IndustrySave the Time of the Searcher: Yahoo’s New “Quick Links”

Save the Time of the Searcher: Yahoo's New "Quick Links"

On Search Engine Roundtable, Barry blogs about Yahoo’s new Quick Links feature that you’ll now find included in some Yahoo web results summaries.

Quick Links allow the searcher to save time and clicks (something we like) by integrating direct links to specific parts of web site. For example, this search for American Airlines shows Quick Links right below the text snippet. You’ll find links to the reservations, travel info, and AAdvantage (American’s frequent flyer program) portions of the American web site. On the Yahoo Search Blog, you’ll read more about the technology and learn that Quick Links are generated by an algorithm that, “tries to guess the most used information about that page.” Also on the blog you’ll find a Quick Links example where services like cool send to phone feature from Yahoo Local are also included as a Quick Link. Note: When I searched for several stores and restaurants in my neighborhood I found web pages about these places but they didn’t show any Quick Links. It’s likely that Yahoo is gradually rolling out Quick Links for local establishments.

Embedding links to non-web search services (like the send to phone feature) also reminds me that while those of us who watch the close industry closely know about specific tools and databases that Yahoo and other large engines offer, many users only know about web results. This is why including links to these services on web results pages gives “web search only” users a chance to learn about and use non-web search services. Heck, all of the major engines now include thumbnail images from their imagery databases on web results pages if the query string suggests that the searcher is looking for this type of material. Promotion and timesavers all rolled into one.

Finally, Yahoo’s new service will likely remind you of what Google has been testing in the past few weeks.

Want to discuss Yahoo Quick Links? Here’s a link to a thread in the SEW Forums.

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