Teens Don’t Know Who Osama Bin Laden Is, According to Yahoo! Search Trends

Searches for Osama Bin Laden Spike Nearly 100,00%

Searches on Sunday for Osama bin Laden spiked nearly 100,00% on Yahoo!, also making him the most-searched person of the day. Nearly 1 in 5 searches for “osama bin laden” are by teenagers, many of who grew up during the war on terrorism. 25% of searches overall for Osama came from those under 24.

Every single state in the nation showed heightened search volume on Yahoo! for “osama bin laden,” led by North Dakota, Arizona, Montana, Arkansas, New Mexico, Idaho, and South Dakota.

Behind the man. Besides searches for confirmation of his death, we saw searches spike off the charts for Osama bin Laden’s biography, age, height, wife, and children. Searches on Yahoo! for “is it Usama or Osama?” also spiked off the charts. Yesterday’s events also caused a surge of questions around the declared No. 1 terrorist mastermind.

According to Yahoo!, The Top Searched Questions on Osama bin Laden are (based on Sunday, 5/1):

1. Is Osama bin Laden dead?
2. How did Osama bin Laden die?
3. Who killed Osama bin Laden?
4. How old is Osama bin Laden
5. Who is Osama bin Laden
6. Where was Osama bin Laden killed?
7. Is Osama bin Laden dead or alive?
8. How tall is Osama bin Laden?

Younger Generation. News of Osama bin Laden’s death seemed to have struck a chord with younger folks who grew up during the war on terrorism.

-          On Yahoo!, 1 in 3 searches for “how did osama bin laden die” on Sunday were from teens ages 13-17.

-          According to Yahoo!, 40% of searches on Sunday for “who killed osama bin laden” were from people ages 13-20.

-          However, it seems teens ages 13-17 were seeking more information as they made up 66% of searches for “who is osama bin laden?”

President Obama. In addition to searches for President Obama’s speech and address, there is interest on Yahoo! in how these events will affect his approval rating. Searches on Sunday for his approval rating spiked 119% on Yahoo!.

-          The former President was not forgotten. A few looked up “George W. Bush” (466% fewer searches than for “barack obama”) and even the phrase “bush mission accomplished.”

Locations. People are very curious for details about Pakistan. Searches on Sunday for “Pakistan map” spiked 2,594% and searches for “Pakistan news” spiked 610% on Yahoo!.

-          Searches on Yahoo! spiked off the charts for “Islamabad” (the capital of Pakistan), Abbottadbad

-          Specific searches spiked on Yahoo! for “osama bin laden compound,” “osama bin laden mansion” and “osama bin laden hideout.”

Revisiting 9/11 and Patriotism. Searches for “September 11th” spiked 1,009% on Sunday. Searches also spiked for patriotic landmarks and symbols such as the “US Flag” which was up 717% on Yahoo! and searches for the “Star Spangled Banner lyrics” which spiked 222%, mostly by females who made up 64% of searches.

-          Exactly one in two searches for “US flag” on Yahoo! today are by adults ages 35-54.

-          Searches on Yahoo! for “Patriotic songs” are spiking off the charts today.

-          Searches have also spiked for Ground Zero, the Twin Towers, and the World Trade Center.

-          Searches on Yahoo! also spiked off the charts for the 9/11 death toll and memorials.

Conspiracy Theories. News of Osama bin Laden’s death seems to have caused a spiked for conspiracy theories (up 114% Sunday on Yahoo!) as well as a resurgence of searches for “9/11 conspiracy theories.” Searches for “conspiracy theories” are split evenly amongst males and females, but 35% or 1 in 3 searches for the term are by teenagers ages 13-17.

 

*Off the charts refers to searches that received little to no searches the week/month before and are now gaining interest

What is Yahoo! Search Data?

People power: We sift through billions of Yahoo! searches to uncover trends, burning questions, popular personalities and hot ideas. Yahoo! has been extremely successful in sifting through searches for trend-spotting, historical insight, forecasting projections, and big-picture analysis.

Follow us on Twitter: @yahoosearchdata

Media Contact: Want analysis reach out to us: Carolyn Clark carolync@yahoo-inc.com

Frequently Asked Questions:

• What exactly is a search and why are they useful?:  A keyword(s) or term(s) that people enter in the Search box.
• How do you determine meaning from a search? Searches at its face are neutral. Motivation and intent cannot be defined, but analyzing a billion (or so) searches can give a sketch portrait of a culture in motion. Search insight can operate like an instant poll into what people’s interests are at a given moment—and unlike a poll which offers a constrained or directed parameters, searches spring spontaneously from people want to know.
  • What does spiking and off the charts mean? A “spiking” search refers to terms with the greatest percentage increase in searches from one period of time to the next (usually day, week or month). Significant increases don’t necessarily mean a huge overall interest in a subject, but reveals an accelerated interest in popularity. Something that’s “off the chart” refers to a term that had no meaningful number of searches in the previous time period.
  • How are rankings determined? Rankings, unless otherwise noted, are based on the total number of searches.

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Searches on Yahoo! are spiking the week of the Royal Wedding:

Overall Trends:

Kate Middleton is still the top search on Yahoo! this week, related to the royal wedding, she gets more than double the searches of her prince (US) and more than double the searches of her prince in the UK. Kate Middleton is getting more searches in the US this week than in the UK.

In the US this week, searches for “Chelsy Davy” have surpassed searches for Prince William

In the US  this week, Kate Middleton is getting more searches than:

• David Beckham
• Lady Gaga
• Katie Price
• Barack Obama
• Victoria Beckham
• Angelina Jolie
• Britney Spears
• Sarah Palin
• Donald Trump

In the UK this week Kate Middleton is getting less searches than Barack Obama and Lindsay Lohan but more searches than: 

• Angelina Jolie
• Cheryl Cole
• Katie Price
• Barack Obama
• Victoria Beckham
• Angelina Jolie
• Britney Spears
• Sarah Palin
• Donald Trump

Spiking US Trends:

Prince Harry’s girlfriend Chelsy Davy is buzzing this week, as word that she will accompany the prince to the wedding. Searches for Chelsy are up 3713% this week.

• Searches for “Prince Harry Girlfriend “ are up 898% this week

Searches for the Royal Wedding Guest List are heating up. People are anxious to know who got the invite. Searches are up 3107% this week. .

• We are even seeing searches on Yahoo! for “Americans Invited To Royal Wedding”
• And searches are spiking for “is snoop dog a guest at the royal wedding”
• Searches are up for “royal wedding seating chart”

When, Where and What Time? People are still looking for answers on when, where and what time the royal wedding is.

• Searches for “Royal Wedding Time” are up 2604% this week
• Searches for “What Time Is The Royal Wedding” are up  1132% this week

There continues to be interest in how Kate is preparing her “look” for the big day. 

• Searches for “Kate Middleton Diet” are still of interest this week. Up 1705%.
• We also see searches on Yahoo! for her hair style, her hair color, her makeup and her style
• Searches are spiking for “Prince William bald”

Questions – some quirky questions that people want answered:

• Searches are off the charts for “who is Prince Harry’s father”
• Searches are spiking for:
  • What Time Is It In London
  • Who Will Be The Next King Of England
  • What Will Kate Middleton’s Title Be
  • When Did Princess Diana Die

Searches for “What Is Prince Williams Last Name” are up 1199% this week and “What Is Prince Williams Full Name” are up 774%

The big age question:

• Searches for “How Old Is Kate Middleton “ are up 672% this week
• “How Old Is Prince Harry” are off the charts
• “How Old Is Prince William” are up 224%
• “How Old Is Queen Elizabeth” are off the charts

The big height question:

• “How Tall Is Kate Middleton” are off the charts
• “How Tall Is Prince Harry“ are off the charts
• “How Tall Is Prince William” are off the charts

Royal Wedding Party Ideas:

• Searches are off the charts for “Royal Wedding party ideas”, searches are off the charts
• Searches are spiking for “royal wedding cake recipe”
• Searches for “royal wedding party supplies” are spiking

