Yahoo Releases Intent-Specific Searching
Yahoo has put out a new search interface in Yahoo Next called Mindset, which lets you choose on a slider whether you want commercial (shopping) or informational (news and tips) results. Basically, its a normal Yahoo search page with a slider that says “shopping” on one end and “researching” on the other, and it works quite well. For example, the top ten results for “Google” normally, and with the full Mindset filters in either direction:
| Regular | shopping | researching | |
| 1 | google.com | Google Store | review of Google |
| 2 | Google Images | Google marketing stats | wikipedia: Google Bomb |
| 3 | Google News | Amazon: Google Hacks | Dan Gillmor’s blog |
| 4 | Google Directory | Google Alerts | wikipedia: Google |
| 5 | Google Toolbar | Google Catalogs | technorati: Google (tag) |
| 6 | Google Groups | Google Language Tools | Google Guide |
| 7 | Google Blog | Google Print | WebmasterWorld |
| 8 | Google-Watch | Google (Belgium) | Stanford: Backrub |
| 9 | Google (Germany) | Google (Japan) | Kottke: GBrowser |
| 10 | Google (UK) | Google (Poland) | Google Scholar |
Even more interesting are the Microsoft results:
| Regular | shopping | researching | |
| 1 | microsoft.com | Windows.com | Department of Justice |
| 2 | Microsoft downloads | Hotmail | Security Focus / Microsoft |
| 3 | Microsoft support | MSN Games | Open Source Initiative |
| 4 | Windows Update | Microsoft.com Search | wikipedia: Microsoft |
| 5 | Microsoft Office | Xbox.com | Microsoft financial fraud |
| 6 | Internet Explorer | Microsoft (Australia) | MVPs |
| 7 | Windows.com | bCentral Submit It | Slashdot |
| 8 | MSN.com | Microsoft testing | Search Slashdot |
| 9 | MSDN | Office Clip Art | Weblogs.asp.net |
| 10 | Microsoft Frontpage | TechNet | MSDN blogs |
Now, of course these aren’t perfect (where are InsideGoogle and InsideMicrosoft at the top of the research lists?), but they perform a great service reduce search engine clutter and spam. Most importantly, we aren’t seeing a whole lot of Google and Microsoft subdomains wasting page space in the specialized results (although regional versions oddly get through). The FAQ explains that each page listed has a score ranging from -2 (most commercial) to +2 (most informational). Yahoo calls this intent-driven search. I hope Yahoo keeps improving on this product, since it seems to have great potential.
I’ve played quite a bit with the Mindset today. It truly produces pretty accurate results. Of course no algo is 100% accurate.
Didn’t MSN have something similar with a slider a while ago?
Comment by Ottawa | May 27, 2005
I’m surprised you haven’t mentioned this (at least, I didn’t see you do so). Have you seen Ask Jeeve’s “Narrow you Search” feature? Just type in any search term, hit enter, and look to the right.
Comment by Brock | May 27, 2005
Yahoo Mindset - The Power of Choice
A new search option from Yahoo Research, Mindset brings a very simpley yet very useful addition to search - a slider that allows you tell the engine if you’re shopping or doing research. As you move the slider, the results change in real time. Very c…
Trackback by The Pre-Commerce Blog | May 28, 2005
Brock: Twas not I that missed, but you:
http://google.blognewschannel.com/index.php/archives/2005/05/26/ask-adds-new-features/
Comment by Nathan Weinberg | May 29, 2005
[…] mo after all. I want to see it integrated in the official search Good job Yahoo Edit: Here you have an interesting test. I laughed a […]
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