Yahoo is previewing Infinite Browse, a Yahoo News feature that adds relevant search content below news stories. Yahoo, which is vying for eyeballs with Google and Bing, believes users will consume more content.
Yahoo is well into its integration with Microsoft to make
Bing its algorithmic search engine, but the Internet company is still
responsible for the search user interface.
Yahoo Aug. 6 said it is previewing Infinite Browse, a new
module for Yahoo News that adds relevant search content, such as images, videos and slide shows below news stories.
Because it is only being flight tested with a small
number of users, most folks won't see it on Yahoo News, so the company provided
this
screenshot of the feature.
The boxes in the image appear below articles on Yahoo
News, providing users more information on the topics they're interested
in. The idea is to give users more content without making them conduct
a separate
search.
Yahoo believes this will make it more convenient for
users to consume content, keeping users searching and reading within Yahoo News
longer.
"In its first week, our internal data indicates that
user engagement with this related search information in Yahoo News is nearly
twice the amount we see with similar features," noted Caroline Tsay, director
of product management for Yahoo Search and Yahoo Search Product Manager Marc
Davis.
If Yahoo can capitalize on Infinite Browse to put more ads in front of users, it will be a nice boost for a company that
has fallen behind the pact of Google, Twitter and Facebook in relevance.
Some 25 percent of Yahoo searches in the United States are actually
powered by Bing thanks to the companies' 10-year search and search ad pact.
Microsoft in July 2009
agreed to power Yahoo's search engine and pay the company 88 percent of traffic
acquisitions costs for the first five years of a 10-year deal.
The idea was to join forces to take on Google, which
commands a 66 percent search share in the United States. Microsoft and Yahoo together will
hold roughly 30 percent of the search market.
Microsoft lost out on the chance to power Yahoo Japan
when Google swooped in and partnered with that company, which is majority-owned
by Softbank. Microsoft is
contesting the business deal.
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