Thursday, Yahoo announced a new Search Monkey feature that allows Flash video and documents to be embedded right on the search page. What does this do that’s out of the ordinary? It allows searchers to view embedded content without leaving the search results page they found it on.
To illustrate the difference, I’ll use an example similar to that in the Yahoo blog. We’ll compare the difference between Google and Yahoo.
Performing a Google search for hulu simpsons yields the following result:
Notice there is an image in the ad, but when the video is clicked, it opens to the site page for viewing away from the search results page.
The search in Yahoo for hulu simpsons yields these results:
It looks pretty similar except for there being a different video. When the video image in Yahoo is clicked on however, it opens the video right on that search results page. If the user views the video and decides it wasn’t what they were looking for, they can simply continue to scroll down through the remaining search results.
Search Monkey looks to be a very innovative means for site owners and developers to present highly customizable search results to their potential visitors.