Yahoo wants a piece of your mind

It’s rare that I look at a product and say out loud, “this is cool.” But Yahoo! Mindset is actually very cool. Being of the research mindset most of the time, I hate getting back SERPs full of stores trying to sell me something when what I want is information. Of course, those times when I am looking to buy, I want the search engines to give me stores without having to use a special search. Yes, I also expect the sun to rise and set when it’s convenient for me, why do you ask?

Yahoo! Mindset is like a gift. Unlike MSN’s hidden and somewhat confusing three slider system, it’s a single simple slider that moves between shopping on one side and research on the other. The Yahoo Search blog warns that it’s just a work in progress but even at first glance, this is awesome. My first search for “Superman” brought up a mix of history and movie news. Sliding it toward shopping offered me collectors galore, moving it back the other way pushed the Wikipedia entry up and at the extreme, offered several articles on Christopher Reeve.

Considering the statistics that say anywhere from 75% to 90% of people doing searches are researchers this is a very neat innovation. Kudos to Yahoo. The full breakdown of how it works can be found on the Mindset FAQ.

Susan Esparza is former managing editor at Bruce Clay Inc., and has written extensively for clients and internal publications. Along with Bruce Clay, she is co-author of the first edition of Search Engine Optimization All-in-One Desk Reference For Dummies.

See Susan's author page for links to connect on social media.