San Francisco, Feb 03: Yahoo Inc. has rolled out the test version of a new Internet search tool that allows users to dig more deeply into selected topics without leaving the Web page they are reading.
YQ, the new product, also would allow Web site operators to integrate related search results directly into their own sites and could one day compete with rival Google Inc.'s advertising program for Web site operators, one analyst said.
Yahoo is locked in a fierce rivalry with Web search leader Google and up-and-comer Microsoft Corp. for share of the billions of dollars of annual revenue generated by the fast-growing Web search advertising industry.
YQ is available at http://next.yahoo.com/ - the home to Yahoo's test products.
For example, users of YQ would see a purple icon with a magnifying glass and the phrase "Search Related Info" below stories on Yahoo News.
Readers of a story about jailed style maven Martha Stewart striking a deal to star in a version the popular reality television show "The Apprentice" could click on the YQ link, which brings up everything from Web search results about Stewart to Yahoo's own site on "The Apprentice."
Sports stories bring up such things as playing schedules, ticket information and ticket sellers.
"It is more of an interesting new feature than a Google killer, we'll see how it goes," said search industry expert Danny Sullivan, editor of SearchEngineWatch.
He said that enabling people to generate a search while they are on a Web page may resonate with some users, but that the more exciting news would come when and if Yahoo decides to add advertising to the product.
If Yahoo allows Web site operators to use YQ to run targeted advertising on their sites, the new product could compete with Google's AdSense program that pays Web site owners who put Google ads on their content pages and attract Internet surfers who click on the ads.
"It potentially gives them a rival to Google AdSense," Sullivan said.
Bureau Report
