Yahoo! made a few changes to its search engine as it upped its game to try to close the chasm between Google and itself. Recently Yahoo! introduced the SearchMonkey feature - a tool that allows users to add widgets onto their searches to see what results their keywords produce on other websites. These widgets work in much the same way as a Facebook application in that a user can pick and choose which they want on their page, customising their pages for a more personal experience.
However, queries will now automatically be returned with SearchMonkey widgets for Yelp, Yahoo! Local and LinkedIn displayed. Previously, searchers had to go into the search gallery to pick and add these themselves; the option to insert additional widgets will still be available and with the project now becoming more prominent and well-known, it is expected that more and more widgets will become available. If you don't want to keep the three Yahoo! has picked for you - they have been chosen because of their initial popularity with searchers and because they were all early partners in the scheme - they are easily turned off or changed. Like Facebook, these tools have a 'share with friends' option meaning that, if the social networking site is anything to go by, the future holds a lot of unwanted invitations from online buddies.
Without any widgets, a Yahoo! search for a popular celebrity currently only returns websites and a few image results. However, the beta Indian version of Yahoo! has much more - with sections for websites, the relevant Wikipedia article, a filmography, YouTube videos, images, news, last.fm results and more. Essentially, what Yahoo! thinks are the most relevant sites and the best of the web. With the option to choose as many, or as few, widgets as you like, the power is now in your hands to make searches as comprehensive or as uncluttered as you like.
Following Microsoft's acquisition of Powerset, the increased role of SearchMonkey on Yahoo! is another step in increasing the use of semantic search online - news that has Jeeves looking on with hope in his eyes.
