Yahoo updates search engine

Yahoo has updated its search engine with new tools to make searching easier, according to the company.

Research cited by Yahoo suggests that 15 per cent of people using a search engine have to make three or four searches before they find what they're looking for.

To overcome this problem, Yahoo has introduced Search Assist, a technology designed to help you find what you are looking for in one search by giving you real-time query suggestions that others have used, as well as related content.

It is designed to sense when you need help with your search, opening a drop-down menu of suggestions and related concepts.

Yahoo has also introduced multimedia integration into the search results, meaning that you'll get links to images and video clips on the results page rather than just a list of links.

"We know that consumers want a complete answer, not just links, and the enhancements we are making are focused on getting people to the best answer in one search whether that’s a web link, photo, video or music clip," said Jeff Revoy, vice president of Yahoo search and social media for Europe.

Integrating multimedia content into the results page is a similar concept to Google's universal search. Ask.com has a three-pane approach to presenting search results, and some changes to Windows Live Search were announced last week.

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