Memorabilia (searches are up 485% this week):

• Searches on Yahoo! up for “royal wedding 2011 shirts”

Wedding Dress:

• Searches for the “Royal Wedding dress” are up 999% this week
• Dresses of the past are spiking including searches for Queen Victoria’s wedding dress, Princess Diana wedding dress

Spiking UK Trends:

• Prince Harry’s girlfriend Chelsy Davy is buzzing this week, as word that she will accompany the prince to the wedding. Searches for Chelsy are up 805% this week.
  • Searches for “Prince Harry Girlfriend “ are off the charts
• Searches for the Royal Wedding Guest List are heating up. People are anxious to know who got the invite. Searches are up 1519% this week. .
• When, Where and What Time? People are still looking for answers on when, where and what time the royal wedding is, on Yahoo!.
  • Royal Wedding Schedule searches are up 1366%
  • Royal Wedding route searches are up 359%
  • Searches for “Royal Wedding Timings” are up 112% this week and “Royal Wedding timetable” are up 60%
  • Searches for “What Time Is The Royal Wedding” are up  72% this week

Souvenirs searches on Yahoo!:

• Searches for “royal wedding souvenirs” are up 297%
• Memorabilia searches are up 69%

Royal Wedding Party Ideas:

• Searches are off the charts on Yahoo! for “Royal Wedding party ideas”, searches are up 41%

The top “Royal Wedding” searches on Yahoo! in the UK:

• royal wedding guest list
• royal wedding date
• royal wedding spoof
• royal wedding schedule
• royal wedding memorabilia
• royal wedding time
• royal wedding timetable
• royal wedding security
• royal wedding bank holiday
• royal wedding site
• royal wedding list
• royal wedding bunting
• royal wedding video
• royal wedding route
• royal wedding souvenirs
• royal wedding dress
• royal wedding street parties 2011
• royal wedding cake
• royal wedding itinerary
• royal wedding dresses
• royal wedding youtube
• royal wedding news
• royal wedding timings
• royal wedding dance
• royal wedding activities for children
• royal wedding party ideas
• royal wedding cupcakes
• royal wedding activities
• royal wedding music
• royal wedding advert
• royal wedding invitation
• royal wedding for children
• royal wedding stamps
• royal wedding website
• royal wedding party supplies
• royal wedding quiz

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What is Yahoo! Search Data?

People power: We sift through billions of Yahoo! searches to uncover trends, burning questions, popular personalities and hot ideas. Yahoo! has been extremely successful in sifting through searches for trend-spotting, historical insight, forecasting projections, and big-picture analysis.

Follow us on Twitter: @yahoosearchdata

Want analysis reach out to: Carolyn Clark at carolync@yahoo-inc.com

Frequently Asked Questions:

• What exactly is a search and why are they useful?:  A keyword(s) or term(s) that people enter in the Search box.
• How do you determine meaning from a search? Searches at its face are neutral. Motivation and intent cannot be defined, but analyzing a billion (or so) searches can give a sketch portrait of a culture in motion. Search insight can operate like an instant poll into what people’s interests are at a given moment—and unlike a poll which offers a constrained or directed parameters, searches spring spontaneously from people want to know.
  • What does spiking and off the charts mean? A “spiking” search refers to terms with the greatest percentage increase in searches from one period of time to the next (usually day, week or month). Significant increases don’t necessarily mean a huge overall interest in a subject, but reveals an accelerated interest in popularity. Something that’s “off the chart” refers to a term that had no meaningful number of searches in the previous time period.
  • How are rankings determined? Rankings, unless otherwise noted, are based on the total number of searches.

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As Earth Day approaches, the three R’s (reduce, reuse and recycle) take a back seat to more revolutionary technology as searches on Yahoo! Green for “recycling” are down 56% this month compared to the same period in 2010, and down 93% from 2009. Online searches indicate that the recent nuclear crisis in Japan is making consumers think about alternative energy sources such as wind and solar energy. Consumers are more interested in solar energy and organic green living this year with searches for “solar energy” spiking 208% and “wind power” up 1,307% this month on Yahoo!.

Wind & Sun, The New Green. Women may be more interested in organic food and green living, but men seem to be more interested in alternative energy sources as 61% of searches this month for both “wind power” and “solar energy” are by males, with Illinois, Ohio, Texas and New Jersey searching the most on Yahoo!.

• Searches this month for “wind power” are 602% higher than the same period in 2010. 
• Searches this month for “solar energy” are 141% higher than the same period in 2010.

Nuclear Energy. It seems Japan’s nuclear crisis (spiking 3,634% this month) may be the driving force behind online searches on Yahoo! for alternative energy sources such as wind and solar energy.

• Searches for “radiation detector” are spiking 2,378% this month on Yahoo! Green.
• Yahoo! Searches for “what is radiation” are spiking 488% this month with 76% of searches coming from males and 3-out-of-5 searches from adults aged 30-54.
• Curious minds are searching for “how nuclear power plants work,” spiking 281% this month on Yahoo!, with 43% of searches from 30-44 year olds.

Energy Savings: Who doesn’t love a good deal? Well going green is no exception, searches for “solar panels” are up 5% this month on Yahoo! and 67% of searches are by men whereas searches for “hybrid cars” are up 212% this month on Yahoo! and 55% of those searches come from women.

• With the rising cost of gas, it is no surprise that searches for “hybrid cars” are coming back and are in fact up 409% compared to the same time period in 2010, and up 159% from 2009.

Freebies and Discounts. Wind and solar energy are not the only hot topic as retailers give away products and coupons this Earth Day. Yahoo! Green has a list of the top Green related freebies for this Earth Day:

• Bring in a reusable mug on April 22 to get free brewed coffee or tea at participating Starbucks stores.
• Origins is offering a trade-in program on Earth Day. Receive a free full-size face cleanser when you bring one of your empty skin-care bottles.
• Evos is giving away free organic milkshakes on Earth Day. The healthy-fast food chain has locations in Florida, Georgia, and North Carolina.
• Trade in five disposable plastic bags for recycling and receive a free reusable shopping bag at the Disney Store.
• Gain free admission into all 394 U.S. national parks now through Sunday, April 24.
• Add a green pledge to the Sierra Club’s Earth Day map for a chance to win a trip for two to Vieques Island in the Caribbean.
• Get up to 60% off on green and natural products at drugstore.com through April 22.
• Barnes & Noble is offering discounts on eco-friendly kids’ books.
• Save up to 40% on Green Hotels on Travelocity.

Is Organic Coming Back? Searches on Yahoo! this year for “organic food” have decreased 44% when compared to the same time period in 2010, but there is an upswing this month as searches spike 8% for “organic food” with Ohio, Illinois, California, Missouri and Texas searching the most.

• It’s not just women who search for organic food. According to Yahoo!, one-out-of-three searches for “organic food” this month are by males.
• It seems organic food is becoming more mainstream as 44% of searches for “organic foods” on Yahoo! this month are by consumers with an average income of less than $25K.

Searches for the term “organic” are up 59% this month and seem to be rebounding from a search dip in 2010.

*

What is Yahoo! Green?

Yahoo! Green gives people information and tips to be greener in their daily lives.  By delivering the right information to make greener decisions, we’re helping more people to make a positive environmental impact.  That’s How Good Grows on Yahoo!. 

What is Yahoo! Search Data?

People power: We sift through billions of Yahoo! searches to uncover trends, burning questions, popular personalities and hot ideas. Yahoo! has been extremely successful in sifting through searches for trend-spotting, historical insight, forecasting projections, and big-picture analysis.

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Fitness Trends:

With spring and marathon season in full swing, it’s time for many of us to get back into shape. Searches this week for “best way to lose weight” are spiking off the charts this month on Yahoo!.  This month, it seems more folks are ditching their indoor workout and opting for training outdoors. According to Yahoo!, searches this month for “treadmills,” the quintessential indoor workout machine, are down 26% when compared to the same time in 2009, and down 9% from the same time in 2010.

