WebProNews » SearchMonkey

Yahoo: BOSS in, SearchMonkey Out

Chris Crum — Tue, 17 Aug 2010 18:55:11 +0000

Yahoo and Microsoft announced the beginning of the transition of organic search results today, but since the original announcement of the deal, it has been unclear what would happen to the Yahoo Search BOSS and SearchMonkey tools. That is because Yahoo had yet to make up its mind.

Yahoo’s mind has now been made up. BOSS will carry on, and SearchMonkey won’t.

"In the not too distant future, BOSS will provide web and image search results from Microsoft along with other search-related services and content from Yahoo!, such as news," says Neal Sample, VP of Social, Open, & Publishing Platforms at Yahoo. "In the next 30 days, we will announce the specific details about how BOSS will evolve. We are exploring a potential fee-based structure as well as ad-revenue models that will enable BOSS developers to monetize their offerings. When we roll out these changes, BOSS will no longer be a free service to developers."

SearchMonkey will shut down on October 1. That oges for the tool, the gallery, and the app preferences. "Yahoo! Search is continuing to shift from a model where developers build lightweight apps to install on Yahoo! to one where publishers enhance their own site markup to produce similar results," says Sample. "Yahoo! Search results pages will continue to show enhanced result templates from websites’ page markup and structured data feeds along with Microsoft’s organic listings."

Sample also provides updates on various other Yahoo Developer tools here. He discusses the future of YQL, Site Explorer, Maps, Geo, and Local APIs, and MyBlogLog.

Yahoo Steps Up SearchMonkey Rollout

Doug Caverly — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 19:56:54 +0000

More of the goodies Yahoo and different developers have been working on as part of the SearchMonkey effort are becoming available to normal searchers and site owners today. The upgrades cover a very wide swath of categories, too.

A Yahoo representative wrote in an email to WebProNews, "Yahoo! Search is automatically turning on a number of new types of SearchMonkey enhanced results – for product, local, entertainment, reference, social media and tech sites – to better help people search and find what they are looking for faster."

What’s more, she then continued, "Yahoo! Search is releasing a number of custom auto-on SearchMonkey applications for popular entertainment, social networking, reference, and download sites including RottenTomatoes, Netflix, IMDB, Yahoo! Movies, Friendster, Britannica, and FileHippo – all designed to further improve the search experience."

You can see a couple of movie-related examples below, along with an illustration of what sort of results searches for local business should return.

Although not world-changing, this technology is reasonably impressive and quite useful, and additional upgrades courtesy of SearchMonkey are supposed to be on the way.

What Happens to Yahoo’s Search-Related Developer Projects?

Chris Crum — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 13:49:57 +0000

With the big Yahoo Microsoft deal announced, there are still a lot of questions out there, despite the significant amount of information the companies have shared thus far. We know that Bing will become the search engine used in Yahoo searches. We also know that Microsoft will acquire an exclusive 10-year license to Yahoo’s core search technologies.

So what does this mean for the search technologies that Yahoo has been working on, and has opened up to third party developers? What does it mean for projects like SearchMonkdey and BOSS? It looks like not even Yahoo knows that yet. The subject was brought up on the Yahoo Developer Blog.

"For SearchMonkey and BOSS, we currently do not have anything concrete to tell you," says Chris Yeh, Head of the Yahoo Developer Network. "Clearly, we’ll need to work with Microsoft to determine what makes the most sense for you and for us."

Ashim Chhabra of the BOSS Team writes the following in a letter to BOSS developers:

What specifically does it mean for BOSS? Honestly the team is still absorbing the implications and we just don’t know. We can tell you that BOSS will remain live for the time being. There are many aspects still to be considered. Over the next several days we’ll be working hard to get clarity and will update the
community as soon as we can.

If you want the official messaging, here it is…

"What about developer tools and APIs like SearchMonkey and BOSS?

This is the beginning of a process and we’ll be working with Microsoft to determine what makes the best sense for both us and developers. Regardless, we are certainly committed to continuing to innovate on the user experience of search all across Yahoo! and on continuing to engage with the developer community on several fronts, opening up leading audience experiences and data to third-party innovation. In that context, SearchMonkey can add a lot of value to how we help people get the most out of search and out of Yahoo!. Over the next several months we’ll determine what makes sense with our developer offerings and provide information when available."

Developers should keep in mind that the Microsoft Yahoo deal is centered around search and advertising. Yahoo makes it clear that other developer offerings like YUI, YQL, and Pipes, will not be affected.

