Yahoo! Lets You “Build Your Own Search Service”

Yahoo! has unveiled the latest phase in providing search-related resources to developers.

From the Yahoo! blog:

So what is BOSS?
BOSS is a new, open platform that offers programmatic access to the entire Yahoo! Search index via an API. BOSS allows developers to take advantage of Yahoo!’s production search infrastructure and technology, combine that with their own unique assets, and create their own search experiences. While search APIs have been available for some time, BOSS removes many of the usage restrictions that have prevented other companies from using them to build innovative new search engines.

How do I make money with this?

BOSS isn’t launching with ads, and developers can monetize any way they want for now, Yahoo! does plan to require Yahoo! ads be displayed beside the search results at some point. Yahoo! said, “BOSS monetization capability, using Yahoo! search advertising and potentially other models, will be made available for partners and developers to create a search revenue stream for their business.”

However, like many other Yahoo! projects, I don’t expect this to take off or become a huge hit. The company should know by now that Google rules all — I’m just sayin’. Be realistic, guys.

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