Introducing the Yahoo Y!Q search tool

Yahoo! has launched a new search tool that lets you use a large amount of text to generate a search query.

(February 3 2005) It goes like this:

Highlight any text paragraphs you find interesting and ask Y!Q to find out what the text is "about".

You can do this by copying the text into the search field at the Y!Q home page.

Y!Q will then analyze the text, find common themes and topics and generate a list of search results that are -- hopefully -- relevant to the content of that text.

At the top of the search engine results list Yahoo! will tell you what keywords it subtracted from the text block you have given it. You may then uncheck some of these keyword phrases to expand your search.

IE and Firefox plug ins

To use the new tool you can also install the Y!Q DemoBar for Windows Internet Explorer. You can then highlight any web page text you want and hit the "related search" button".

When using the DemoBar you can further focus your results using the Y!Q search box. Keyword phrases entered into thi search field will be added to the overall query, narrowing down your search.

There is also Firefox plug in. This does not include the highlight function. However, as Chris Sherman points out, you may use ConQuery extension to achieve the same effect.

Javascript for your site

Yahoo also has a special javascript that lets you embed Y!Q into your web pages. As Yahoo! says: "Y!Q overlays the search results directly onto your web page, site visitors never have to leave your site to view their related search results."

Given that the number of Y!Q is bound to be low at the moment, this is a feature we guess will be used on an experimental basis for the time being.

Still, if you want to see how it works take a look at the Y!Q news test page. Click on any link named "Search Related Info", and the browser will open a little window presenting relevant results. (This did not work in IE for the Mac, however).

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