Yahoo created a separate search platform for Search Direct, including its own index and algorithms.

The feature is similar to Google's Instant, although Yahoo officials on Wednesday said that theirs delivers more direct answers. Also, Google Instant doesn't respond necessarily to every keystroke and it repaints the entire search results page, whereas Search Direct responds to every character typed and its interface is more compact

Search Direct takes Yahoo further along the path of shifting the focus of its search services away from the conventional list of result links and toward providing direct answers, officials said.