But what is it that separates Yahoo! from Google at the top of the index? What are the features that stick out to consumers to make them so satisfied? Part of the answer to these questions lies in Yahoo!'s wealth of dedicated portal services from which they can draw to compile highly relevant search results for users.
Whereas Google has gone down the route of compiling information from sources already available to the user elsewhere into one central page, as seen most effectively on Google News. but also seen to a smaller extent in features such as Google Movies, Yahoo! have started to integrate their dedicated pages into search results to a greater extent recently.
A Google search for Barry Bonds yields news results and a plethora of information pages, but in contrast, the same search on Yahoo! returns a link to Yahoo! Sport's player profile on the San Francisco Giants' left fielder and home run record breaker, along with his 2007 season statistics.
Yahoo! searches for specific teams, such as The New York Mets yield a similar result with recent scores thrown into the mix. This only extends to Major League Baseball at present but Yahoo! have said that the NFL, NHL and NBA will be included when their respective 2007/08 seasons begin.
The links to Yahoo!'s portal sites don't stop there, however. Almost every Yahoo! portal site is tied into search results. A search for bigmouthmedia's hometown, Edinburgh, reveals a cut down city profile with links to a slideshow full of pictures of the city, a list of things to do around Scotland's capital and a link to the full city profile on Yahoo! Travel. The same search on Google returns only one result to a page hosted by Google itself - a link to a map of the city on Google Maps.
If you recently found out about a band but want to explore their background further before investing in an album, searching for their name on Yahoo! returns a mini profile, including a link to music videos, popular songs on Yahoo! Music and a link to their official site.
In the same vein, if you recently heard a great song on the radio or at a party and want to be reminded of the lyrics, a quick Yahoo! lyrics search consisting of the artist name, song name and the word "lyrics" will provide you with a link to the Yahoo! Music song page for your search, along with the lyrics you are looking for.
All this isn't possible when searching on Google, as this search engine does not create and host original content - they instead just provide a means of accessing information held on other websites. Other shortcuts that can be used on Yahoo! can be found on Yahoo! Shortcuts, while Google equivalents can be found on their Google Search Features page.
