Question-and-answer community integrated into main search results

Yahoo aims to improve its general search by adding information from its Yahoo Answers service into the list of results.

The Yahoo Answers online community, where people ask and answer questions on any topic, has racked up 10 million questions since it was launched in December 2005.

"The integration of Yahoo Answers with web search demonstrates the vision to enrich people's lives by enabling them to find, use, share and expand all human knowledge," said Eckart Walther, vice president of products at Yahoo Search.

"Yahoo is providing a better search experience by making it easier for people to tap into the collective knowledge of others online for everyday questions."

The community aspect of Yahoo Answers rewards users for their participation and posting of relevant answers with a system of points and levels.

Users can build a reputation as a trusted source of information and the more points they have, the more they can ask, answer, vote and rate.

Yahoo Answers is available in Australia, Canada, India, the UK and the US. Services in Spain, Germany and France will be added soon, according to Yahoo.