As more folks opt for the outdoors, here are some of the outdoor workout trends we’re seeing this season:

• Yoga’s New Interval. You’re probably familiar with conventional yoga or classes that take place in extreme temperatures, but it seems folks opting for fresh air as searches for “outdoor yoga mats” spike this month on Yahoo!. Another trend we’re seeing spike this month on Yahoo! is for the outdoor hybrid workout, “hiking yoga,” which combines the cardio from hiking, with the core-strengthening power of Yoga.
• Not Your Grandmother’s Workout. Searches on Yahoo! this month for “tai chi,” illustrate that the outdoor martial art is no longer just for seniors. In fact, nearly one-in-four (24%) searches for “tai chi” this month are by people under the age of 34, according to Yahoo!. Top states searching this month on Yahoo! are Oklahoma, Ohio, California, Pennsylvania, and Missouri.
• Boot Camp. Searches on Yahoo! this month for “boot camp excercises” and “boot camp workout classes” are spiking. This trend seems to be of more interest to the females, who make up 63% of searches. California, Texas and Georgia seem most interested in the past month, according to searches.

Eating Right. As folks get trained for marathons, such as the Boston Marathon (spiking 1,579% this month on Yahoo!) or just to get fit, we’re seeing searches for “diets that work” spike 95% this month on Yahoo!. Besides the typical diets like Atkins and the South Beach, we’re seeing searches spike 106% this month on Yahoo! for “raw food diet,” up 90% for “paleo diet,” and up 52% for “Mediterranean diet.”

Summer jobs:

Searches for “summer jobs” are spiking 31% on Yahoo! as teens look for ways to earn money over their break. It seems teen girls are more “responsible” as 76% of searches are by females. Heather Cabot, Yahoo! Web Trend expert calls out a few other spiking trends, see below…

• Searches for “summer jobs for teenagers” are spiking 85% this week on Yahoo!
• Searches for “summer jobs” are spiking 393% this month on Yahoo!. It seems teen girls are more “responsible” or at least want some spending cash, as they accounted for 69% of searches.
• Searches for “summer jobs” on Yahoo! started spiking in mid-February of this year.
• Among the searches for jobs this month on Yahoo!, we’re seeing spikes for jobs at McDonalds, Macy’s, Starbuck’s, Walgreens, and Whole Foods
• Top areas searching for “summer jobs” this month on Yahoo! are District of Columbia, Illinois, Michigan, Georgia and California

Compared to 2010:

• According to Yahoo! searches for “summer jobs for teenagers” have decreased 66% when comparing the last 4 weeks to the same time period in 2010
• Searches for “summer jobs” on Yahoo! have decreased 31% when comparing the last 8 weeks to the same time period in 2010
• College summer jobs seem on the rise. Searches for “summer jobs for college students” have doubled when comparing the last 4 weeks to the same time period in 2010

Other interesting note:

• Are parents doing the job hunting for their teens? While searches have decreased by teens, searches for “summer jobs for teenagers” are up 6% by those over age 45, compared to last year.

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What is Yahoo! Search Data?

People power: We sift through billions of Yahoo! searches to uncover trends, burning questions, popular personalities and hot ideas. Yahoo! has been extremely successful in sifting through searches for trend-spotting, historical insight, forecasting projections, and big-picture analysis.

Follow us on Twitter: @yahoosearchdata

Want analysis reach out to us: Carolyn Clark carolync@yahoo-inc.com  

Frequently Asked Questions:

• What exactly is a search and why are they useful?:  A keyword(s) or term(s) that people enter in the Search box.
• How do you determine meaning from a search? Searches at its face are neutral. Motivation and intent cannot be defined, but analyzing a billion (or so) searches can give a sketch portrait of a culture in motion. Search insight can operate like an instant poll into what people’s interests are at a given moment—and unlike a poll which offers a constrained or directed parameters, searches spring spontaneously from people want to know.
• What does spiking and off the charts mean? A “spiking” search refers to terms with the greatest percentage increase in searches from one period of time to the next (usually day, week or month). Significant increases don’t necessarily mean a huge overall interest in a subject, but reveals an accelerated interest in popularity. Something that’s “off the chart” refers to a term that had no meaningful number of searches in the previous time period.
• How are rankings determined? Rankings, unless otherwise noted, are based on the total number of searches.

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The new and improved Yahoo! Search BOSS is here and we can’t wait to have developers try it out.

BOSS V2 provides a unique combination of data, display flexibility and monetization to empower you, the developer, to build great applications. BOSS is our way of sharing our cloud and the data in it with you to foster innovation on the web. 

What is BOSS?

BOSS is a data API that gives you access to web search, image and news content for a low usage fee. There are no limits on how many times you query it, and very few limits on how you display and use it alongside other data.  It is not just a site search API, nor is it just a search API; it is whatever you the developer, dream a search offering to be.  What makes it extra special is that we offer you search advertising to help you make money. So make the Internet a magical place and remember that Yahoo! Search helped you do it.

In addition to the details on BOSS V2 that we first announced in October 2010, we provided the pricing details earlier this year and released the technical documentation last month. For the launch, we decided to throw in an additional service: Spelling.  A number of you asked us for this after our prior announcements and so we added it back in. We are only charging $0.10 CPM for it, which means we can answer 24,000 spelling queries for around the same price as the average espresso!

Ready to get started?

Visit the Yahoo! Search BOSS Page and go to the “How do I get Started section.” We have a helpful tutorial on how to sign up and documentation on using the API. If you have any questions reach out to us on the BOSS Yahoo! Group – we are always listening.  This release also means we are shutting down BOSS V1 this summer, scheduled for July 20, 2011.

For the past several months we have been working hard to keep BOSS alive and affordable. We will continue to make BOSS more useful to you through new features and services. Thank you again for your support and we look forward to your continued usage of BOSS.

Rahul Hampole and Nagesh Pobbathi

Yahoo! Search BOSS Product Guys

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With the Final Four only days away, we wanted to share the below data from Yahoo! Search showing the tournament teams, topics and trends people are most searching for online this week.

If Yahoo! search trends determined the winner…
• VCU would beat Kentucky in the title game; according to Yahoo!, VCU is the top-searched team in the Final Four with searches for “VCU basketball” up 143% this week. Kentucky is the second-most-searched team, followed by Butler and UConn.

According to Yahoo!, this Week’s Top Searched Final Four Teams are:
1. VCU Basketball (searches up 143% this week)
2. Kentucky Basketball
3. Butler Basketball
4. UConn Basketball

Overall Final Four Search Trends
• Butler Pride: Butler’s improbable run to a second straight Final Four has basketball fans buzzing. According to Yahoo!, there are 119% more searches this week for “Butler basketball” than there were during the same week last year.

• Bracket Busters: It seems this year’s Final Four lineup surprised just about everybody. Searches for “unthinkable Final Four” and “lowest seed to make Final Four” are spiking off the charts this week on Yahoo!

• Staying Home: Fewer fans seem to be scrambling for Final Four tickets. Searches this week for “Final Four tickets” on Yahoo! are 42% lower compared to searches last year (when Butler, Duke, Michigan State and West Virginia participated) and 94% lower compared to searches in 2009 (when Connecticut, Michigan State, North Carolina and Villanova qualified).

Coaching Intrigue
• VCU coach Shaka Smart has caught the country’s attention. According to Yahoo!, searches for him are up 2,199% this week, most of any Final Four coach. People seem most interested in his bio, wedding and ethnicity with searches for those things spiking off the charts on Yahoo!

• Butler’s Brad Stevens is the second-most-searched coach. Searches for him are up 416% on Yahoo! this week, while searches for Kentucky coach John Calipari are up 252%.

According to Yahoo!, this Week’s Top Searched Final Four Coaches are:
1. Shaka Smart, VCU (searches up 2,199% this week)
2. Brad Stevens, Butler (searches up 416% this week)
3. John Calipari, Kentucky (searches up 252% this week)
4. Jim Calhoun, UConn

Head-to-Head
• UConn’s Kemba Walker is the most-searched player in the Final Four. According to Yahoo!, searches for Walker are 2.4 times higher than searches for Kentucky’s Brandon Knight, 6.4 times higher than searches for Butler’s Matt Howard and 13.6 times higher than searches for VCU’s Jamie Skeen.

