Starting sometime in mid-July, Yahoo will hold raw search log file data, including IP addresses, cookies and search-related information, for up to 18 months. It currently retains such data for 90 days.

Yahoo's chief trust officer, Anne Toth, said in a that the change, announced on Friday, was designed to give consumers a more robust and personalized search experience while also bringing Yahoo into closer alignment with industry-wide data retention norms.

"We will hold raw search log files for 18 months and we will be closely examining what the right policy and time frame should be for other log file data," Toth wrote. "In announcing this change, we have gone back to the drawing board to ensure that our policies will support the innovative products we want to deliver for our consumers."

Toth's announcement marks an abrupt reversal of Yahoo's current data retention policy which it put in place in 2008. Under its current policy, Yahoo stores most log file data for just 90 days, though in some cases the company holds raw data for as long as six months for what it calls fraud and purposes, and to comply with legal requirements.

In contrast, stores search data for nine months, while retains it for six months.