Yahoo aims at Google with new search engine

Yahoo Monday rolled out an updated search engine in a bid to regain its place in the competitive search market, which has been dominated recently by the presence of rival Google.

Among the improvements, Yahoo Search has been redesigned for a sleeker look and feel, with reduced graphical ads, and has given shortcuts to information, and extended search capabilities. The service has a new dedicated search page, where the enhancements will be phased in over the next few days.

The move comes in the wake of the Internet company's purchase of search technology provider Inktomi last December and back-end improvements Yahoo made late last year.

But while Yahoo fights to regain the ground it has lost to Google over the last few years, the company still counts on the company for some of its search results. However, the Sunnyvale, Calif., company is hoping that the combination of Google and Inktomi technology, as well as its own distinct offerings such as sports scores and yellow pages will put it back on top.

The improved service offers features such as image search, customized search preferences, including the ability to search in 30 languages and advanced search by domain, country and time. Additionally, the company plans to continue to update the service, drawing on the news, shopping, personals, yellow pages and job search categories of its portal.

The IDG News Service is a Network World affiliate.