Yahoo Promotes “Web Of Objects” Concept At Search Event

Doug Caverly — Wed, 20 May 2009 14:35:40 +0000

Yahoo sure likes names that can be shouted. At a search event the company held yesterday, speakers focused on a "Web of objects" concept – also known as WOO – that Yahoo intends to embrace as a way of moving beyond the standard ten blue links.

The idea of killing the ten blue links should sound familiar; Google, Yahoo, and Microsoft have all talked about various types of universal search, and they’ve gone a fair way towards making it a reality, too. In fact, at least some of the reporters who attended Yahoo’s search event regarded it as little more than a cry for attention.

Yahoo didn’t actually launch a new product or name any release dates, after all, and the event fell between Google’s Searchology conference and the supposed debut of Kumo.

But at least we now have the term WOO. And Yahoo also took the opportunity to give updates on its SearchMonkey and BOSS technologies.

As a post on the Yahoo Search Blog explained, SearchMonkey is one year old. It’s live in 23 markets, provides 70 million enhanced results every day, and supposedly, "[s]ite owners have seen a more than 15% increase in the click-through rates of their SearchMonkey search results when tested against non-SearchMonkey results."

In regards to BOSS, the post said, "[W]e’ve made key updates including allowing developers to monetize through third-party platforms and enabling access to SearchMonkey structured data. The BOSS API is on track to hit 1 billion monthly queries in May, without even including the volume from traditional Yahoo Search syndication. This is more than three times the queries served just six months ago, and ranks ahead of the combined searches on Ask and Facebook, and just behind Microsoft."

Yahoo’s not necessarily in terrible shape, then. It just threw a big party for no particular reason.

Yahoo Gives Webmasters Way to Embed Media in SERPs

Chris Crum — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 13:22:07 +0000

Yahoo has introduced a new way for site owners to enhance their Yahoo Search results using SearchMonkey. If you have flash videos, games, presentations, etc. you can have them show up right in Yahoo’s SERPs.

Yahoo shares an example of how Hulu added the following code:

…and made their search results look like this:

If a user clicked on the video thumbnail in the above example, they would get an embedded video they could watch directly from the results page:

"We’ll be reviewing sites that want to display rich media content before they can appear in search results to ensure an optimal user experience on the search results page," a representative for Yahoo tells WebProNews. "Users can already see the enhanced result for video on their search results as Yahoo! currently supports a number of popular video players including Hulu, YouTube, and MetaCafe. Documents and games will be supported in the near future, while the code is available for site owners to start adding now."

I think you can see the potential there. Of course, not all webmasters will be thrilled with the idea of giving users their content right from the SERPs. Most would probably prefer to have the traffic come to their sites, but on the other hand, it might get your business some attention when it would otherwise get overlooked in the SERP. More information about this featue of SearchMonkey can be found here.

Yahoo Monkeys Around with Facebook

Chris Crum — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 20:31:44 +0000

Facebook features have been added to Yahoo’s list of SearchMonkey apps that the search engine has turned on by default. The others that are available include (via Matt McGee):

- Yahoo Local
- Wikipedia
- Cityseach
- LinkedIn
- Yelp
- Zagat

So how is Facebook integrated into Yahoo Search Results?

You can now add people as friends, give them a poke, send them a message, or view their friends directly from the Yahoo SERP. You can see how it looks here:

Don’t be fooled though, the Chris Crum in the above image is not me. I do not rank for my own Facebook profile. Although the other results below it are all me.

"We care about privacy as much as you do, so you’ll only see results for Facebook users who have enabled their profiles to be publicly searched and viewed," notes a post from the SearchMonkey Team.

There are plenty of other social SearchMonkey apps for you to integrate at your own discretion. You can use apps for StumbleUpon, Delicious, Flickr, etc. Find all he apps here. On the topic of Facebook, find our coverage of their press conference from today here.

Yahoo Sets Wikipedia App To Default

WebProNews Staff — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 17:37:05 +0000

On Wikipedia’s eight birthday, Yahoo has set its Wikipedia Searchmonkey app on by default. The application pulls more information from Wikipedia and makes it viewable in the search results.

Wikipedia results will appear with deep links to as many as four sections of the article about the searched-for topic, a photo if one appears in the corresponding article, and a snippet from the top of the article.

For example, if one were to conduct a search on Cyrus the Great of Persia, the result would appear like this:

Yahoo says users always have the option to turn the Searchmonkey app off, or can choose from other reference source apps from HowStuffWorks, eHow, CIA World Factbook, Merriam-Webster, and others.