Mascot Madness
• The Bulldogs of Butler are the most-searched mascot in the Final Four, with searches up 254% this week, according to Yahoo! The Wildcats (Kentucky), Rams (VCU) and Huskies (UConn) follow.

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What is Yahoo! Search Data?

People power: We sift through billions of Yahoo! searches to uncover trends, burning questions, popular personalities and hot ideas. Yahoo! has been extremely successful in sifting through searches for trend-spotting, historical insight, forecasting projections, and big-picture analysis.

The latest Yahoo! search trends can also be found on Twitter:
@YahooSearchData

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Over the past few weeks we’ve been working closely with Microsoft to customize the new Internet Explorer 9 browser specifically for Yahoo! users – consider it your own personal purple pack for IE9. With this Yahoo!-enhanced experience, even when you’re not on the Yahoo! homepage it’s even easier to find what matters most to you – simply type your query into the URL field and instantly be taken to the most relevant Yahoo! search results. With automatic access to Yahoo! Search, as well as Yahoo! Homepage and Toolbar, available at download it’s become faster and easier to find the search results you want around news, sports, weather, or whatever you care about on the Web. 

To find out about more about the new Yahoo!-enhanced experience for IE9, including other snazzy features like “Pinning” and “Jump Lists,” check out our Yodel Anecdotal blog.

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We have always believed that search should be simple and fun, make you smile every once in a while and be that one place you know you can depend on. We went back to the drawing boards to rethink the search experience, how we can take it to the next step, and really make search awesome.
 
Today we announced Search Direct, or as I like to call it, the Search Box of Awesome. Search Direct is the first fundamental shift in search in more than a decade. For the first time, driving users to a results page filled with an overwhelming number of links is not the end game. We believe Search Direct will be the simplest and fastest way to find answers, not links.
 
For far too long, search has been a transactional client-service model, you give the search engine a requirement and it regurgitates everything possible it can find to you. You receive this content overload, take a deep breath and dive right into it trying to find that one site that can answer your question or peak your interests. You spend some time looking, take another deep breath and realize what you’re looking for isn’t there. What do you do? After feelings of frustration, annoyance, and overall sheer sadness, you pull yourself back together and reformulate your search to try again.
 
You don’t want to scroll around and click when all you’re looking for is the score from last night’s game, the weather for tomo rrow, the nutritional facts for your double-skinny soy macchiato, or your local movie times.
 
Why can’t a search engine just give me the answer, not links? Why do I need to go on a wild goose chase just to complete a simple task like finding out why Charlie Sheen is fueled by tiger blood and is #winning. Sometimes I just want an easy way to check out what’s trending right now.
 
Search Direct does just that. We set out to simplify and optimize the search experience with the goal of getting you directly to your answers. We asked ourselves, how awesome would it be if you could type in ‘Kobe Bryant’, ‘SF Giants’, ‘AMZN’, ‘Movies 94123’, ‘Weather 94089’, and get your answers directly in the search assist tray? It would be a pretty sweet experience – so we made it happen. We built a tool that makes search simpler by displaying rich content and answers as you type, and most of the time before you’re even done typing – awesome. 

Even if we don’t have a rich answer or deep-link for your search, we’re keeping to our promise of not regurgitating millions of results in hope that one works for you. Instead we’re showing you just three, yep, that’s right, just three results. These aren’t just any three, these three make up the top results we think will best serve your needs based on the context of your search, network behavior, and behavior of the masses. So if you were wondering if Search Direct is like Google Instant, the answer is obviously no.

How it works: We offer the top 30 results in a way that is extremely simple to comprehend. As the user types, we provide the top 10 most likely searches and for each of those we provide the top 3 results. We call it search previews. It provides bite size results that make it incredibly easy for a user to scan and actually comprehend the top results. And once the user finds the site they need, we provide direct access to it, removing the unnecessary step of a results page. In removing all the noise, you’re finally able to focus on your search intent, getting directly to your answer and getting on with your day. Awesome.
 
Please know this is a beta release. It’s the beginning of the beginning of a new era in search. We’ve been focused on refining how you use search, enabling awesome experiences for search intents about sports, news, TV, movies, local, finance, shopping, travel, weather, trending searches or pretty much anything else. You can check out examples of searches available now on the Search Direct flickr stream.
 
But this is just the beginning. The coverage and rich content currently available in Search Direct is a fraction of the future state. Users can expect search coverage and the use of rich content to increase dramatically in the weeks, months, and years ahead. Get ready to be more social and personalized, through a richer and more interactive experience – it’s going to be sweet.
 
Search Direct is currently available on search.yahoo.com and on the search results page as of today. We’ll be releasing on yahoo.com in a few weeks, and network properties and international markets throughout the coming months. We’re excited to bring awesomeness to every search box on Yahoo!, and this is just one of many new and innovating experiences you can expect from Yahoo! Search.
 
We’ve thought of a lot of great things and added them to the Search Direct experience, but only grazed the surface of what’s possible. It’s not only my own but Yahoo!’s mission to continue innovating and optimizing the search experience. Tell us what you want to see. What makes your search box awesome? 
  
– Ethan Batraski, Purveyor of Awesomeness for Search Direct

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On March 11, a 9.0 magnitude earthquake struck northeast Japan and lasted for about five minutes. The temblor, registered as the largest to hit Japan and the world’s fourth largest since 1900, unleashed ocean waves that reached all the way to the United States. The 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami may well register a death toll exceeding 10,000.

The unfolding news has kept the Japan crisis top of mind. Besides direct danger to coastal regions, the crippled reactors at Fukushima have many questioning over radiation effects. The accelerated cycle of searches on Yahoo! reveal these patterns:

• Disaster details
  • earthquake, tsunami event
  • immediate aftermath
• Maps and landmarks
• Nuclear emergency
• Rescue and donations
• Popular Culture
• Superstitions

 Disaster Details: The Events

Initial searches on Yahoo! tracked the degree of devastation and tsunami warnings issued throughout the Pacific. Many sought maps of the region to pinpoint not only the epicenter, but also the Pacific waves that went out at 500 mph.  Individual cities and towns were also looked up: Fukushima emerged early as a place of concern, although initial reports from the Japanese chief cabinet secretary assured the public there was no leak. News media — both local and international — were sought after.

Searches on Yahoo! include:

• “japan’s tsunami,” “tsunami evacuations,” “tsunami warning buoys,” “marianas island tsunami warning,” “japan tsunami philippine tsunami warning,” “hawaii evacuation maps tsunami warning,” “tsunami evacuation zone hawaii,” “japan quake tsunami warning california,” “ocean whirlpool off japan,” “japan fault lines”
• “what is a tsunami,” “tsunami wikipedia,” “how does a tsunami occur,” how “high does the richter scale go”
• “where is japan on the map,” “air force bases in Japan,” “nagano japan map,” ‘how far is china from japan,” “Atsugi,” Hachinohe,” “Sendai Frefecture,” “Fukushima”

Disaster Details: The Immediate Aftermath

As the magnitude was revealed, people also tracked on the effect of the fourth most powerful temblor since 1900.

Searches on Yahoo! include:

•  “tokyo evacuation,” japan death toll,” “victims map,” “tsunami affected areas,” “japan aftershocks,” “satellite images of tsunami,” “tsunami timeline,” “shelters in japan”

Cultural questions emerge in searches:

• “how big is japan,” “why no looting in japan,” “what is prefecture”

Previous disasters were looked at. Just as the Chilean earthquake slightly shifted the earth’s axis, people looked into a similar shift in Tohuku, which shortened the day by 1.8 microseconds.

