Yahoo & Google top across categories in the Fifth annual search engine watch awards. No surprises here - as we covered earlier, Yahoo is making a remarkable comeback. The awards committed had this to say about Yahoo and Google:
- Yahoo worked hard in 2004 to improve search, not just web search but also to improve its "vertical" or specialty search offerings as well. The hard work has paid off with it being recognized as the winner in this category. It gained only 17 percent of the 706 valid votes cast in this category. Nevertheless, the achievements it has made warranted overriding the popular vote. Last year saw Yahoo roll out its own web search technology that our gut feeling says is on parity with Google. The fact that Yahoo hasn't lost tons of users despite switching away from using Google's results backs up our feeling. The relevancy is clearly satisfying millions.Beyond web search, Yahoo has an impressive range of vertical search services. Yahoo Local was added last year, came out of beta quickly and has become a useful resource. Yahoo Images expanded its coverage. Yahoo Shopping gained new features. Yahoo News has always been a great resource and continued to be a solid performer.
While Google took second place in this year's awards, it's a top choice that anyone should consider, especially now that Google Images has been updated. If it stays on track, past four-time winner Google may be a winner again in this category next year. Interesting search engine race is evenly poised - as expected MSN did not do well in most of the categories!.
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