We have been noticing reports from several sources of a Yahoo Search index and algorithm update. It is important to note that Yahoo has not yet posted their “weather report” at the Yahoo Search Blog yet.

However Aaron Wall, Loren Baker and several forums have noticed major changes at Yahoo Search.

Aaron noticed two main things:

(1) What Aaron calls a “botch up” in how Yahoo handles sitewide 301 redirects. (2) Yahoo seems to be giving more weight to the words in a domain name.

These are very early reports. Feel free to share your thoughts by Sphinning this article below!

Postscript: It is now official, the Yahoo Blog posted the weather update explaining that this is the first major Yahoo Search update since implementing the Dynamic URL Rewriting Tool. This may explain why Aaron has seen changes to sitewide 301 redirects.

This is the first update after the launch of Dynamic URL Rewriting in Site Explorer. We’ve had millions of URLs rewritten based on your submissions and your sites should have seen smarter crawling from Yahoo! Slurp as a result. You will see further benefits in how your site is represented in the index from this update. Your input improves relevance and coverage for users in search results, particularly in relation to your site.

IBM and Yahoo double team Google from Reuters covers how IBM and Yahoo are to offer free enterprise search to businesses. The story talks about this as a challenge to Google and others, but Google remains itself very much a challenger in the enterprise search space (see here and here). Google’s enterprise search solutions cost money, unusual for most Google products. A free IBM-Yahoo product should put pressure there, assuming the free version. I’ll update with more information from IBM and Yahoo when released.

Postscript: You can find the software, IBM OmniFind Yahoo! Edition, here. Press release is below:

IBM and Yahoo! Unveil Free Enterprise Search Software

New Solution Helps Organizations Find, Access and Use Information on Demand

ARMONK, New York and SUNNYVALE, Calif., December 13, 2006 – IBM (NYSE: IBM) and Yahoo! Inc. (NASDQ: YHOO) today introduced new, free enterprise search software with Web search services powered by Yahoo! that enables departments and businesses of all sizes to quickly and easily find, access and capitalize on information stored within organizations and across the Web.

IBM OmniFind Yahoo! Edition is a no-cost, entry level enterprise search product developed to help eliminate financial and technology barriers to intranet and Web search. Unlike other enterprise search solutions that can cost thousands of dollars to purchase and implement, the new offering from IBM with Web search services powered by Yahoo! can be downloaded for free and is simple to install and use with existing hardware.

“Together, IBM and Yahoo! are delivering on the promise of making information easier to find, use and share while providing a better search experience for users,

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