By Charlene Li

Yahoo!’s new “Instant Search” product leverages its search short cuts (those little modules that appear above regular search results) that return anything from the local weather forecast to gas prices (type “[city] weather” and “gas [zip code]” in the query box, respectively). But rather than have to click on “search” button, short cut results will start showing up as you type.

This is similar to experience on snap.com’s home page – the search categories change as you type each letter. Snap.com also shows news stories on the side. Yahoo!’s version actually provides search results, and in the case where no short cuts are available, the top Web results.

The beta will be available at next.yahoo.com – as of when I posted this, the demo wasn’t available. But Yahoo! was able to provide me with a few early screenshots. It seems to be a very cool feature that users can add directly to their search.yahoo.com pages immediately if they like (I believe you have to be signed in for this to be the case).

Here’s the full press release – my favorite line: “Why feel lucky when you can be right?”, a reference to Google’s Feeling Lucky button.

Today Yahoo! launches Instant Search, an early beta feature that makes the search process faster by providing a way for users to get instant answers. As users type, Instant Search immediately displays the most relevant result for the most popular queries directly beneath the search box. In many cases instant facts and answers are provided in the form of Yahoo! Search Shortcut results and, when a shortcut is not available for a query, Instant Search supplies the top Yahoo! Search web result for the most common searches.  Users can immediately access answers by clicking a ‘CTRL Enter’ hotkey once results are displayed.

If a search for a popular web address is conducted, users immediately receive a link that matches what was typed and when a shortcut, search result, or URL is not available for a particular query, the Search the Web button is always at hand. With Instant Search, select misspellings are automatically detected and corrections are displayed right below the search box. 

Users can add Instant Search to their http://search.yahoo.com page, a simple search interface that can be customized with multiple features and products like My Web, Yahoo! Mail and Yahoo! News, to speed up common searches and further establish Yahoo! Search as the starting point to the Internet.

Why feel lucky when you can be right? Instant Search, available on http://next.yahoo.com, adds a bit of fun to web search, try the following examples or try your own searches:

- San Francisco Coffee Shops

- NFL

- 22 5^th Ave New York New York

- Britny Spears (misspelled on purpose)

- Boston Weather