Yahoo, Google rejigger search for Olympics
Searching for Olympics-related information at Yahoo will present results, schedules, and other information directly on the search results page.
- Shankland covered the tech industry for more than 25 years and was a science writer for five years before that. He has deep expertise in microprocessors, digital photography, computer hardware and software, internet standards, web technology, and more.
The Olympics are a media feeding frenzy, as everyone tries to capitalize on the huge audience for the global sporting event, and now Yahoo is trying to get in the action.
The Internet pioneer said on its Search blog on Tuesday that it's launched a number of shortcuts to present Olympics-related information through Yahoo's search engine. The shortcuts package up information such as the overall medal count, a country's specific medal count, and information for individual athletes.
The customized results present content including video on the search results, blurring the lines between an Internet portal and a search engine. The results also include a link that can take users to various related Yahoo Sports Olympics coverage pages, which at least at present feature a lot of advertisements by Visa.
Google also is getting business out of the Olympics because NBC Universal is using its DoubleClick ad delivery technology for online video of the Olympics. Microsoft, too, has a stake: its Silverlight technology could get a big boost in adoption because NBC's video player is built using the software.
Update 4:17 p.m.: Search Engine Land found Google is doing the same thing as Yahoo with specialized Olympics search results.
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