Google Users Want Yahoo Even More Than Sex?
from the is-it-that-hard-to-find-yahoo? dept
Recently Google launched their fun Google trends tool, that lets you compare just how popular different search terms are over time. For a few days people posted fun comparison graphs online, and then plenty of people forgot about it. However, someone over at Network World kept playing and noticed something odd. An awful lot of people seem to be searching Google for "Yahoo." In fact, Yahoo is such a popular search term on Google that it even beats sex (not always, but the two are pretty close, with Yahoo taking the lead recently). There are a few things that could contribute to this. The trends tool doesn't take into account the full search, but if the word was used, it's included. So anyone who mentions "yahoo" in a search is counted, even if it's for something like "Yahoo Finance." Either way, though, the results do seem a bit strange, so we'll join Network World's Paul McNamara in asking if someone can explain why so many people are searching on Google for Yahoo?Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
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Jumping Out There
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Can't find www.yahoo.com?
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Yahoo...
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Location, Location, Location...
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Ya-who?
Msn and aol users have similar issues.
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Re: Ya-who?
So say someone has yahoo email that they want to get to, and google is their default search engine.
they will just search for yahoo rather than use the address bar or a bookmark.
Even my boss searches for urls instead of typing them in. Of course I get called into his office any time the site he is looking for doesnt come up in a search and I have to once again try to explain the different between an address bar and a search box.
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Hi, 411
I know what Anonymous Coward is saying though. I know far to many people that type the website they're looking for into the search engine, instead of straight into the address bar. Seems the simple like web browser is still too complicated for some people.
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Re: Hi, 411
- People boot up their web browser.
- Homepage set to Google by default, cursor loads in page search field.
- They type in a URL without looking where they're typing, and are surprised to discover they've typed in a whole URL (Yahoo or otherwise) in the keyword field of Google instead of the address bar of their browser.
Not quite idiocy, but the result of hunt & peck typing...
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Re: Hi, 411
The reason is the number of spoofed web sites and 'inappropriate' web sites that have addresses that are common misspellings/mistypings of popular web sites. Using a search engine (Google) nearly eliminates the possibility of running into spoof sites, or getting into trouble at work by hitting an 'inappropriate' site.
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Evolution of internet usage
It is interesting to consider if this is indicative of the ever increasing divide between the end usage of the internet and the technological underpinnings. Just as text based domains were layered over numerical ip addresses to improve usability, these trends may represent search engines eclipsing static addressing as the predominant means of navigating the internet.
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Re: Evolution of internet usage
It merely performs an "I'm feeling lucky" search against google for whatever you type in. I lean on this crutch quite a bit.
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Re: googling for google
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Re: Re: googling for google
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Google for Google
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They are searching for a person,'Modus Yahoo', aka
People are searching for a new musician whos name they have heard pronounced "Modus Yahoo", but it is correctly spelled Matisyahu.
He is a hasidic reggae act who is catching on.
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Re: They are searching for a person,'Modus Yahoo',
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Re: They are searching for a person,'Modus Yahoo',
You are an idiot. That is not an explanation, it is the assinine assumption of a 6 year old. BTW its pronounced "Mah-tis", not Modus.
What did that accomplish? You grammar trolls are all over the net, CONSTANTLY WHINING. It never gets any better. How long do you spend reading your sentences?
Learn to speed read, and think alot faster. Petty mistakes will bother you alot less, and you will start to realize it is WHAT people are saying, not how they are spelling it, that is so stupid.
Finally, typing yahoo (or almost any other URL) into a search bar then clicking on the top link, is 1 step too many. Type yahoo into your address bar, you don't have to waste ALL the energy to type ".com", just hit enter. Ouila! Yahoo. Unless, your browser sucks and you recieve search results (which, I think, almost never happens anymore).
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why should sex be on the top
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Re: why should sex be on the top
Because it's like going in to Burger King and asking for directions to McDonald's. If this is correct, it means even people using Google would rather be using Yahoo.
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Re: why should sex be on the top
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reason for googling for yahoo
Not a big issue at home but if you are going to yahoo mail from your work PC regularly you probably dont want yahoo to come up as your last entered address.
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Googling for Yahoo
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Re: Googling for Yahoo
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I personally do this all the time, because it's often quicker for me to ask google via the firefox search box than to type www.yahoo.com into the url bar, even if I do have to move the mouse.
I do this with a lot of urls, and it's almost a habbit of mine now. Often you can't remember if it's a .com .org .net .co.uk, some sites will require a www. subdomain others wont. Hence applying the heuristic ask google and click the first link is IMHO quite efficient given current browser interfaces.
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Re: because it's often quicker for me ...
If you just type in 'yahoo' (or any other domain name) into the address bar, and then press ‘Ctrl’ and ‘Enter’, it will put the ‘http://www.’ in front and the ‘.com’ after.