Searches on Yahoo! include:

“tsunami in Indonesia 2004,” “haiti earthquake 2004,” “sumatra earthquake,” “1964 alaska earthquake video,” “how many microseconds in a second,” “microseconds to seconds”

Videos just hinted at the calamity of water and fire that swept away entire towns.

Searches on Yahoo! include:

“youtube japan earthquake,” “japan earthquake pictures,” “japan tsunami photos,” “before and after pictures of japan”

People also followed up on what people in power are doing, searches included: “emperor of japan,” “emperor Akihito,” “naoto kan”

Concerns about the world economy also pushed financial queries up, including : “u.s. stocks,” “japanese yen rate,” “dollar to yen”

The disaster quickly triggered preparedness concerns.

Searches on Yahoo! include:

“earthquake kits,” “emergency essentials,” “emergency preparedness,” “emergency food,” “first aid kits,” “72 hour emergency kits,” “emergency food supply,” “survival shelter,” “how to build an underground shelter”

Nuclear Emergency

Online focus shifted quickly to recovery, relief, and the ongoing potential nuclear disaster. Concerns about its effect on the world at large have been trending high, as well as other country’s own power plants.

Searches on Yahoo! include:

“japan nuclear emergency,” “akihito,” “fukushima,” “nuclear plant,” “nuclear meltdown,” “what is a nuclear meltdown,” ““japan nuclear explosion,”  ““japan radiation leak,” “radiation exposure,” “radioactive vapor,” “will radiation hit philippines,” “radiation from japn to usa,” “what does radiation due to the body,” “effects of nuclear radiation,” “thyroid,” “how to protect yourself from nuclear radiation,” “iodine,” “microsieverts,” “iodine tablets radiation,” “radiation poisoning,” “potassium iodine tablets,” “nei” (nuclear energy institute), “iaea,” “ “germany reactors,” “TEPCO” (Tokyo Electric Power Co), “japan nuclear leak wind patterns,” “geiger counters,” “california nuclear power plants on a map,” “what are nuclear rods,” “what does a nuclear reactor look like,” “helicopters japan”

Japan’s own history with radiation exposure from World War II atomic bombs as well as other nuclear plant disasters have been resonating online.

Searches on Yahoo! include:

“hiroshima and nagasaka,” “where is three mile island,” “3 mile island disaster,” “Chernobyl nuclear disaster,” “chernobyl fukushima,” “chernobyl birth defects,” “chernobyl fallout map,” “chernobyl timeline of events,” “children of Chernobyl,” “how many people died at chernoble,” “turnoble russia meltdown”

Rescue and donations

The impulse to give has been immediate. In addition to prayers, which also became a Twitter trending term, questions on what to do emerged on day one.  Hurricane Katrina emerged in this context as news got around on how much Japan donated to that disaster. The Chronicle of Philanthropy doesn note that donations have lagged far behind Katrina and Haiti in the first seven days — one theory is that the full damage is not yet evident. The unfolding storyline of nuclear disaster might be occupying people’s attention as well.

Searches on Yahoo! include:

“prayers for japan,” “how to help japan,” “red cross,” “donate japan,” “Japanese red cross,” “japan relief fund,” “samaritan purse japan,” “lady gaga japan bracelet,” “celebrities that donated to japan,” “donate clothes to japan,” “what countries helped with katrina.”

Popular culture

Japan’s atomic history triggered a generation of monster films that addressed that culture’s history and anxieties with the bomb. Within the United States, shows like “Dancing with the Stars” became tangentially relevant, as contestant Petra Nemcova recalled her horror at surviving the 2005 tsunami. Interior designer Nate Berkus also talked on interview shows about losing his loved one. A minor controversy rose after comedian Gilbert Gottfried was fired as the commercial voice for Aflac, after publishing jokes about the tsunami.

 Searches on Yahoo! include:

“godzilla movies,” “godzilla,” “petra nemcova,” “nate berkus,” “aflac,” “gilbert gottfried,” “aflac duck voice,” “gilbert gottfried twitter”

Superstitions and doomsday concerns

Inevitably, such calamities trigger a search for meaning in superstitions as well as science, as people try to grapple with the meaning of why such disasters occur.  In addition to lookups for “nostradamus predictions” and “apocalypse,” people have been doing research on the Supermoon phenomena.

On March 19, the moon will be the closest to the earth in 18 years. An astrologer named Richard Nolle said on March 1 that lunar proximity would trigger storms, earthquakes volcanos. (The 2005 Indonesian tsunami occurred two weeks before that supermoon.) Some meteorologists dismissed that, other scientists want to keep an open mind, and at least one NASA astronomer thinks that having the moon 2% closer is “nothing really special.”

Searches on Yahoo! include:

“supermoon,” “supermoon predictions,” “nostradamus 2011,” “atlantis” (the lost city, believed to have been submerged in a tsunami, may have recently been uncovered), “will the world end in 2012,” “when will the world end,” “are we in end times,” “matthew 24”

– Vera H-C Chan, senior editor, Yahoo! Search Trends

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 Either folks are getting in the spirit, or are hoping not to get pinched, searches have been soaring this week on Yahoo! around St. Patrick’s Day. Here are some interesting search trends. 

Overall Festivities & Traditions:

• Celebrations. Searches for “Chicago st. patrick’s day parade,” “Hoboken parade 2011,” “irish festival dallas,” “north texas irish festival” are spiking off the charts this week on Yahoo!.
• Searches for “st patrick’s day shirts” are up 182% this week on Yahoo! and 67% of searches are by females.
• Searches are up 118% this week on Yahoo! for “celtic women.” Searches for “celtic symbols,” “celtic tattoos” and “celtic crosses” are all spiking this week on Yahoo!.
• Searches for “shamrock” are up 20% this week on Yahoo!.

 Overall Food Trends:

• Searches this week on Yahoo! are up 380%  for “corned beef recipes,” and up 120% for “cabbage recipes.” Also spiking: “stuffed cabbage” and “how to cook corned beef”  
• Searches for McDonald’s “shamrock shake” are up 203% this week on Yahoo!. 46% of searches are by people ages 25-34 and 52% of searches this week are by males.
• Searches for “beer bread recipe” are off the charts this week on Yahoo!

Top searched beers this week on Yahoo! are:

1. Budweiser
2. Bud Light
3. Guiness
4. Samuel Adams
5. Heineken
6. Stella Artois
7. Ginger Beer

 Overall Geographic/Demographic:

• Top regions searching for St. Patrick’s Day on Yahoo! are Pittsburgh, Phoenix, New York, San Diego and Indianapolis. Top states searching for the same term are Arizona, South Carolina, New York, Maryland and Illinois.
• It seems women care more about the St. Patrick’s Day holiday as 54% of searches for “st patrick’s day 2011” are by females.

 Boston:

• Searches in Boston this week for “st. patrick’s day” on Yahoo! are up 202%.
• Searches this week in Boston for the “irish independent” news are up 45% this week on Yahoo!.
• In Boston, searches for “irish soda bread recipe” are spiking off the charts this week on Yahoo!.
• In Boston, “corned beef and cabbage” and “slow cooker corned beef” searches are off the charts this week on Yahoo!.
• Searches for “crockpot recipes” on Yahoo! are up 79% this week in Boston.
• Searches in Boston for their home basketball team the “boston celtics” are up 30% this week on Yahoo!.
• Is it the luck of the Irish? Searches for “boston celtics” on Yahoo! are at their highest point of the entire 2010-2011 NBA season. Searches in Boston for the “boston celtics” were at their lowest point during the season, just two weeks ago (a 349% spike from two weeks ago).

 New York City:

• Searches in New York City for “shamrock” are up 29% this week on Yahoo!.
• Searches in New York City for “st. patrick’s day 2011” are up 94% this week on Yahoo!.
  • Also spiking in NYC: “st patrick’s day coloring pages” and “st patrick’s day printables”
  • In New York City, “celtic women” searches are off the charts this week on Yahoo!
• In New York City, searches for “irish soda bread recipe” and “irish cream cheesecake” are spiking off the charts this week on Yahoo!.
• Searches for “bars pubs” on Yahoo! are up 79% this week in New York City.
• In New York City, “corned beef and cabbage” and “slow cooker corned beef” searches are off the charts this week on Yahoo!.

