Nothing validates leadership than having your competitors try to become more like you, and that's what I think is happening with Yahoo Search. Here's the content of a memo just sent out to advertisers promising a significant redesign of Yahoo Search to, I'm guessing, more closely resemble Google:

Subject: New look for Yahoo! Search Results, More Clicks for You

Dear Advertiser,

A new look is coming to the Yahoo! search results pages that will translate into more clicks for your listings. On January 18th, Yahoo! will debut a streamlined design that will make the search results displayed on Yahoo! even easier for consumers to read. Our research has shown that by improving the search experience in this way, advertisers can generally expect to see an increase in clicks, while maintaining their conversion rates.

How this change impacts your listings...

* Yahoo! will display shorter descriptions for Sponsored Search listings

* You don't have to make any changes to your listings; they'll be automatically shortened for you when displayed on Yahoo!

* If you'd like to optimize your listings for Yahoo!, begin your description with one short sentence that includes your keyword and focuses on your most important information in the first 70 characters

* Over time, we will fine tune the exact character count that we believe works best for advertisers and search users

* Most of our partners, including MSN, CNN, ESPN and Infospace, will still display longer descriptions for your Sponsored Search listings, though the exact length may vary from partner to partner

Yahoo! is taking this step to improve the search experience for its users. By continuously focusing on delivering highly relevant search results in a user-friendly format, Yahoo! also gives you the best possible platform for reaching customers interested in what your business provides.

Sincerely,

Your Partners at Yahoo! Search Marketing