Soon you will see videos, images, and other new rich media elements added to the pay-per-click advertisements on Yahoo search engine. The new rich media search ads will definitely help pepping up the struggling Internet giant in its competition against Google.

Yahoo, on Thursday, introduced and integrated the new rich media search ads, officially dubbed as “Rich Ads in Search,” to its search engine’s paid search advertisements, which typically show only text and links. According to Yahoo, Rich Ads in Search blend the branding of banner advertisements with the performance-based nature of search.

In a statement, Yahoo spokeswoman Kristen Morquecho said that “the company was essaying the “rich ads for search” since the 4th quarter, and it has now has unfolded the invitation-only program to more people. Later this year, the company is planning to integrate the “rich ads” with its Panama search-ad technology that will make the technology a self-service operation that won't require Yahoo ad sales personnel to manually set up the ads”.

Commenting on Yahoo’s “Rich Ads in Search” the chief executive of digital marketing agency Sharpe Partners, Kathy Sharpe said, “Yahoo's new ads could give the company a chance to regain some of the ground it has lost to Google in recent years. The new ads should enable Yahoo to take advantage of its sales force and leverage its background in display advertising.”

"What this says is: 'We're alive - and we're figuring it out. As long as they don't overprice it, they could now be a legitimate force in search," Sharpe added.

‘Rich Ads in Search’ are significant because they have come at the time when Yahoo is struggling to regain the ground that it lost to Google in Web advertising, the industry in which it was onetime leader.