Sunnyvale, California-based Web pioneer Yahoo has broadened a test of its so-called "Glue Pages" search  engine format that combines text, images and video information on a single results page, expanding a program first released in May to Yahoo users in India to include United States users, the company announced late Wednesday. Yahoo said that the test version of the Glue Pages program for U.S. users, available at glue.yahoo.com, had built on the success of the experimental visual search results display format in India with only slight modifications. With Glue Pages Yahoo Aims For More Than Web Links Glue Pages has expanded on the traditional search engine format with entries for certain popular search terms in broad categories including finance, technology, travel, sports and health, although Yahoo made clear that the initiative was separate from its main search engine offering. The new U.S. version of Yahoo Glue Pages displayed traditional text based search results along with a screen full of various modules presenting information from a variety of Web sources including Yahoo, Google, Wikipedia and others. The updated search test in the U.S. is a part of the Sunnyvale company's Yahoo Open Strategy plan announced in April. The ambitious initiative, known as Y!OS, aims to unify Yahoo's online services such as e-mail, photo and bookmark management, instant messaging and calendar planning, by allowing Yahoo's 500 million monthly visitors worldwide to use a single profile and control center. When Yahoo introduced Glue Pages in May, it appeared to be expanding on the type of so-called universal search that Google launched in May 2007, which saw the Mountain View, California-based firm blend content from images, maps, books, videos and news into its industry-leading search results. Earlier this year Ask.com also implemented expanded search engine results pages, or SERPs, a term coined by Brett Tabke, CEO of the WebmasterWorld Inc. online discussion forums. Google And Wikipedia Content Stuck Within Yahoo Glue Results Information shown on Glue Pages comes from third-party content providers and a number of Web sources besides Yahoo's traditional results, including the following:  | Yahoo Health | | | Yahoo Answers | | | Wikipedia | | | Flickr images | | | HowStuffWorks.com | | | Yahoo Groups | | | Yahoo News | | | Google Blog Search | | | YouTube | | | Quick Facts | | | MonsterTrak | | | WebMD | | | Yahoo Shopping | Yahoo heralded the Glue Pages search layout as a time saver when it was first tested in India. "In one click, browse through images, videos, articles, and more all on one page," Yahoo noted of Glue Pages, which also show links to other related Glue Pages. Yahoo Broadens Glue Pages Test To Include United States Users On Wednesday Yahoo Glue product manager Julie Demsey announced the U.S. version of the initiative in a message posted on the company's blog, and wrote that it would help Yahoo users by "assembling useful information from all over the Web, giving users a new place to discover and explore images, videos, articles and more." Yahoo said that the Glue Pages results are delivered in part by a search algorithm, however only a limited number of pages on general topics were available at launch time, with more expected to be added over time. "Pages are built using an algorithm that automatically places the most relevant modules on a page, giving you a visually rich, diverse page all about the topic in which you're interested," noted Demsey. By giving users a "more visual way to browse and discover new things from across the Web," as Demsey noted Wednesday, Yahoo hopes to augment its traditional search results. Related Links :
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