 Chicago:

• Searches in Chicago for “st. patrick’s day” are up 108% this week on Yahoo!.
• In Chicago, searches for “irish sayings” are up 147% this week on Yahoo!>
• Searches in Chicago for “shamrock” are up 29% this week on Yahoo!. “Shamrock clipart” searches are up 90% as well.
• In Chicago, “celtic thunder” searches are off the charts this week on Yahoo!.
• In Chicago, “corned beef and cabbage,” “corned beef recipe,” and “slow cooker corned beef” searches are off the charts this week on Yahoo!.
• Searches for “crockpot recipes” on Yahoo! are up 17% this week in Chicago.

———————–

What is Yahoo! Search Data?

People power: We sift through billions of Yahoo! searches to uncover trends, burning questions, popular personalities and hot ideas. Yahoo! has been extremely successful in sifting through searches for trend-spotting, historical insight, forecasting projections, and big-picture analysis.

Follow us on Twitter: @yahoosearchdata

Want analysis reach out to: Carolyn Clark at carolync@yahoo-inc.com

Frequently Asked Questions:

• What exactly is a search and why are they useful?:  A keyword(s) or term(s) that people enter in the Search box.
• How do you determine meaning from a search? Searches at its face are neutral. Motivation and intent cannot be defined, but analyzing a billion (or so) searches can give a sketch portrait of a culture in motion. Search insight can operate like an instant poll into what people’s interests are at a given moment—and unlike a poll which offers a constrained or directed parameters, searches spring spontaneously from people want to know.
  • What does spiking and off the charts mean? A “spiking” search refers to terms with the greatest percentage increase in searches from one period of time to the next (usually day, week or month). Significant increases don’t necessarily mean a huge overall interest in a subject, but reveals an accelerated interest in popularity. Something that’s “off the chart” refers to a term that had no meaningful number of searches in the previous time period.
  • How are rankings determined? Rankings, unless otherwise noted, are based on the total number of searches.

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At SXSW, Yahoo! senior editor Vera H-C Chan (who, among other duties served as editorial lead for Yahoo! Year in Review), and director of product management-Social/RealTime Brian Theodore (the fearless leader behind Yahoo! Clues), held their session, “Chicken or the Egg: What Search Activity Conveys.”

Here is a snapshot of the information provided during the session:

In addition to telling interesting trends, such as what the most popular Halloween costumes will be, or who might become the next American Idol, search activity can be used in more compelling ways.

For instance, it can be interpreted to foresee trends and develop news stories as billions of searches lend themselves to many narratives. Figuring out the “what-does-it-all-mean” goes beyond declaring the winner in an ever-changing popularity contest, or what’s on top of everyone’s mind day to day. What does the rise in apocalypse-related searches following natural disasters say about our modern society? Are the lookups following Tiger Woods’ story prurient, or are we repeating our ancient fascination with the morality tale? And can search activity project what the masses will decide, even before the masses know themselves?

During the session, Vera and Brian discussed the predictive nature of search and how search can have the power to drive news. By analyzing what people are searching for, societal trends can be determined and some would go as far as to say that search trends can actually predict the future. Analyzing search trends helps us understand the impulses and processes of why people make their choices at that particular moment in time.

For close readers of the Y! Search Blog, the description might sound a tad familiar — straight indeed from “An Insider Look From a Yahoo! Search Trend Spotter.” Brian talked about the care of the how-we-collectively-got-here aspect in the search universe, and Vera probed the relationship between searches and news — and both poked at that larger paradox of Search Intelligence: How the act of searching has in itself become a form of insight; whereas before the goal was information, now the pursuit itself has become a tell-tale heart.

Attendees also enjoyed the Y! Prizes given out for the pop quizzes held throughout the session, such as: What’s one event Americans might be attending less of in 2011? Baby showers, preschool pageants, or quinceaneras?

If you guessed baby showers, you are correct. Searches on Yahoo! have shown for months the trend the Pew Research Report confirmed in April 2010, that U.S. birth rates have dropped in 2008, perhaps linked to the recession.

Attendees enjoyed not only the content, but the format of the prezi which can be found here.

SXSW 2011 – Chicken or the Egg? What Search Activity Conveys on Prezi

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South by Southwest, here we come.

When SXSW first started in 1987, the festival was all about the music,  film and interactive components were added to the mix in 1994, during the same time that Yahoo! Founders David Filo and Jerry Yang were holed up in their campus trailer, making lists of favorite links which eventually became Yahoo!.

Now we, crew members at Yahoo! Search —Vera H-C Chan (@FastTalkingD), web trend analyst, and Brian Theodore (@bptheo), director of product management for social and real-time search (the fearless leader behind Yahoo! Clues) – are taking Austin by storm. We’re excited to use Search data and activity to finally answer the question, “Chicken or the Egg: What Search Activity Conveys.”

Search is a powerful tool that people use in their everyday lives and by analyzing resulting search data, we have the capability to provide a snapshot of what is happening in society at any given time based on popular searches. Our session will explore search data analysis and the interesting trends that can be discovered by users such as the hottest new gadget, the most popular travel destination, or signs that a flu pandemic is about to hit. Analyzing search trends also helps us understand the impulses and processes behind people making certain choices at a particular moment in time.

With Brian’s help, we will do a deep dive into the larger paradox of Search Intelligence: How the act of searching has in itself become a form of insight. Before the goal of searching was to just find information, now the pursuit in and of itself has become a mission of greater discovery.

The panel will be held the day before daylight savings time, so while we are speaking we expect many searches related to the time change. Spring forward appears to already be on many minds as searches for “Daylight Savings time 2011” are up 519 percent this week on Yahoo!.  (Click the clock on the left to see the latest “Daylight Savings Time” search trends)

According to Yahoo! Clues, both women and men equally search for the term – 51 percent vs. 49 percent respectively – and we’re making sure everyone who attends walks away with a time-saving souvenir!

If you’re heading to SXSW, we would love to have you join our conversation. Here are the panel details:

Saturday, March 12, 12:30-1:30pm   Hilton Austin, Salon H, 6th floor 500 East Fourth Street, Austin, Texas   Chicken or the Egg? What Search Activity Conveys  When people have questions they turn to search engines for the answers. Search activity can tell some interesting trends – hottest new gadget, most popular travel destination, or whether it’s going to be a bad flu season. By digging deeper, this activity can be used in more compelling ways. For instance, it can be interpreted to foresee trends and develop news stories as billions of searches lend themselves to many narratives. Figuring out the “what-does-it-all-mean” goes beyond declaring the winner in an ever-changing popularity contest, or what’s on top of everyone’s mind day to day. What does the rise in apocalypse-related searches following natural disasters say about our modern society? Are the lookups following Tiger Woods’ story prurient, or are we repeating our ancient fascination with the morality tale? And can search activity project what the masses will decide, even before the masses know themselves? By analyzing what people are searching for, societal trends can be determined and some would go as far as to say that search trends can actually predict the future. Analyzing search trends helps us understand the impulses and processes of why people make their choices at that particular moment in time. This session will discuss the predictive nature of search and whether search has the power to drive news.

– Vera H-C Chan, Yahoo!’s Web Trend analyst

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During the morning session “Mobile Apps and How They’re Revolutionizing Search,” panelists discussed today’s most popular search apps, how they gather data, and the opportunities they present to marketers.

Anil Panguluri, Director of Mobile Search at Yahoo!, offered recent research findings that showed that smartphone users are engaging with apps in equal amounts to the Internet browser on their mobiles, but the reach of browser-based search is 61% versus only 26% for apps. (The reach of search on PCs is 76%, so already mobile is closing in.) “Given a choice, users prefer to use apps,” he stated. “I believe that users use their browser for general searches, and apps for vertical searches.”

Photo: Yahoo!’s Anil Panguluri during the panel.

