AltaVista adds shortcuts

(Feb 11 2002, updated Feb 12 and 13 2002) The Dutch search engine site Voelspriet.nl reports that AltaVista has added a new feature called "shortcuts" to its search facilities.

Shortcuts are special results listings that bring you information from sources that are supposedly not included in the regular search engine database.

They are listed at the top of the regular search results (i.e. below the pay-per-click text ads marked "Products and Services"), and are all labelled with a small icon (). Clicking on the icon provides a pop-up window or a separate window describing each shortcut.

AltaVista uses a search for "san francisco map" as an example. It produces a link to a Yahoo! map of San Francisco. A search for "map" produces a form in which you can type "San Francisco".

A search for weather in New York brought us a page from Weather.com, while a search for a general term like "recipes" brought us a search field for Recipecenter.com.

It is unclear whether Recipecenter pays AltaVista for this inclusion. It is a fair guess that at least some of the resource providers do.

There are at the moment shortcuts in the following areas:

• Auto (Links to auto reviews and specs, as well as resources to buy and sell vehicles)
• Celebrity Images (A thumbnail image and a link to an AltaVista Images page containing more images)
• Directions (A link to get directions, with your location already in the form)
• Downloads (A link to a page with download links or a form that lets you specify your title and operating system)
• Greeting Cards (A link to narrow your search on a greeting card site)
• Local Information (Links to local information including maps, weather, city guides, Yellow Pages and People Finder)
• Maps (A link to a map of your place, or a form that lets you select a place)
• News (Links to current news stories)
• Recipes (A link to a list of recipes or a form that lets you find recipes)
• Shopping (Price comparison and product overviews)
• Stock Quotes (A stock chart and links to prices and financial information, or a form that lets you specify a company)
• Weather (Links to weather for your location, or a form that lets you specify a location)
• White Pages (A form that lets you find a person in the AltaVista Whitepages)
• Yellow Pages (A form that lets you select a business or type of business)

AltaVista has also added shortcuts for the 2002 Olympic Winter Games.

The feature can so far only be found at the US version of the search engine.

According to SearchDay AltaVista plans to add more shortcuts in the near future. "It's a significant effort for us," says Chris Kermoian, director for search services and web marketing services at AltaVista. "You'll see a lot more of this coming out as we integrate different sources. We've got a fairly aggressive roadmap."

One could argue that there is nothing new here, as these are features that have been present on many portals for a long time. However, incremental innovations are also innovations, and this is exactly the kind of thing we like to see from a search engine like AltaVista. It's just plain useful!

AltaVista on Shortcuts

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