Talk:Yahoo Search

This edit request by an editor with a conflict of interest has now been answered.

Hi! I'm a COI editor for Yahoo. I'm proposing some updates to this article, which I've mocked up here (with images linked rather than embedded, since use is restricted in sandbox). You can view a comparison with the current article here.

I don't usually suggest rewriting articles so comprehensively, but this article has gotten pretty disorganized over time. If it's easier, itemizing my proposed changes below:

• Remove the exclamation point from references to the Yahoo name (except when referring to legacy products that never updated), per the recent move discussion.

• In the first sentence, update "power results" to the less WP:PUFFy "generate results".
• Update

Originally, "Yahoo! Search" referred to a Yahoo!-provided interface that sent queries to a searchable index of pages supplemented with its directory of websites. The results were presented to the user under the Yahoo! brand. The actual web crawling and data housing was not done by Yahoo! itself – in 2001, the searchable index was powered by Inktomi and later by Google until 2004, when Yahoo! built its own crawler, becoming independent.

to

When first released in 1994, Yahoo Search sent queries to a searchable index of pages supplemented with its directory of websites. Web crawling and data housing was executed by Google from 2000 until 2004, when Yahoo created its own crawler.

This is substantiated by updates to the article body below.

• Update

On July 29, 2009, Microsoft and Yahoo! announced a deal in which Bing would henceforth power Yahoo! Search, putting an end to Yahoo!'s in-house crawler.^[1] For four years between 2015 until the end of 2018, it was powered by Google,^[2] before returning to Microsoft Bing again.

to

In July 2009, Yahoo and Microsoft made a deal in which Bing would generate Yahoo Search results.^[1] Google provided some results from 2015 to 2018.^[2]

• Update

As of July 2018, Microsoft Sites handled 24.2 percent of all desktop search queries in the United States. During the same period of time, Oath (the then-owner of the Yahoo brand) had a search market share of 11.5 percent. Market leader Google generated 63.2 percent of all core search queries in the United States.^[3]

to

As of August 2025, Yahoo had a search market share in the U.S. of 3.22 percent.^[4]

From what I gather, StatCounter is the major source for search market share; cf. Google Search.

• Create a new "History" section in the article body and move all other content within it.
• Update the "Search technology acquisition" section title to "Development of search technology" and position it as the first subsection of History.
• Update

The roots of Search date back to Yahoo! Directory, which was launched in 1994 by Jerry Yang and David Filo, then students at Stanford University. In 1995, they introduced a search engine function, called Yahoo! Search, that allowed users to search Yahoo! Directory.^[5][6] it was the first popular search engine on the Web,^[7] despite not being a true Web crawler search engine. They later licensed Web search engines from other companies. Seeking to provide its own Web search engine results, Yahoo! acquired their own Web search technology. In 2002, they bought Inktomi, a "behind the scenes" or OEM search engine provider, whose results are shown on other companies' websites and powered Yahoo! in its earlier days.

to

Yahoo Search began as a tool to search Yahoo! Directory, which was launched in 1994 by Jerry Yang and David Filo, then students at Stanford University.^[8] It became the first popular search engine on the Web,^[9] despite being manually curated, unlike its competitors.^[10] In 2000, Yahoo Search began licensing results from Google Search.^[11] Seeking to provide its own search engine results, in December 2002 Yahoo announced it would acquire search engine company Inktomi.^[12] The acquisition completed in March 2003.^[13]

Adding sources and updating to reflect; some copy edits for readability.

• Update

In 2003, they purchased Overture Services, Inc., which included the AlltheWeb and AltaVista search engines. Initially, even though Yahoo! owned multiple search engines, they didn't use them on the main yahoo.com website, but kept using Google's search engine for its results.

to

In October 2003, Yahoo purchased Overture Services, Inc., which included the AlltheWeb and AltaVista search engines.^[13]

Adding a ref and deleting information redundant from the previous paragraph.

• Update

Starting on April 7, 2003, Yahoo! Search became its own web crawler-based search engine.^[14] They combined the capabilities of search engine companies they had acquired and their prior research into a reinvented crawler called Yahoo!. The new search engine results were included in all of Yahoo's websites that had a web search function. Yahoo! also started to sell the search engine results to other companies, to show on their own websites. Their relationship with Google was terminated at that time, with the former partners becoming each other's main competitors.

to

In February 2004, Yahoo Search replaced Google's results with results from its own web crawler, Yahoo Search Technology. Yahoo Search Technology combined the capabilities of search engine companies Yahoo had acquired.^[15] The next month, the site began practicing paid inclusion to guarantee listing in search; however, most results continued to come from free web crawling.^[16][17]

Replacing a primary source with independent sources and updating to reflect.

• Move this information to here from the "Search results" section:

In 2005, Yahoo began to provide links to previous versions of pages archived on the Wayback Machine.^[18]

And update it to:

In 2005, Yahoo Search results began including links to previous versions of pages archived on the Wayback Machine.^[19]

Just clarifying the wording a bit and cleaning up the ref formatting.

• Break the next chunk of content from "Search technology acquisition" into a new "History" subsection, "Evolution of search features".