“Finding information that meets a specific need” was, not surprisingly, the top motivation for people using search on mobiles, but the research showed that users who use apps for search are more advanced, finding what they need more quickly and with fewer clicks. “Apps offer a search experience beyond the ten blue links,” Panguluri said. “Going forward, general mobile search will go deeper into the user flow” to enhance the experience.

Panguluri added that app users are not hostile to advertising in their apps, but that 88% of those surveyed pegged their #1 priority in this regard is that the ads do not make them leave the app, while 59% said that they want “free stuff” to be offered in conjunction with the ad. “Mobile ads are actually more impactful than online display ads,” Panguluri claimed. “Our research showed that Ad Awareness measured 22% higher for mobile ads than for our control group.” He also explained for Yahoo!’s mobile audience, which currently numbers 41 million people, rich, well produced ad experiences work extremely well, especially videos.

How to manage search marketing on various platforms

Another panel discussion focused on the devices people use to search and what it says about them—and their receptivity to your marketing messages. Taylor Schreiner, Senior Director of Strategic Research and Insights at Yahoo!, described a study we conducted with RepriseMedia, which showed that 21.4% of smartphone users do searches on it. “This is a huge and increasing piece of search in the future,” he said. “You have to realize that search is a mobile phenomenon.”

Schreiner stated that iPad users do more searches (by percentage of share) for movie and TV info than desktop users, as well as for real estate and investment searches. The latter stat, especially, reveals the Demography aspect of mobile search—higher income people can afford tablets, and are more likely to invest.

While brand searches are still driven by PCs, “I expect that here too, tablets’ search share will grow to equal PCs,” Schreiner opined. He said that this difference is related to search term length: PC and tablet users tend to use longer queries, while mobile users type in much shorter searches.

Full Day 2 coverage by Jeff Hecox can be found in this post on the Yahoo! Advertising blog.

After his panel, Taylor Schreiner spoke in the video below around the discussion highlights.

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New Research – Searching on Glass: iPad, iPhone, Android, BlackBerry, Xoom

Yahoo!/Reprise Media study shows how tablets change the way people type, search and find your brand  

When did you learn to type? When did you learn to type with your thumbs? Have you learned to type on glass yet?

New devices (iPads, Droids, Blackberrys, iPhones, Xooms… you name it) are changing the way we interact with the world and the Web. Nowhere is this more true than in the way we search. Comscore says that 21% of people with mobile phones are searching on them  –  a figure that is bound to increase dramatically over the coming years. And with nearly every adult in America carrying a mobile phone, that’s going to mean that mobile search is going to be a big part of search overall.

Yahoo! Researchers Mike Yamnitsky and Vinayak Sambargi worked with Reprise Media, the search, a social and experiential agency of IPG’s Mediabrands, to utilize Yahoo! data to understand what is driving  how people search on their new devices. For more information on the research, check out this article by Taylor Schreiner on the Yahoo! Advertising Blog.

Yahoo!’s Taylor Schreiner will present this research at SMX West today. Also at the show, Anil Panguluri will provide the latest details around Mobile Search. Here is their panel information:

Wednesday, March 9, 2011

10:45 AM – NOON Mobile Apps & How They’re Revolutionizing Search
Apple CEO Steve Jobs is famous for saying “…on the desktop search is where it’s at; that’s where the money is. But on a mobile device search hasn’t happened. Search is not where it’s at, people are not searching on a mobile device like they do on the desktop.” Oh really? There are currently more than 200,000 apps for the iPhone and 100,000 and growing for Google’s Android – and many are built around search.  This session looks at popular search apps on different devices, how they gather data and the new, away from the desktop opportunities they offer to marketers. Moderator: Greg Sterling, Founding Principal, Sterling Market Intelligence Speakers: Andy Chu, Director of Bing Mobile, Microsoft
Anil Panguluri, Director, Yahoo! Mobile Search and Discovery, Yahoo!
Angie Schottmuller, Interactive Strategist, Interactive Artisan   5:00 PM – 6:15 PM Searcher Behavior In A Multiplatform World
Understanding searcher behavior is one of the central pillars of effective search marketing. And more than ever, it’s important to not just understand what people are searching for, but how they are searching — using a computer, television, mobile device — because this provides important clues as to why they are searching and may change the experience you offer to them. Recent results-enhancing searcher behavior research methods and their uses will be discussed in this session. Moderator: Gord Hotchkiss, SVP, Mediative Speakers: Jacquelyn Krones, Senior Product Manager, Bing, Microsoft
Bryson Meunier, Associate Director, Content Solutions, Resolution Media
Taylor Schreiner, Senior Director, Strategic Research & Insights, Yahoo Search
Shari Thurow, Founder and SEO Director, Omni Marketing Interactive

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As experts gather to discuss search at SMX West 2011 this week, we took a peek at what Yahoo! users are searching for, and it looks like Spring Break is top of mind.

The anticipation is already brewing as searches for “spring break” on Yahoo! are up 34% this month and searches for “spring break packages” are buzzing. It seems the guys are looking more forward to the break as males make up 70% of searches. Partying is already top of mind for some as searches for “wildest spring break” are off the charts this month on Yahoo!.

Most searches on Yahoo! this month for “spring break” are coming from the metropolitan areas, namely New York, Washington DC, Chicago and Los Angeles. The top states searching this month are Texas, Michigan, and Ohio. It seems that spring breakers turn to the Web for advice, we are seeing searches for “where to go on spring break” and “what to do on spring break”.

It seems Florida will be seeing many spring break visitors as 8 out of the 10 top searched beaches on Yahoo! this month are from the sunshine state.

According to Yahoo! Travel, the Top Searched Beaches this Month on Yahoo! are:

1. Vero Beach, Florida – searches are up 798%
2. Pensacola Beach, Florida – searches are up 495%
3. Jacksonville Beach, Florida
4. Palm Beach, Florida
5. Myrtle Beach, South Carolina
6. Miami Beach, Florida
7. Virginia Beach, Virginia
8. Daytona Beach, Florida
9. Panama City Beach, Florida
10. Clearwater Beach, Florida
11. Cocoa Beach, Florida
12. Laguna Beach, California
13. Venice Beach, Florida
14. Newport Beach, California
15. Pismo Beach, California

Spring Break ‘Victims’. Relief is in sight for folks who live in these Spring Break destinations, seeking an “escape.” Yahoo! Travel compiled the top-searched travel destinations from Florida and California, giving a hint on where folks seeking refuge from Spring Break may be headed. It seems this year, they are headed towards “Sin City.”

According to Yahoo! Travel, the Top Searched Travel Destinations this Month from Miami, Jacksonville and Mobile/Pensacola are:

1. Las Vegas, Nevada
2. Cruise
3. Atlanta, Georgia
4. Canada
5. New York City, New York

According to Yahoo! Travel, the Top Searched Travel Destinations this Month from Los Angeles are:

1. Las Vegas, Nevada
2. Hawaii
3. Cruises
4. Mexico
5. San Francisco, California

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At Search Marketing Expo (SMX West 2011) this week in San Jose, Yahoo! Search executives will participate in several panels at the show today and tomorrow. Be sure to check out the @yahoosearch twitter feed for on-site tweets, and come back here at the end of each day for a recap of Yahoo! at SMX.

Here are the panels Yahoo! experts will be participating on:

Tuesday, March 8, 2011

10:45 am – 12:00 PM

Best Practices With adCenter For Bing & Yahoo Now that Yahoo and Bing have a combined estimated 30% market share, you know you can’t ignore this appealingly large source of traffic — but you’ve also heard that you can’t just clone your AdWords campaign and expect to get good results. What are the key differences between AdWords and adCenter? What adCenter features are unique and powerful? What kinds of features should you be taking advantage of to maximize your ad campaigns on Bing and Yahoo? How does your campaign on Bing differ from what appears on Yahoo? Come to this session to find out. Yahoo! Panelist: Jon Mette, Regional Manager – Search Strategy, Yahoo!  

