Yahoo plans "radical" homepage overhaul

 

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By Reuters

Posted on 21 Jul 2009 at 08:48

Yahoo is planning a major overhaul of its homepage, as the company strives to make itself more relevant to casual surfers.

The new homepage blends Yahoo's collection of online content and products with popular social-networking services such as Facebook and Twitter, representing what a Yahoo official called the most "radical" make-over of the site since its inception more than a decade ago.

"It's a sea change in the way we think about products, the way we think about users, and the way we think about our business," says Yahoo senior vice president of Integrated Consumer Experience Tapan Bhat.

Yahoo's homepage is one of the most visited pages on the web, and among the most valuable of Yahoo assets. The homepage had more than 100 US million unique visitors a month in June, according to comScore, and 330 million worldwide in May.

The new Yahoo homepage is less cluttered than the existing version, showcasing fewer of Yahoo's products and services. A column that runs down the left hand of the page allowing users to swap-in various "apps" that preview content from third-party websites, as well as Yahoo sites, when a user rolls a cursor over them.

Yahoo will sell display ads that run alongside the app previews.

According to Yahoo's Bhat, the new homepage will be available over the coming weeks as a beta product that users can opt-in to receive.