In an attempt to boost its search-ad business, Yahoo has begun a project that lets anyone build a customized search engine atop the Internet company's technology.
(Credit: Yahoo)
The service, which enters public beta testing Wednesday night, is called BOSS (Build Your Own Search Service). With it, someone can build an independent Web site with a search box, pass users' queries to BOSS, process the results returned by Yahoo's search engines in any manner, and display the results.
Essentially, BOSS is a bid to enable others' search innovation then share profits from the results. It's also the most significant example to date of Yahoo Open Strategy, the company's effort to expose its own technology for outside developers in an effort to become a more indispensible part of the Internet.
The BOSS API (application programming interface) to Yahoo's search is free to use, but BOSS partners that succeed will be required to show search ads, said Prabhakar Raghavan, chief strategist for Yahoo Search.
"We fully expect it to expand the footprint of Yahoo search advertising on the Web," Raghavan said. "There is no payment of any kind we expect from partners, but we do say in the terms of service up front that over time we will require them as they build and grow out to use our search advertising."
One idea Yahoo showed for BOSS: show miniature versions of the Web pages returned by search results.
One idea Yahoo showed for BOSS: show miniature versions of the Web pages returned by search results.
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