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The new Yahoo contextual search feature [dubbed Y!Q] rocks! It's like vivisimo without all the annoying crap getting in the way of your search and there's no flash to bog down your pc. Clean and simple interface that doesn't require any downloads and allows you to drill down into search results in an easy to use manner.

How Good Is Yahoo's Contextual Search Utility?
Is Yahoo's new contextual search utility effective? Do you have a use for tool like this? Discuss at WebProWorld.

Yahoo Y!Q Enhancement Requests
One feature request I'd like to see is the ability to uncheck multiple "related searches" at the same time so I can save time. I would rather uncheck all the ones I don't want and then hit 'search again' rather than wait for the page to refresh each time I uncheck a box. Other than that it's pretty sweet.

Will I Switch From Google To Y!Q?
Perhaps... seriously. It's that good. I think Google needs to implement something similar in short order. I don't care what spin they put on it so it doesn't look like they're copying Yahoo but they better do something soon because this Yahoo feature has the ability to convert Google's loyal followers like the Pied Piper!

Also, I think it's funny that Yahoo's taking a page out of Google's branding book by releasing an app that's in beta to the public. We're seeing more and more of this these days and I think it's good as long as it's not on mission critical applications. It's just funny though because Google's following Yahoo's business development plan like they're kissing cousins. I think I'll follow that statement up with a more in-depth explanation in a later post.

Minor Branding Annoyance
I would like to see something different than Y!Q as the name of this feature. Call it YQ or something that doesn't have a special character "!" in it. Makes it confusing to say and loses the immediate pop of someone glancing at it and immediately understanding the inherent message. I think someone in development tried to do the Yahoo marketing department's job on this one or something.

Learn more about Y!Q.

Jason Dowdell is a technology entrepreneur and operates the Marketing Shift blog.