Yahoo Search Assist Gets Smarter

Yahoo doesn't really know whether it is a search company or not, but it's definitely not giving up entirely on this front. With all the focus on the interface and the way the search engine presents the answers, Yahoo has been steadily introducing new features and updates. Now the company has introduced an upgraded Search Assist feature across most of its proprieties with the notable exception of the main search engine. The tool will now show more than just search suggestions, it will offer information or custom actions inside Search Assist depending on the query.

“Today we are rolling out several new Search Assist features for the Web search boxes at the top of nearly every property on Yahoo!, including Yahoo! News, Yahoo! Sports, and Yahoo! Finance. These new features can take you directly to the information you need, whether it is real-time stock quotes or movie trailers. You can also get enhanced search suggestions and easily navigate to the Yahoo! property that fits your needs the most,” Linda Wang, senior product manager for Yahoo Search and Drew Geishecker, director of product management at Yahoo Network Services, wrote.

The new inline information is available for several types of searches like movies, sports, travel destinations, or stock price. Looking up a place you'd want to visit will bring up information like travel guides for the location, places to stay, things to do, and similar info. When searching for a company, Search Assist will show its current stock quote and also links to further financial information or news about the company.

Yahoo also introduced a new feature which should make it easier to get to another Yahoo service. For example, type 'mail' in Yahoo Sports and Search Assist will provide links to access the Yahoo Mail Inbox or send an email. You could, of course, use the icon in the top toolbar present on most Yahoo Sites, but it's likely that many people used the search feature to get to their mail or to the news section. Finally, certain queries will also get direct links to sections like Images or News if the algorithm determines that those results are the most relevant.