Yahoo Glue Pages - Universal & Blended Search
Posted: May 12th, 2008
Riddle: Ask.com has well-organized ones, Google has ugly ones, and now Yahoo is implementing them too. What are they?
Answer: Universal search result pages (a.k.a. blended search or federated search).
Universal search pages, or as Yahoo calls them, "Glue Pages," have been showing up on Yahoo India late last week. While still in beta, Yahoo’s Glue Pages appear much more like Ask.com’s SERPs than Google’s. And since I’m still looking for a way to opt out of Google’s hideous universal search, Yahoo’s Glue Pages are a leap ahead along with Ask.com’s SERPs.
Note the similar three-column layout between the two screenies.
Yahoo India Glue Pages Beta
Ask.com Universal Search
Yahoo’s new initiative also surpasses both Google and Ask.com in at least one way. Yahoo’s Glue Pages are (at least at the moment) an opt-in feature. You can continue to see their classic search results, but you have the option to see universal results if you want. The lack of this feature isn’t as big of an issue for Ask since their SERPs are well-organized, but Google should highly consider giving its users the ability to opt-out of their counter-intuitive universal search results.
Good job, Yahoo!
It’s great to have different options when it comes to viewing your search results that’s for sure.
Absolutely.
The basic premise behind universal search result pages is quite intuitive, but if the display of the information is a mess (like Google’s), then much of the value is taken out of it.
How is it that Google, the chief Search Engine innovator, is so far behind on these “Universal Search” pages?