• Update

In October 2007, Yahoo! Search was updated with a more modern appearance in line with the redesigned Yahoo! home page.

to

Yahoo released Panama, its updated sponsored search platform, in 2007.^[20] The platform introduced ad matching based on a mix of bid prices, ad quality, and relevance to the user.^[21]

Adding refs (I believe this is the redesign referred to) and updating to reflect.

• Move to here this content from the current "OneSearch" section:

Yahoo introduced its Internet search system, called OneSearch,^[22] for mobile phones on March 20, 2007. The results include news headlines, images from Flickr, business listings, local weather and links to other sites. Instead of showing only, for example, popular movies or some critical reviews, OneSearch lists local theaters that at the moment are playing the movie, along with user ratings and news headlines regarding the movie. A zip code or city name is required for OneSearch to start delivering local search results.^[23]

The results of a Web search are listed on a single page and are prioritized into categories.^[24]

As of 2012, Yahoo used Novarra's mobile content transcoding service for OneSearch.^[25]

And update the above to:

Also in 2007, Yahoo released OneSearch, its Internet search system for mobile phones.^[26] Yahoo used Novarra's mobile content transcoding service for OneSearch.^[27]

The current level of detail on OneSearch seems like more than is WP:DUE, so I propose compressing it as above. Also swapped in a few stronger sources.

• Update

In addition, Search Assist was added; which provides real-time query suggestions and related concepts as they are typed.

to

In October 2007, Yahoo Search added Search Assist, which provided real-time query suggestions and related concepts as queries were typed.^[28]

• Add after the text from the previous item:

The site also added search for audio, video, and photos.^[29] Yahoo began piloting Search Shortcuts, which highlighted key information like ratings and reviews and official sites in search results.^[30]

• Move to here the content from "Selection-based search":

On June 20, 2007, Yahoo introduced a selection-based search feature called Yahoo Shortcuts. When activated this selection-based search feature enabled users to invoke search using only their mouse and receive search suggestions in floating windows while remaining on Yahoo properties such as Yahoo Mail. This feature was only active on Yahoo web pages or pages within the Yahoo Publisher Network. Yahoo Shortcuts required the content-owner to modify the underlying HTML of his or her webpage to call out the specific keywords to be enhanced. The technology for context-aware selection-based search on Yahoo pages was first developed by Reiner Kraft.^[31]

And update it to

Yahoo Shortcuts, a separate tool, launched in December 2007 as a plugin to add contextual links and freely licensed Flickr photos to content on WordPress sites quickly.^[32]

Again, the original text feels WP:UNDUE for a fairly minor feature. Also updated to a more established source and updated the text to reflect the sources.

• Move to here the content from "SearchScan":

On May 11, 2008, Yahoo introduced SearchScan. If enabled this add-on/feature enhanced Yahoo Search by automatically alerting users of viruses, spyware and spam websites.^[33]

And update it to

In May 2008, Yahoo introduced SearchScan, a feature to alert search users of viruses, spyware and spam websites,^[34] with support from McAfee SiteAdvisor technology.^[35]

Adding independent sources and updating to reflect.

• Move to here this content from "Search results":

In the first week of May 2008, Yahoo launched a new search paradigm called Yahoo Glue.^[36][37]

And update it to

That same month, Yahoo piloted a new search interface called Yahoo Glue, displaying different kinds of search results (e.g., photos and videos, in addition to hyperlinks) together on the same page.^[38] Yahoo Glue expanded to the US that November.^[39]

Adding a bit more context from the sources and adjusting to fit within the chronological flow.

• Update

In July 2008, Yahoo! Search announced the introduction of a new service called Yahoo! Search BOSS ("Build your Own Search Service"). This service opens the doors for developers to use Yahoo!'s system for indexing information and images and create their own custom search engine.^[40]

to

In July 2008, Yahoo Search introduced Yahoo Search BOSS ("Build your Own Search Service"). This service allows developers to use Yahoo's system for indexing information and images and create custom search engines.^[41]

Rewording more neutrally and swapping in an independent source.

• Add after the previous item:

Yahoo introduced Search Direct, which suggests results as the user types, in March 2011.^[42] The function aims to answer user questions without loading a new page.^[43] In 2012, the company released Yahoo Axis, a iOS app and desktop browser extension to provide a streamlined search experience.^[44] Axis displayed search results as visual snapshots in a horizontal carousel, allowing users to preview pages without leaving the results page.^[45] It was sunset in June 2013.^[46]

Yahoo published Aviate, its search application for Android devices, in June 2014.^[47] The app was updated with browser-less search six months later.^[48]

• Break out the remaining "History" (formerly "Search technology acquisition") content into a third subsection, "Partnerships".

