User-Centered Design - Kelikuru.com

Finally!! Google releases a starter guide for Search Engine Optimization. The guide document essentially encourages us to make small modifications to parts of our website. When things add up, these small changes will have profound impact on site’s user experience and performance in organic search results.

Of these 22-page document, Googles has dedicated 3 full pages to cover navigation - How to make your site easier to navigate. The best practices for site navigation can be summed up:

• Information Hierachy is recommended to be user-centric 
• Text navigation works better than Flash or Javascript approach
• Use of “breadcrumb” navigation
• Set up an HTML sitemap pages on your site and use an XML sitemap file
• Consider what happens when a user removes part of your URL
• Have a useful 404 page

In my last posts about “SEO starter - Three basic ways to aid search rankings“  and “SEO starter: Good usability means good search engine optimization“, TG also touched on a few things about site navigation. 

The full document can be downloaded via the Official Google Webmaster Central Blog.

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written by admin \\ tags: Google, Keywords, navigation, Search, SEO, Yahoo

Ten days after TG has come up a post for Yahoo’s CEO Jerry Yang - Would Yahoo Jerry Yang be 007?, a friend of mine called and said Yahoo started head hunting a new CEO.  Bowed to the pressing demand from shareholders, Jerry, co-Founder of Yahoo!, has decided to return to his former role as Chief Yahoo!   

photo couresty of www.businessweek.com

The press release:

Yahoo! Conducting Search for New CEO
Co-Founder Jerry Yang to Step Down Following Appointment of New CEO and Return to Former Role as Chief Yahoo! and Board Member

“From founding this company to guiding its growth into a trusted global brand that is indispensible to millions of people, I have always sought to do what is best for our franchise,” said Jerry Yang. “When the Board asked me to become CEO and lead the transformation of the Company, I did so because it was important to re-envision the business for a different era to drive more effective growth. Having set Yahoo! on a new, more open path, the time is right for me to transition the CEO role and our global talent to a new leader. I will continue to focus on global strategy and to do everything I can to help Yahoo! realize its full potential and enhance its leading culture of technology and product excellence and innovation.”

SUNNYVALE, Calif., Nov 17, 2008 (BUSINESS WIRE) –

“Over the past year and a half, despite extraordinary challenges and distractions, Jerry Yang has led the repositioning of Yahoo! on an open platform model as well as the improved alignment of costs and revenues,” said Roy Bostock. “Jerry and the Board have had an ongoing dialogue about succession timing, and we all agree that now is the right time to make the transition to a new CEO who can take the company to the next level. We are deeply grateful to Jerry for his many contributions as CEO over the past 18 months, and we are pleased that he plans to stay actively involved at Yahoo! as a key executive and member of the Board.”

Yahoo! Inc. (Nasdaq:YHOO) today announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a search for a new Chief Executive Officer. Jerry Yang, co-Founder of Yahoo!, has decided to return to his former role as Chief Yahoo! upon the appointment of his successor as CEO, and he will also continue to serve on the Board. Yang, 40, assumed the CEO role at the Board’s request in June 2007, and he has led Yahoo! through a strategic repositioning and transformation of its platform.

Chairman Roy Bostock, working with the independent directors and in consultation with Jerry Yang, is leading the process of assessing potential candidates and determining finalists for consideration. The search will encompass both internal and external candidates, and the Board has retained Heidrick & Struggles, a leading international executive search firm, to assist in the process.

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written by admin \\ tags: Jerry Yang, Yahoo

Two days ago, TG found a new Yahoo home page with url - http://m.www.yahoo.com/ .  After asking around, TG was told Yahoo has launched a test randomly.

The new home page revamp may come just as the right time, injecting a new source of energy to the troubled internet giant. Yahoo has rough days over the past 12 months and many staff left the company, a new ”front door” may bring good feng shui (風水) back to the company. Just for kidding!!

“We are going to put what matters to you most at your fingertips,” said Tapan Bhat, the senior vice president in charge of “front doors” — the main destinations at Yahoo, including Yahoo.com, MyYahoo and the Yahoo toolbar.

The new Yahoo home page features a tab on the left hand column of the page with sophisticated links to the user’s 10 or 20 favorite sites. It functions as an alternative to navigation methods like bookmarks, link bars or browser tabs, he said.

 At the center of the new homepage is its Content Optimization Knowledge Engine, a personalization technology that can determine what the most engaging content may be to a specific user, then serve it up based on their prior surfing habits.  Users can tie their knots to relevant ads, the COKE will deliver relevant ads according to their particular interests.

Yahoo has invited a random sample of its users amounting to less than 1 percent of audience to test the makeover of the new Yahoo homepage. The tests will be conducted in Britain, France, India and the United States. 

TG kept the current home page - Hong Kong channel before it’s gone. 

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written by TG \\ tags: User Experience Design, Yahoo

In a recent post titled Straight From the Source from Yahoo Search Marketing blog,  Yahoo CEO Jerry Yang and his team reassembled a mini site to describe Yahoo-Google Search agreement in greater details.

This non-exclusive agreement between Yahoo! as a publisher and Google as a supplier of ads gives Yahoo! the option to show Google ads in addition to or in place of its own sponsored search ads. The deal empowers Yahoo! to publish Google ads, with sole authority to make its own determination of whether to show ads sourced from Yahoo!’s marketplace, ads sourced from Google’s marketplace, a combination of the two and/or ads sourced from any other marketplace.

TG is interested in seeing the impact on Yahoo’s search result pages (SERPs) with Jerry giving his nod to opening up a doorway to rival Google. The mini site provides a simple snapshot for reference.

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written by TG \\ tags: Google, Microsoft, Search, Yahoo

Yahoo China have a face-lift today!!

Yahoo China, which is owned by Alibaba group, dressed up like a classical China portal with more focus on content aggregation. The home page is now packed with text, It took TG a surprise when TG accessed the site with a colleague sitting adjacent. We both thought that we went to the wrong site!

Yahoo China’s new look is taking Sina.com approach and they start looking similar. As far as TG remember, Yahoo China has done the same thing before and have shifted back to Yahoo International website a year ago.

The abrupt change — so far TG has heard no announcement, may leave us to believe that the international website looks and feels is not doing very well in China, causing the company to revert back to its China approach.

Yahoo China home page

Sina China home page

written by TG \\ tags: Alibaba, China Internet, Sina, Yahoo

If not one of the most innovative designer, Yahoo should earn herself a good reputation of having great passion for trying out new user interface.

Briefly browsing its search boxes on different key channels - home page, news, sports, travel, Shine, entertainment, TG noticed that each has its own style and looks and feels.

The search box on the home page is the most remarkable and worthy of note.

• Visually appealing as it is center aligned. Spacious and clean looks and feels
• Given that it offers vertical search to cater for users’ imminent needs - web, images, video, local, shopping and more, Yahoo changes the search button labels to match with users’ click on the links, discernible enough for users to know what they are looking for
• The search box will break into separate fields when required

Yahoo Home Page

Yahoo News

Yahoo Shine

Yahoo Sports

 Yahoo Travel

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written by TG \\ tags: Search, User Experience Design, Yahoo