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Meaning of Yahoo.
If I'm not mistaken a Yahoo is someone disreputable- a scamp, tricky, mischievious and circumvents the laws.
Maybe people are just trying to look for yahoo's they can hire to sabotage their neighbours flower gardens- pulling up the Shasta Daisy's and planting Ox-eye daisy's instead.
Just a thought.
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Netscape Navigator even has a "Personal toolbar" where bookmarks are on a toolbar just under the address bar. Again, one click and you're there. This idea is great for those Grandmas...if only they could figure out how to add a bookmark......
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Here is the search term they are using
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Google is the Way
"Because it's like going in to Burger King and asking for directions to McDonald's. If this is correct, it means even people using Google would rather be using Yahoo."
I think this is a false analogy. Google is the ad facto default of the internet...to many users, it's more the platform than the browsers are. Google simply hears just about everything people ask about, and it turns out a lot of people are just trying to get to the services offered by yahoo (probably chat and mail mostly). Don't lose sight of the fact that they're using google as the tool to get there...
Perhaps a better analogy is this is like a library noticing which books are popular. Yahoo is just a destination on the web; google is the way there.
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THer better finance
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The better finance
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Why Yahoo is searched the most often...
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My bad, let me repost that...
Now, granted, Alexa only collects information from IE browsers that users have to MANUALLY install and therefore may be biased against non IE Google users, so, cite this at your own risk.
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As of April 27, 2006, the top English language web sites in terms of traffic ranking as listed by Alexa were:
Yahoo
Google
MSN
eBay
MySpace
Passport.net
Amazon
Microsoft Corporation
Google in the United Kingdom
Blogger
BBC Online
source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_traffic
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Re: My bad, let me repost that...
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Though I assume this person meant de facto, I can attest to the fact that (besides being the standard) it is (to some users) more the platform than their browsers are. I've seen a user open their browser (which went to Google automatically) and then enter a known URL into the Google search field, and then click the link to that URL in the results. They could have just typed the URL into the browser's address field, but they first went to Google for some reason. They were apparently so used to doing EVERYTHING through Google that they didn't even think to go directly to the web site, or maybe even didn't know that they could, or didn't know how.
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I have Googled Yahoo
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I have googled Google
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I do it all the time.
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Yahoo is DIFFERENT than Google
Lets face it, Google's whole M.O. is to be an awesome search engine that doesn't force its own content down your throat.
Yahoo's M.O. is to be an OK search engine and provide access to all their content off their homepage.
I mean, exposure wise, more people are going to find Yahoo Groups, Yahoo Maps, Yahoo mail, Yahoo personals, Yahoo finance, Yahoo HotJobs, etc etc etc because its in their line of site the minute they get to Yahoo to search for something.
At Google.com, well, you're only going to find those features if you look for them. More clicks to get to content= more time wasted=less interest.
Google is a great company with great services that are far superior to their competitors. However, I'm sticking with Yahoo because their services work well enough and I can find them quicker.
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Personally, I
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reverse the order...
"sex, yahoo" returns MANY, MANY more results for sex than yahoo.
Google Trends does not accurately report search query data.
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from dictionary.com:
yahoo
n 1: not very intelligent or interested in culture [syn: yokel, rube, hick, hayseed, bumpkin, chawbacon] 2: one of a race of brutes resembling men but subject to the Houyhnhnms in a novel by Jonathan Swift [syn: Yahoo]
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US Doesn't Search for Yahoo
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spelnig
then != than
site != sight
audiance != audience
daisy's != daisies
Oh, what's the use.
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Yahoo/Sex
I'd like to see results for a specific yahoo offering like 'yahoo mail' or 'yahoo finance' compared to a 'sex' search term like 'girls gone wild' for a more accurate picture.
Please someone jump on this, because I'm at work and dying to know the results.
~That One Guy
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It's the interface
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Personally I would guess that sex isn't really that popular a search term. People searching for porn would use PORN not sex. The word sex is more... academic.. people would probably use sex as a search term when they are looking for information about sex. Which I doubt happens very often..
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Just a way to get places
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shortcut keys for the
type-> yahoo then press Ctrl + Enter key
and you will autofill your address bar with
http://www.yaho.com
use Shift+Enter and you will get a .net address
use Ctril+Shift+Enter and you can get .org address
This will also test if you have a real web browser. If it doesnt work use control panels add/remove wizard to help you.
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shortcut keys for the
type-> yahoo then press Ctrl + Enter key
and you will autofill your address bar with
http://www.yaho.com
use Shift+Enter and you will get a .net address
use Ctril+Shift+Enter and you can get .org address
This will also test if you have a real web browser. If it doesnt work use control panels add/remove wizard to help you.
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address bar hijacked
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yahoo and Google going the way of the dinosaur !!!
SMARTASS.COM is coming !!!!!
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