Yahoo has just received the U.S. patent for something called “Method and apparatus for search ranking human input and automated ranking.” Yahoo applied for this patent in 2002 and has finally received the ownership of the said concept.What does it mean for you?
It mean, if implemented, it will calculate search rankings on Yahoo Search based on a combination of automated search algorithms and human editor input – hence better search results, presumably.
So if you’re an SEO worker and you’ve successfully work on a particular site to make it rank higher on a particular search query based on Yahoo’s search algorithms, your site might not actually appear on the first page of the Yahoo SERPs if the human editors found it not so relevant to the search query at all. Of course this will be based on your site content.
What does it mean for Google?
It might mean a complete change in game for Google in search.
1. Yahoo will/might market it effectively as a great improvement in search results and hence taking a dig at Google's #1 position in search.
2. One of the main reasons of Google search results having a higher relevancy is the human editing of search rankings. It was a great process so far for Google. But now it means an infringement of a patent obtained by Yahoo and Yahoo can very well sue Google for this. This is again going to be a big blow for Google and could be a potential source of revenue for Yahoo from Google and other websites; websites which are willing to pay Yahoo to use the Human editing techniques of search ranking.
Yahoo if you are listening
Forget the new Y!ou marketing blitz. If you want some real attention, sue Google for patent infringement–that will earn you plenty of publicity and possibly a boatload of cash too (not from MS but from GOOG this time)
