Yesterday, Yahoo! announced the launch of Yahoo! Axis, a new internet experience, combining searching and browsing into one single seamless experience, promising to allow you to ‘rip through the web’.

Released as a plug-in for browsers, as well as an app for Apple’s iPhones and iPads, Axis provides the user with visual previews of sites, eliminating the need for a list of web links to scroll through.

Whilst visual-based web search platforms have been tried before, this is the first integrated browser designed specifically for mobile that seems to do a great job, and the focus on the mobile user experience is what could make this a success for the flailing search company.

The release of this platform is key for the search marketing industry, and the growth of Axis will be carefully monitored by many. Whilst the need for SEO will always continue, in the near future it could also be increasingly relevant to visually optimise your website, ensuring that the thumbnail of your site is highlighting exactly what users are searching for, whilst looking to drive traffic through to your site accepting users are taking just a glance at your page.

Yahoo! Axis is a great application. It’s fast, intuitive, and enables you to interact with search results, without leaving the page you’re on. Like Google Instant, answers begin to appear for common searches like weather of movie times, allowing you to see what you’re looking for without moving to a different website. Axis also allows you to continue your browsing experience on whatever device you are on, enabling you to continue on your iPad on the commute home, where you left off at the office.

Whist not monetised yet, expect ads to start appearing in the search results as the service picks up. In the meantime, check out axis.yahoo.com, or download the app from the iOS store, and let us know what you think!