This morning, it looks like Yahoo! updated the Yahoo! Search home page; adding news items, stock information, mail notification, and even a small text advertisement at the top. I hear that they did this in order to differentiate themselves from the competitors; i.e. Google and MSN. The text ad at the top, seems a bit shady from a search engines perspective, wonder how much it costs to buy a static link? :)
Here is the portion they added under the search box. It seems useful. I like it. Currently, My Yahoo! is my home page, otherwise, I can see myself switching to Yahoo! Search simply for this change. Seriously, I am interested in checking out the latest news before I do a search.
Next you will see a screen capture of the small text ad at the top right portion of the Yahoo! Search index page. It caught my eye, so a subtle, small, little ad can work. Its the opposite of an 'in your face' ad, maybe that can be a new strategy. Tiny little ads, that are barely visible. :)
Forum Coverage at Search Engine Watch.
