Yahoo has unveiled Search Direct, a feature it will integrate into select Yahoo sites, giving searchers answers to questions and lists of trending topics as queries are typed.

The feature rolls out in the U.S. first, and later this year, internationally. Yahoo Search Direct predictive-search technology comes several months after Google Instant. The feature is geared to help searchers find answers, not links, faster.

Search Direct covers top trending searches, movies, TV, sports teams and players, weather, local, travel, stocks and shopping categories on Yahoo.com. Search Direct starts working as soon as you click inside the query window. A dropdown box displays the latest trending searches before you’ve typed a single character.  A larger window to the right of the trending list displays relevant information as you type.

Enter “cameras,” for instance, and Search Direct displays camera pricing information for Yahoo Shopping.

• Trending Searches – The moment the cursor hits the search box, top search trends appear and are updated every 10 minutes to display the latest and greatest search trends.
• Search Previews – Search Direct predicts the search term as you type, providing the 10 most likely searches. You can then easily scan each option to see the related top results and find the best match for your needs.
• Direct Answers – For many common searches, Search Direct provides instant answers before you click the Search button. Find an address or phone number, a three-day weather forecast, financial stock performance, the top trending stories at Yahoo! News, or when and where a movie is playing – all without going to a results page.
• Direct Results – When you scan the search options and find the site you need, Search Direct provides exactly that – direct access to the site. No more overwhelming pages of links.
• Rich Content – For all top searches about sports, top news stories, and finance, Search Direct displays rich content that only the world’s largest digital media company can provide. For example, type “n” to get the Yahoo! News display, which always shows the top two trending stories.

Yahoo!’s share of the $12.37 billion US search advertising market fell to 10.4% in 2010, down from 13.7% in 2009, according to eMarketer. This year, Yahoo!’s share of overall US search ad revenues is expected to fall further to 8.1%.  Much of the decline in Yahoo!’s search business is a result of Bing’s rise.

Writing this article got me curious so I decided to take an informal survey here at Bozell and found that 99% of employees use Google as their preferred search engine.  Only one person listed Bing and no one listed Yahoo. Granted this was a very small (40 participants) & controlled group but I think it definitely shows us that Google is still the 1,000 pound gorilla in the search world.

Yahoo’s Search Direct to me is a little underwhelming and probably won’t be a game changer.  Marketers are attracted to volume when it comes to bidding on paid-search ads, so consumers would need to begin using Yahoo search for market share to even change. People don’t typically jump from one search engine to another quickly.  They are very loyal to the one they like.

More information on this new technology is available in beta form at search.yahoo.com within the United States.

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