If you've always wanted to build a search engine, but didn't have the resources to index the entire web and compete with the likes of Google, Yahoo! and Microsoft, now's your chance. Yahoo! is opening up its search service, allowing anyone to build a search engine based on Yahoo! technology. Yahoo! has offered a search API for a while, but the new Build Your Own Search Service or BOSS program is different in a few key ways:
- You can re-rank search results and blend them into other content on a web page.
- There are no limits on the number of queries per day
- There's no requirement to include Yahoo! branding
- BOSS search results can be mashed up with results from other data sources
Yahoo! is offering access to its web, news, and image search engines. More areas, such as video may be coming soon. Eventually Yahoo! will be rolling out a monetization plan that will allow BOSS partners to include ads on their sites and presumably split the revenue with Yahoo!
The company has announced several launch partners, including
Hakia,
Me.dium,
Daylife To-Go, and
Cluuz.
Will the move help put Yahoo! on more computer screens than industry giant Google? It's hard to say. Google offers the ability to create search engine options, but they're not nearly as open or flexible as BOSS.