Yahoo Creates Experimental Status For SearchMonkey Apps

Doug Caverly — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 19:42:13 +0000

A lot of people enjoy being testers; the practice essentially lets them get their hands on cool stuff way before everyone else. At the same time, the people behind the products appreciate receiving early feedback. So Yahoo’s adopting a smart approach to its SearchMonkey program and making unfinished applications more accessible.

Would-be users needn’t worry about getting treated like guinea pigs; Yahoo will continue to screen things for both security and legal problems in addition to basic functionality. What’s at stake here should more often be just a little polish.

Nick Cox explains on the Yahoo Search Blog, "[O]ften minor details such as a missing logo or a non-conditional display can keep innovative apps from reaching the gallery. Starting today, even if an app doesn’t meet all of the gallery guidelines, it will still be quickly approved as an experimental app . . ."

From there, users who opt in will be able to play with whatever Yahoo search upgrades they like. They’ll be able to provide developers with feedback and feature requests, and should any changes occur, Cox notes, "You can also get automatic upgrades to the latest versions when changes are made to the applications."

This seems like a smart way to get users and developers more involved with Yahoo. Don’t be surprised if the official integration of SearchMonkey apps picks up as a result, too.

Yahoo’s Openness To Search

Chris Crum — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 20:31:58 +0000

Yahoo announced that they have integrated a couple of applications from their SearchMonkey project into everyday search results for users of the Yahoo search engine. The two integrated apps are from Citysearch and Zagat, which Yahoo intends to use for improved local search results along with Yelp and its own Yahoo Local results.

SearchMonkey is Yahoo Search’s open platform, which allows developers and site owners to make results more useful and relevant on a personalized basis. Developers can build their apps with SearchMonkey, then use it themselves and/or share them with others, but they typically have to be turned on by users. That’s the significance of this news. Yahoo has deemed these apps worthy of improving their own search results and has implemented them on their own for all Yahoo Search users to enjoy.

It is not unlike what Google does, except that these apps are coming from third parties. "While Google tends to integrate data from its own products like Google Finance, Images, or Maps into its search results, Yahoo is staying true to its promise of ‘open search,’" says Frederic Lardinois at Read Write Web. "Yahoo started to integrate SearchMonkey results in June, but back then, users still had to enable them one by one. Now, Yahoo is starting to surface more results from trusted SearchMonkey apps in its standard results."

Yahoo also gave a shout out to some other apps on display at the Yahoo Search Gallery (where users can browse SearchMonkey-based projects), such as Infobar for TV.com, and Infobar for Food Network. "We’re pleased with all of the new apps that have been developed and we’re looking forward to what new ideas and innovations the development community will come up with," says a post on the Yahoo Search Blog from the SearchMonkey Team.

I think Yahoo’s attempts to open up the search experience are very interesting and have the potential to keep them in the game, but they are so far behind Google in terms of market share right now, it’s going to be hard to play catch-up. I’d say this is a step in the right direction either way.

Implementing SearchMonkey features on their own for wide use by the average Yahoo user shows that they’re willing to do so with good apps. This should provide developers with encouragement for building more creative and useful ones now that they know it’s possible to get them to become part of normal Yahoo search results. And the more inventive and creative ways to bring relevancy to results that are created, the more reasons there will be to use the search engine. They’ve still got some hurdles to jump though. Do you think this is a significant step for Yahoo?

Two More Important Yahoos Leaving

Doug Caverly — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 14:49:39 +0000

It appears that the small boxes used to carry office supplies and personal effects are still in high demand at Yahoo. New reports indicate that Amit Kumar and Kiersten Hollars – two relatively high-ranking employees – are expected to move some within the next week or so.

Kumar is Yahoo Search’s director of product management, and it’s his name that has been attached to most of the company’s communications regarding SearchMonkey. Erick Schonfeld writes that he’ll now be traveling to the more upscale-sounding Dapper to serve as vice president of product management.

Amit Kumar

Kumar’s departure could be considered similar to that of Adam Hyder, who left in August and was in charge of Yahoo’s Advertising Management Platform (AMP). Yahoo’s cutting-edge projects just don’t seem to be holding its people’s attention.

As for Hollars, her current business cards read "Director of Communications, Yahoo." But Michael Arrington notes that she’ll "shortly be leaving the company to lead Digg’s communication team." Also, "Hollars previously reported to Brad Garlinghouse, who announced his departure in mid June. Her previous boss, Bradley Horowitz, is also gone – he left for Google in February."

Yahoo’s still losing employees like mad, in other words. Box makers, at least, should benefit.