You don’t like my search engine? I’ll pay you to use it! That’s what Yahoo! is willing to do. They will give different kind of rewards to their users if they use mainly Yahoo! Search Engine. They are currently polling their users about what kind of rewards they would like to get in exchange for using Google’s first competitor as their primary search engine.
In order to get these rewards, users will have to use a specific search box:
Users would have to log in or use a search box specifically designed for the program, like “a Yahoo rewards toolbar
An article in Cnet gives more information about it.
The rewards offered would be stuff such as unlimited mail storage, free Yahoo! Messenger Voice credit, or even flyer miles.
Personally, I think that’s one of the poorest decision they could come up with. I have to admit that their search results are far from being the most relevant. By forcing people to use their search engine more often, in a certain way, they force people to find irrelevant results, while they could get better information somewhere else.
I think that they should give out rewards to people who help them improve their search, rather than to ones who use it.
There are a lot of folks who might be willing to offer some seriously good suggestions and ideas out there.
Left by Bill on February 10th, 2006
Yes, that’s true. We can send them emails, or give them calls, but I’m not sure they will follow our suggestions. I think it will hard for them to accept that they need help from “small” people like us…
Left by Nadir on February 10th, 2006
Myabe, but maybe not. They spent millions of dollars last year buying some very small companies like Flickr and upcoming.org. So, I’d guess they’ve gotten past the notion that big ideas can’t come from small sources.
Left by Bill on February 10th, 2006
Good point. I’m sure they wouldn’t mind hiring a well known SEM consultant to get some advice on how to improve their search engine.
Left by Nadir on February 10th, 2006
Now that sounds like such a good idea that it probably wouldn’t happen.
Left by Bill on February 10th, 2006
I believe it is MSN that is making the search for pay offer, http://www.msnsearchandwin.com/
Left by Joe Banner on February 17th, 2006
Imnot sure if it can work. Maybe some short time. In every case its interesting idea and its good to try new ways. Only the system should be very dificult and not able work. Its only my idea.
Left by webproject, roman novak on June 13th, 2006
Yeah its MSN
Left by R on August 5th, 2006
I agree it’s not a great idea. The rewards aren’t even very appealing. Didn’t Google start off by paying websites a few cents per visit from their search box? Haven’t things changed!
Left by Someseoguy on January 11th, 2008
The idea was a failure as you can notice.
Left by Edwin on January 27th, 2009