Search Briefs
Earlier this week we began beta testing LookAhead technology on DocuTicker. This new feature offers direct links to actual posts (as opposed to just search results) as you enter letters into the search book. Much more about our new beta, LookAhead technology (including an overview Gary wrote about LookAhead last September) here.

Today, Yahoo introduces LiveSearch, a new beta that’s slightly similar in concept to LookAhead but a bit more more closely related to Google’s Suggest beta. It’s available on Yahoo’s AllTheWeb site. Wow, there’s a search name we haven’t heard in a long time.

The LiveSearch motto is, “Search Smarter, Find Faster.”

Using LiveSearch is straightforward. As you enter letters into the search box, search term suggestions dynamically appear in a drop-down window below the search box and the search for the top result runs “live” on the ATW/Yahoo database.

Although Yahoo doesn’t tell you precisely why a suggestion appears, they are likely to come from a review of query logs and click patterns.

For example, as you enter the letters R-E-S, a suggestion for “Resume” tops the list. In the search results window, results for the search resume appear. Below the resume suggestion, alternate suggestions like:
+ Resume Templates
+ Resume Sample
+ Resume Samples
+ Sample Resume
+ Sample Resume

appear. As you continue entering letters new results appear and new suggestions provided. Suggestions are hyperlinked and when clicked run the search live. A search refinement box allows you to limit your query to specific document types and domains. AllTheWeb Livesearch database does not offer cached copies of pages that are available on Yahoo.com.

So, in respect to providing web results, LiveSuggest is similar to Google Suggest. Unlike LookAhead (more demos here), you’re NOT being taken to a specific web page (vs. only web results), blog post, etc. In many search verticals being taken to a specific page/entry can be very powerful and a big time saver for the searcher versus simply being taken to results or possible results.

However, Google Suggest or Google Suggest on News does not run queries in real time as you type.

LiveSearch will also suggest words/phrases where the letters don’t begin the word. For example, one suggestion we received for our “RES” search was “American Idol REsults.” Google Suggest suggestions appear in alphabetical order.

+ Resumes
+ Resumes
+ Resume Writing
+ Resume Examples
+ Etc.

Today’s launch of a dynamic query suggestion tool from Yahoo continues a trend we’ve been seeing for well over a year. Other dynamic query tools include:

+ Surfwax News Accumulator
In this case, suggestions come from a controlled vocabulary.

+ WikiWax
Suggestions come from Wikipedia subject headings and point directly to Wikipedia entries

+ AOL Pinpoint Shopping
Suggestions from a controlled vocabulary of products and services

Clusty’s dynamically generated clusters can offer related concepts and ideas dynamically generated in its clusters. Ask.com also offers conceptually related categorized search term suggestions to narrow/expand your query on most search results pages. In some cases, related names are also pulled out of the results and listed. More about Ask.com’s “Zoom” feature here and here. Btw, Zoom is also available on Ask Images.

This entry was posted on Friday, May 12th, 2006 and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.