1:45 PM – 3:00 PM

Mobile Search Ads Haven’t done mobile search ads yet? You’re missing out on a growing market! eMarketer predicts that mobile ad spend will surpass $6.5 billion in 2012. Google CEO Eric Schmidt has said that “mobile will be a larger business than the PC-Web,” likely a primary reason Google recently spent $750 million to acquire mobile advertising network AdMob. This session looks at mobile paid search opportunities and how search marketers can get ahead of this tsunami of opportunity. Yahoo! Panelist: Paul Cushman, Senior Director, Mobile Sales Strategy, Yahoo!  

3:45 – 5:00 PM

“Content Farms” Or The Smartest SEOs In the World? You may not be familiar with the names, but companies like Demand Media, Seed.com and Associated Content are big businesses built on closely watching what people are searching for and creating content to match. Using cheap or free labor, these “content farms” sometimes get derided as being low quality. They disagree. A look at some of the issues, as well as lessons from publishers who think SEO from start to finish. Yahoo! Panelist: Luke Beatty, Vice President & General Manager, Yahoo! Contributor Network  

Wednesday, March 9, 2011

10:45 AM – NOON

Mobile Apps & How They’re Revolutionizing Search Apple CEO Steve Jobs is famous for saying “…on the desktop search is where it’s at; that’s where the money is. But on a mobile device search hasn’t happened. Search is not where it’s at, people are not searching on a mobile device like they do on the desktop.” Oh really? There are currently more than 200,000 apps for the iPhone and 100,000 and growing for Google’s Android – and many are built around search.  This session looks at popular search apps on different devices, how they gather data and the new, away from the desktop opportunities they offer to marketers. Yahoo! Panelist: Anil Panguluri, Director, Yahoo! Mobile Search and Discovery  

5:00 PM – 6:15 PM

Searcher Behavior In A Multiplatform World Understanding searcher behavior is one of the central pillars of effective search marketing. And more than ever, it’s important to not just understand what people are searching for, but how they are searching — using a computer, television, mobile device — because this provides important clues as to why they are searching and may change the experience you offer to them. Recent results-enhancing searcher behavior research methods and their uses will be discussed in this session. Yahoo! Panelist: Taylor Schreiner, Senior Director, Strategic Research & Insights, Yahoo Search    

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The Yahoo! Search team is excited to release the technical specification for Yahoo! Search BOSS v2. We’ve been hard at work getting ready to launch a new version of BOSS (as we announced in October 2010) and last month we provided further details to help developers prepare for the transition.

The Yahoo! Search BOSS v2 API Guide can be found here. It includes:

 -          Information on using oAuth with the new API.

-          Syntax specification on querying the API and the format of the returned results.

-          Syntax for calling Ads from the platform (available to qualified developers).

-          Markets supported by the product.

Thank you for your continued support around the product. We look forward to bringing the new BOSS to you soon.

Rahul Hampole

Yahoo! Search BOSS Team

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Ever wondered if searches for topics such as “stock quotes” are made mostly by people from a high income bracket? Or whether it’s only young people who search for “miley cyrus”? Web search engines serve millions of people worldwide – yet, we know very little about who is searching for what, and how they are searching.  In a study, recently presented at the WSDM conference in Hong Kong, two Yahoo! research scientists paint a detailed picture of the data behind web search. 

Their study addresses the three dimensions of search: “who” is searching, “what” they are searching for, and “how” they are choosing to search. 

• The “who” dimension uses demographic properties, such as gender, age, income and education level to obtain anonymous, aggregate estimates, based on user-provided registration data, and by crossing user-provided zip codes with census data.  
•  For the “what” people are searching for, queries are mapped to Yahoo! directory topics and for each user a distribution across the various topics, such as Recreation/Sports or Entertainment/Music is obtained.  
• Features such as session length or number of queries per session are considered to give insights into “how” people use web search engines.

One key problem that is addressed in the research is that results in current search engines are typically optimized on a per-query basis, without taking into consideration who issued the query. So, in a sense, web search engines attempt to know everything about queries while knowing only very little about users. The analysis is only two dimensional. Looking at how the three dimensions (who, what, how) interact therefore becomes a focal part of this study.

The insights presented in the study are interesting from a sociological point of view and, ultimately help Yahoo! deliver more relevant, personalized content to its users.

Some of the aggregate data used in the study is accessible via Yahoo! Clues. 

To view the full study by Yahoo! scientists Alejandro Jaimes and Ingmar Weber and, please click here.

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ACCORDING TO YAHOO! SEARCH DATA, BLACK SWAN REIGNS SUPREME AND THE WEB IS BUZZING ABOUT CO-HOST ANNE HATHAWAY

The 83rd Annual Academy Awards are set to air on Sunday February 27th.  As the world prepares for Hollywood’s biggest night, Yahoo! looked at which films and actors are getting the most buzz online in the past 30 days.

According to Yahoo! search data, the web is excited about Hollywood’s big show:

• Searches for “when are the Oscars” are spiking on Yahoo!
• Searches on Yahoo! for “Oscars 2011” are up 1403%
• Oscar ballots are spiking on Yahoo! up 38%
• Searches for the award show are split between males and females
• States Searching for “Oscars” the most: California, Illinois, Texas, Washington and New Jersey
• Definitely for the older crowd: those under 24 only make up 16% of searches for “Oscars”

Black Swan Reigns Supreme: According to Yahoo! search data, the top searched nominated films are:

1. Black Swan
2. True Grit
3. 127 hours
4. The Kids Are Alright
5. Inception
6. The Fighter
7. Toy Story 3

According to Yahoo! search data, the top searched nominated actresses are:

1. Natalie Portman
2. Nicole Kidman
3. Jennifer Lawrence
4. Annette Bening

According to Yahoo! search data, the top searched nominated actors are:

1. Javier Bardem
2. James Franco
3. Colin Firth
4. Jeff Bridges

According to Yahoo! search data, the top searched Oscar hosts are:

1. Anne Hathaway
2. Ellen DeGeneres
3. James Franco
4. Alec Baldwin
5. Hugh Jackman
6. Whoopi Goldberg
7. Jon Stewart
8. Chris Rock
9. Steve Martin

Hostess with the Most –

• Yahoo! users searched for Oscar co-host Anne Hathaway more than all of the “Best Actress” nominees.

Can’t get enough of the Oscars? Check out Yahoo! Movies’ coverage complete with predictions, nominees, polls, photos and more: http://oscars.movies.yahoo.com/

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At Yahoo!, we are always striving to provide our users with answers and not the typical 10 blue links. We got the opportunity to do just that with one of the biggest sporting events in the world, the ICC Cricket World Cup played in India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.

 

We wanted to bring relevant information from Yahoo!’s popular Cricket property to your desktop with few simple queries. Yahoo! Search users can now see the following informative cricket and player information on search result page:

•  Live Scores – Simple queries such as “cricket live” or even “cricket” will provide updates on (up to two) live cricket matches. Users will be able to see which team is batting and scores of two batters who are currently playing.  In addition, we provide match results along with final scores for recently completed matches. 
•  Schedules – If you are looking for upcoming matches, we have got that covered for you. We can display up to three upcoming matches along with their starting time and day and the respective venue of the match. 
• Player Profile – Typically queries on players (ex: Shane Watson) might result in images, news articles or videos but during the course of major cricketing events, users might be more interested to know about player statistics.  Yahoo! Search users can get a quick glance of player (past or current) statistics in all forms of international game.

In addition to getting quick access to cricket scores and player profiles, you can also search for specific schedules or results of matches between countries of your choice. For example, you might want to know the only schedule for all matches played by West Indies or result of match between India and Bangladesh.

Our aim is to make Yahoo! Search experience cool and relevant for you, helping you get immediate answers to your queries. Stay tuned for more details when we roll out more experiences not only in Cricket but also in several other areas. And while you are checking cricket scores or player profiles, also visit Yahoo! Cricket site which happens to the official event website for the World cup.

 Please take a moment to let us know what you like and things you would like us to improve.

 Ramesh May

Yahoo!, International Search

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