] helps you keep track of websites and take notes whenever you do research online. It intelligently understands when you’re in research mode and, if you choose, collects information about the sites you visit. You can create research documents with saved websites, edit and reorder your personal notes, and share them with friends,” Larry Cornett, vice president, Yahoo Search, wrote when introducing the feature.

Search Pad is facing similar products from competitors, Google Notebook to name one, but it brings some new features to try to get ahead. The best one is the fact that it automatically fills some data when you launch the pad based on your searches. Also, Yahoo will detect when you are researching something as compared to just doing normal searches and will only then offer to bring up Search Pad with some data already filled.

All of the functionality is there; you can add links or pictures along with the notes you took and the pads will be stored on the Yahoo homepage. Another great feature is the way Search Pad automatically tries to detect where you copied and pasted a fragment of text and will add a link to the original content, which could prove very useful if, later, you don't remember where you got that piece of info from.

While it isn't exactly revolutionary the features it brings do make it a pretty compelling product and, coupled with the fact that it will show up automatically for every user, could make it a very popular tool.