• Update

In January 2010, Microsoft announced a deal in which it would take over the functional operation of Yahoo! Search, and set up a joint venture to sell advertising on both Yahoo! Search and Bing known as the Microsoft Search Alliance. A complete transition of all Yahoo! sponsored ad clients to Microsoft adCenter (now Bing Ads) occurred in October 2010.^[1]

to

In July 2009, Yahoo and Microsoft announced a deal in which Bing would provide results for Yahoo Search. In exchange, the deal also established a "search alliance" between Yahoo and Bing to sell advertising on both services,^[49] with Yahoo receiving 88% of search ad sales revenue on its site for the first five years, as well as the right to sell advertisements on certain Microsoft sites.^[1] The search alliance was implemented in 2010,^[49] and all Yahoo-sponsored ad clients transitioned to Microsoft adCenter by the end of the year.^[50]

• Update

On March 12, 2014, Yahoo! announced a partnership with Yelp to integrate its reviews and user-contributed photos into Yahoo! Search (as Bing had previously done).^[51]

to

In March 2014, Yahoo partnered with Yelp to integrate its reviews and user-contributed photos into Yahoo Search.^[51]

• Update

In April 2015, the Microsoft partnership was modified, now only requiring Bing results on the "majority" of desktop traffic, opening the ability for Yahoo to enter into non-exclusive deals for search services on mobile platforms and the remainder of desktop traffic. The amendment also gives either company the ability to terminate the contract with four months' notice. In October 2015, Yahoo subsequently reached an agreement with Google to provide services to Yahoo Search through the end of 2018, including advertising, search, and image search services.^[52][53][2] As of October 2019, Yahoo! Search is once again powered by Bing.

to

Yahoo and Microsoft modified their partnership in April 2015 to require Bing results only on the "majority" of desktop traffic, allowing Yahoo to enter into non-exclusive deals for search on mobile platforms and the remainder of desktop traffic.^[53][2] The amendment also gave either company the ability to terminate the contract with four months' notice. In October 2015, Yahoo reached an agreement with Google to provide services to Yahoo Search through the end of 2018, including advertising, search, and image search.^[52]

• Move to here this content from the "OneSearch" section:

On January 14, 2020, Verizon announced the launch of its privacy-focused search engine OneSearch.^[54][55][56]

OneSearch was criticized for favoring websites owned by Yahoo!'s then-parent company, Verizon Media, in its search results.^[57]

"EFF Privacy Badger (a browser extension that detects cookies) discovered a tracker connected to Yahoo’s image search engine...Verizon owns Yahoo... OneSearch actually pulls all of its search results from Microsoft’s Bing search engine. "^[58][59]

And update it to

In January 2020, Yahoo's parent Verizon launched OneSearch, a privacy-focused search engine.^[60] OneSearch uses Bing search results.^[59] The service selects ads based on keywords rather than HTTP cookies.^[61]

I don't think the Ctrl blog citation qualifies as WP:RS, so I cut that information.

I suggest deleting this section per WP:DIRECTORY.

Much of this section was moved to the new "History" section. I think the remaining content (pasted below for reference) could be removed. The first paragraph leans on primary sources and provides more detail than is notable. The second paragraph leans on Ctrl blog, which, per the above, I believe is not an RS.

Yahoo Search indexed and cached the common HTML page formats, as well as several of the more popular file-types, such as PDF, Excel spreadsheets, PowerPoint presentations, Word documents, RSS/XML and plain text files. For some of these supported file-types, Yahoo! Search provided cached links on their search results allowing for viewing of these file-types in standard HTML. Using the Advanced Search interface or Preferences settings, Yahoo Search allowed the customization of search results and enabling of certain settings such as: SafeSearch, Language Selection, Number of results, Domain restrictions, etc.^[62] For a Basic and starter guide to Yahoo Search, they also provided a Search Basics tutorial.^[63]

Yahoo! Search was criticized in 2020 for favoring websites owned by Yahoo!'s then-parent company, Verizon Media, in its search results.^[57]

This section (pasted below for reference) has no citations and is redundant of information elsewhere in the article; I believe it can be deleted.

Yahoo Search provided the ability to search across numerous vertical properties outside just the Web at large. These included Images, Videos, Local, Shopping, Yahoo! Answers, Audio, Directory, Jobs, News, Mobile, Travel and various other services as listed on their About Yahoo Search page.

Most of this section was moved into "History" and updated. I think the remainder (pasted below for reference) can be deleted. The $1.3 million fine refers to this story, which is unrelated to Yahoo Search. The Wayback Machine exclusion is, I believe, WP:OR, and I can't imagine why the list of domains would be notable.

Verizon was fined $1.3 million for using super cookie trackers.^[64]

www.onesearch.com is excluded from the Wayback Machine.^[65][66]

• onesearch.wesleyan.edu^[67]
• onesearch.library.utoronto.ca
• onesearch.slq.qld.gov.au
• onesearch.library.uwa.edu.au
• onesearch.library.northeastern.edu
• onesearch.lancaster-university.uk
• onesearch.id
• onesearch.cuny.edu
• onesearch.library.nd.edu
• onesearch.fitnyc.edu
• onesearch.library.wwu.edu

Know this is a big request, so please let me know if there's anything I can do to make this easier to review. Thank you for your time! Mary Gaulke (talk) 02:42, 4 September 2025 (UTC); edit COI template added Mary Gaulke (talk) 15:14, 4 September 2025 (UTC)

Done Safari Scribe^{Edits! Talk!} 18:22, 14 September 2025 (UTC)