Yahoo Search Assist Helps You Find the Words You Need

As Web 2.0 progresses this year, more things are beginning to become dynamic online. Microsoft has its live search, and now Yahoo has started what is called Yahoo search assist. At search.yahoo.com, you will find that as you enter a word or search term, the search bar will open up a drop down menu. This menu has additional terms that may be of help to you. Go ahead and be skeptical about its validity to help you with what you are trying to find online. As of the moment, it does not appear to be giving those advertisers with the deep pockets the superiority in its results, but as of yet not much as has been revealed about so-called "sponsored" results. It is still in its infancy and will be "learning" as more and more use its drop down menu.

Yahoo search assist is powered by Javascript, an old friend nowadays for Web masters and users alike. In the rest of the year, and I am sure into the next, more applications such as Yahoo search assist will be popping up for you to use. If you have ever used digg.com, you are familiar with the interactivity of a web site where the site is has content powered by the user, instead of the Web master. Yahoo search assist is not going to be as accurate as it could be until more people actually start to click on results. The users will be determining the popularity of the search terms that Yahoo search assist will be presenting. As of this writing, some of the suggested search terms in the drop down menu do not seem to be in English. I search in English, as does most of the world, but again, people from around the world use yahoo for their search engine.

If this is confusing, here is an example to help you clarify in your mind what happens when you use Yahoo search assist. As you type in a search term, lets say it is the word "global" and the word "warming" , that drop down menu appears and you click the one you like or hopefully the one that best suits what you are looking for. What you just did, is give your vote for that search term as it relates to your original search. As you already know, you are not the only person entering in those same two words. Thousands and maybe millions of others are searching on the same page with the same words as you are. They also are seeing that little menu appear and giving their "vote" as well. Everyone's vote is counted, the top searches are updated, and so is that little drop down menu. You were a part of it. Cool !

The Web 2.0 effect ( interactivity ) online will probably make your searches faster, as you take a few seconds to try and think of your next word, the screen in front of you will give you some ideas. It is a sure thing that this site ( Associated Content ) will be getting more popular. I just checked the drop down menu for the word "associated" and sure enough, Associated Content was in the little drop down menu. Play around with Yahoo search assist, get accustomed to it, because it is going to be developed into even bigger things as the Web becomes a more interactive place.