Yahoo Still Determined to 'Out-innovate' Google on Search

In the world of Internet search, someone’s got to be number one -- and Yahoo isn’t it.

Still, Yahoo seems determined to maintain if not bolster it status as the #2 search engine -- this despite a series of recent “setbacks” -- for example the company recently laid off a bunch of engineers, sold-off products and decided to outsource its search backend to Microsoft.

In addition, Google (News - Alert) has been reacting to almost everything Yahoo does -- for example, more than a year ago Yahoo added some social sharing features to its email service, which were hardly noticed, but then, just a few days ago, Google added a set of new social sharing features to Gmail -- a new product called Buzz (by the way, Yahoo had released its own product called Buzz about two years ago).

According to a report on Wired, Yahoo recently held a press conference during which Sashi Seth, its new vice president of search, trumpeted that the company is still innovating, still relevant, and still very much committed to search -- meaning it’s still going to compete against Google.

“Yahoo was in search, is in search and will be in search in the future,” Seth was quoted as saying in the report. “That is a stake we have put in the ground.”

As the report points out, Yahoo is going to have a tough time trying to “out-innovate” Google -- especially since Google is so reactive. Still, Seth talked about some new innovations that will improve Yahoo’s search capabilities: For example, he said Yahoo engineers have been developing new ways of categorizing information and pulling more of it together.

For example, if you conduct a search for a rock band, you’ll get more than just links to articles in your search results, you’ll also get links to things like videos, photos, music releases, blogs and more, all on the same page. Although Microsoft (News - Alert) and Google have been developing the same strategy, Seth said Yahoo’s research scientists “are figuring out how to do this deep into the long tail of content,” the report states.

Still many of the reporters in the room wondered why the company wasn’t announcing a new product or service. From Seth they gathered that the press conference was merely to emphasize the fact that Yahoo is still relevant and still innovating. Although there was no real “news,” Seth indicated that the company will be introducing some new products or services in the near future.

“I think what you have seen so far is incremental change,” he said. “What we are talking about is a fundamental shift and creating a completely new line of products that changes the game.”

Changing the game is one thing … making money doing it is quite another.

To check out the report, click here.